ABU DHABI (Special Envoy). – Every year the Formula 1 Championship crowns the driver who collects the most points, but not necessarily the best. Max VerstappenSecond in the competition, couldn’t even take the title if he took pole in Abu Dhabi, which he achieved today, and won the race. However, no one disputes that It’s the best of this post-Hamilton era. While he is the predator of the circuit due to his speed, aggressiveness and fighting skills and is aiming for his fifth title, the scapegoat for his first title, Lewis Hamilton in 2021, was eliminated in the first quarter with his Ferrari for the third time in a row.
Max didn’t speculate today after making a few tweaks to his RB21 between FP3 and qualifying. As he fitted his final set of soft tires on Saturday, he turned all sections of the track purple in the third quarter and will start first as victory there is within reach.
Lando Norris, careful to keep his car and his capabilities intact, finished second in the third quarter. Finishing on the podium with a victorious Verstappen would still give him the championship.
On the Thursday evening before hospitality from Mercedes, where there was a cocktail party bringing together journalists and team managers, Zak Brown, general director of McLaren, and Laurent Meckies Main team from Red Bull. A journalist close to Brown said today that Meckies had assured the McLaren driver that Max would play fair in the race. If he wants to win from pole he will find it very difficult to force Norris.
For his part, Oscar Piastri, third in the standings and contender for the crown, four points behind Max and 16 behind his teammate, is in a desperate situation. It doesn’t help that he was third in the third quarter, 29/1000 behind Norris.
Already There is no doubt that there will be team orders and if Norris were second at the end of the first lap, Piastri is unlikely to overtake Lando one-on-one on the track; Furthermore, he would be ordered to defend it. Even if he overtook Norris, he would have to beat Verstappen and pray that Lando finished worse than sixth.
With Lando behind him, Max’s only chance of winning the title is to group the rest of the peloton at a very slow pace so they can put pressure on the McLarens. In any case, the only car that seems capable of threatening Oscar Piastri from the outset is George Russell, who will start from fourth position after finishing 438/1000 behind Verstappen and 208/1000 behind Piastri.
Once again both Alpines took last place. Pierre Gasly, 19th, improved his best time from morning FP3 by more than 6/10; Franco Colapinto finished 20th, 422/1000 behind his teammate and improved his FP3 time by 422/100. Both had their first attempts canceled due to off-piste.
Commenting on Alpine’s official statement, Franco said: “Unfortunately, the difficulties carried over from yesterday to today. I think Pierre found more rhythm and did a better job than me.
Gasly summed up the day: “We did a great job improving the car overnight and I felt we had made a good step since yesterday. I was very happy with my last lap, all the corners went well and that was really all we had in our hands.”
One could speculate that Max could have defended his chances better by looking in the rearview mirror and exaggeratingly blocking Norris and Piastri, allowing Russell, who was on the outside, to accelerate better at the exit of the first corner after the start.
This is located on the left side at more than 90° and has an exhaust sector that offers space for discussions about overtaking. If Russell got excited while braking and hit someone…
This chaos or something similar would stand him in good stead if he can maintain the lead as the race progresses or regain it on pure pace.
Verstappen has already stated that he is approaching this race with complete calm. “I have already achieved everything I wanted from Formula 1. Everything that comes is a ‘bonus’. But we have already seen that a lot can happen,” he said on Thursday at the press conference that he held together with his two expectant rivals from McLaren.
Unless there are unexpected circumstances at Turn 1, depending on the position of Norris and Piastri and the performance of their tires, Max may need to accelerate and make room before entering the pits. You need a certain amount of time to avoid any surprises when changing tires. He knows that he has the best strategist in Formula 1 on the wall: Hannah Schmitz, who gave him victory in Qatar a week ago. In addition, the special characteristics of the racetrack would benefit him in this scenario. But they would also play against him if he doesn’t manage to take the lead in the race. Therefore, even if there is an escape lane, braking in Turn 1 will be crucial. If Max takes this escape route, it will cause controversy when he gains positions (which he usually does). There is a lot at stake for the three candidates in the first corner.
The route, which surrounds a very exclusive marina, passes through a series of short straights, fast corners and slow corners (such as the tight and blind Turn 12, a triple right-hander), making it difficult for cars to follow closely and overtake without DRS or a significant speed advantage.
Cars often get stuck in “DRS trains” where the Drag Reduction System (DRS) is active, negating the speed advantage and making progress difficult.
It will be important to calculate exactly when to stop in the pits to change tires. Walking through the box to change shoes takes about 20 to 23 seconds. The chosen tire strategy not only takes into account whether a undercutStop in front of the car you want to overtake, or a overlappedstop later. One way or another, the pace in the following rounds must be higher than that of the strategically attacked competitor. It is therefore important that there is enough free air in front of you when you return to the track. You have to calculate carefully who or who will return to the track afterwards, knowing that the pit passage takes between 20 and 23 seconds and that under ideal conditions a lead of several seconds before clean air would be necessary (which is almost impossible). The three title contenders will try to avoid the nightmare experienced by Fernando Alonso in 2010, when he lost the championship after crashing while entering the pits behind Russian Vitaly Petrov, whom he was unable to overtake for 40 laps.
What strategy should Norris pursue in the event of a safety car? Copy what Verstappen does. Piastri would like to object to defend his options, but he is no longer able to make a choice. It would have been a different story if he had had pole position or miraculously come out of the first corner first.
The long-term pace, confirmed in FP2 on Friday, favors Norris over Oscar and even more so over Verstappen. Therefore, if the Englishman is not aiming for victory, he can keep a safe pace with medium tires and finish third if Max wins. There may be unforeseen events relating to the reliability of any of the three cars and there may even be a result where all three points and wins are tied. In this case, Norris would be the champion as he has the most second place finishes with eight.
Lando has almost all the good cards. Despite all the proven technologies and managerial skills of the three protagonists of the duel, which will take place at 10 a.m. Argentine time, it will also be a lottery played on a curve or several rounds… It is worth seeing.
Notes: Orlando Rios