581 replies to this topic

[TomNokoe]

 

It's the final race of F1's longest ever season, as this year's championship draws to a close in the Abu Dhabi desert.

 

Despite the drivers' championship being settled, there's still many storylines to follow - the constructors' championship between McLaren and Ferrari, Hamilton's final race at Mercedes, the Haas/Alpine/RB tussle, Doohan's debut, and the usual end-of-season farewells as we head into winter, it's Round 24 of the 2024 Formula One World Championship!

 

 

 

McLaren vs Ferrari

 

After two scrappy races in Vegas and Qatar, Ferrari has closed the gap on their Woking rivals. 21 points still puts McLaren as firm favourites to secure their first WCC since 1998, but any slip ups and the Scuderia will be ready to pounce. Competitively, it's hard to call who will be quicker, so let's see how the weekend develops. There's also the secondary fight between Lando and Charles for P2 in the drivers, plus Sainz' driving his last race (for now) for the team in Red, but it's all eyes on the main prize.

 

Hasta la vista, Hamilton

 

One final race for F1's most successful driver/team pairing, 84 wins, 78 poles and 6 championships. A bittersweet ending after a turbulent three years, but no doubt a partnership we will remember forever. Can Lewis raise himself for a send-off worthy of their time together?

 

The Midfield Scrap

 

An ascendant Alpine has stolen a march on their midfield rivals in recent races, but Haas' season-long consistency has them only five points behind. RB a long shot, although there may be a private battle brewing between Tsunoda and Lawson for next year's second Red Bull seat.

 

Doohan's debut

 

A surprise debut for young Jack, who's thrown in straight at the deep end to defend his team's slender WCC lead. Is this a simple case of building mileage for 2025, or is he auditioning for his own seat?!

 

Elsewhere ...

 

If rumours are to be believed, we are seeing the final race of Sergio Perez's F1 career. Almost certainly it's the final race for Kevin Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu and perhaps Valtteri Bottas. Will we see Colapinto in F1 again?

 

Sainz drives his final race for Ferrari, and Hulkenberg for Haas. All change for 2025.

 

Tyres etc

 

 

A standard prescription from Pirelli. Close between a one and two stop.

 

Front pressures +0.5, rears +1.0.

 

Fri - 26C/79F, dry

Sat - 25C/77F, dry

Sun - 26C/79F, dry

 

Schedule

       GMT     CET
FP1    0930    1030
FP2    1300    1400
FP3    1030    1130
Q      1400    1500
R      1300    1400

F2 championship finale, F1 Academy and UAE F4 supporting, full schedule.

 

--

 

If it's anything like the TV show, we're in for a good one!!

Edited by TomNokoe, 05 December 2024 - 17:54.

[Risil]

F1nale

[TomNokoe]

FP1 drivers:

 

Isack Hadjar (Verstappen)

Arthur Leclerc (Sainz) - the first time brothers will drive as teammates

Ryo Hirakawa (Piastri)

Felipe Drugovich (Stroll)

Ayumu Iwasa (Tsunoda)

Luke Browning (Albon)

[DJH63]

More real grass and artificial grass replaced with asphalt and once again white lines pushed out at corners where track limits might be an issue.

 

Yawn.

[ARTGP]

Pre-race press conference: Pre Race Press Conference 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri - YouTube

[SophieB]

FP1 drivers:

 

Isack Hadjar (Verstappen)

Arthur Leclerc (Sainz) - the first time brothers will drive as teammates

Ryo Hirakawa (Piastri)

Felipe Drugovich (Stroll)

Ayumu Iwasa (Tsunoda)

Luke Browning (Albon)

How will they differentiate Leclerc major and minor on the timing tower?

[Yoshi]

Final race - looking forward to it
Long and intense season is coming to an end.
Hopefully we have a good final race here.

[monolulu]

How will they differentiate Leclerc major and minor on the timing tower?

Upper & lower case letters? lol

[ARTGP]

In the old timing system, they would put an "R" and "M" in front of Schumacher to distinguish Ralf and Michael. 

Edited by ARTGP, 05 December 2024 - 18:27.

[danmills]

So it'll be CLE and ALE. Sorted.

[KWSN - DSM]

Wishing for

 

[LolaB0860]

There's at least 2% chance of something happening in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Maybe even 3% chance

[Myrvold]

So it'll be CLE and ALE. Sorted.

Jean Alesi? Cool ;P

[Disgrace]

And John Cleland?

[Autodromo]

It should be LE1 and LE2!

[jonklug]

Wishing for

 

 

In AD? Has it actually ever rained there? 

[SophieB]

Happy Abu Dhabi things…
 
Alonso really going for it driving the R25 back in 2020…
 
 
 
…and seemingly the sound instantly activating Hamilton like a sleeper agent.
 
https://www.marca.co...0c668b464c.html

[Muppetmad]

A Leclerc 1-2 In FP1 would be very cute!

[KWSN - DSM]

In AD? Has it actually ever rained there? 

 

They fumbled around with cloud seeding some years ago and brought down an incredible amount in a day or two.

[DW46]

In AD? Has it actually ever rained there?

I visited for three days in 2017, it rained for two of them.

Cue everywhere you go, always take the weather with you

[Heyli]

Do we get a LEC and a LEL? Or ALE?

[Autodromo]

Thanks, Tom, for the kick-off!

[mclarensmps]

Do we get a LEC and a LEL? Or ALE?

ALC and CLC? 

[SophieB]

@SChecoPerez

 

Class of 2024! Thanks to all. Kiitos @ValtteriBottas

 

[Risil]

They look so weird in normal person clothes!

[SophieB]

Looks like Lewis organised it and Bottas paid?

 

@OconEsteban

·

19m

 

 

That was a fun night cheers for organising

@LewisHamilton

always great to get all together, bunch of legends all around.

 

[LolaB0860]

They don't have pocket change from their millions of dollars of salary to pay for their meals? It's up to "zero points and fired" Valtteri to feed them?

[PitViperRacing]

HAAS and Aston drivers got snubbed?

Edited by PitViperRacing, 05 December 2024 - 20:36.

[SophieB]

There’s no way they weren’t invited. The fact that both drivers from each team aren’t there suggested they had other team commitments, I guess.

 

Also, I guess it is National Everyone in F1 Mildly Pick on Lando day because via Lewis on Instagram…

 

[KWSN - DSM]

I visited for three days in 2017, it rained for two of them.

Cue everywhere you go, always take the weather with you

 

Please fly down there for this weekend.

[Nemo1965]

There’s no way they weren’t invited. The fact that both drivers from each team aren’t there suggested they had other team commitments, I guess.

Also, I guess it is National Everyone in F1 Mildly Pick on Lando day because via Lewis on Instagram…

Lando in civvies always looks and acts and smiles exactly like my male students of the last years. A certain ironic detachment, in clothes and facial expressions.

[Autodromo]

HAAS and Aston drivers got snubbed?

There was a second picture where Hulkenberg was there.  I assume that at least Aston had commitments.  Doubt anyone was snubbed.

[P123]

 

Looks like Lewis organised it and Bottas paid?

 

@OconEsteban

·

19m

 

 

That was a fun night cheers for organising

@LewisHamilton

always great to get all together, bunch of legends all around.

 

 

Seems that Lewis has been organising the end of season meal since having a Vettel farewell one in 2022.

 

https://www.racefans...arewell-dinner/

[JvsKVB77]

They don't have pocket change from their millions of dollars of salary to pay for their meals? It's up to "zero points and fired" Valtteri to feed them?

Maybe others just finished dinner earlier) 

[JimmyClark]

I really despise this race. Even 15 years on, I still can't get over how a circuit can have a blank cheque for it's design and make such a horrible circuit for racing or any kind of drama, and on top of that male sure it's the final race for pretty much every year. At least most years it fails to get that - and now it's mostly become a glorified test session for young drivers on Friday.

But when I look back at iconic moments, most are terrible:

2009 - genuinely can't remember anything about it's first race.
2010 - Schumi nearly decapitated, Alonso unable to overtake Petrov.
2011 - No memories.
2012 - The best race, ironically the one time it's not the last one. Lots of incident and intrigue.
2013 - Can't remember anything.
2014 - Merc finale; nothing interesting apart from Rosberg's tech issues.
2015 - No memories. Nico won I think?
2016 - Hamilton's disregard of team orders, otherwise again famous for no passing.
2017 - Can't remember.
2018 - Hulk's flip, otherwise boring.
2019 - Can't remember.
2020 - A weird Red Bull race after a season of Merc domination, but nothing exciting happened.
2021 - Nothing interesting beyond the championship issues, which if it wasn't the last race would have been a quirky story rather than the controversy we all talk about.
2022 - Can't remember.
2023 - Can't remember.

It's just tragic.

[Autodromo]

I really despise this race. Even 15 years on, I still can't get over how a circuit can have a blank cheque for it's design and make such a horrible circuit for racing or any kind of drama, and on top of that male sure it's the final race for pretty much every year. At least most years it fails to get that - and now it's mostly become a glorified test session for young drivers on Friday.

But when I look back at iconic moments, most are terrible:

2009 - genuinely can't remember anything about it's first race.
2010 - Schumi nearly decapitated, Alonso unable to overtake Petrov.
2011 - No memories.
2012 - The best race, ironically the one time it's not the last one. Lots of incident and intrigue.
2013 - Can't remember anything.
2014 - Merc finale; nothing interesting apart from Rosberg's tech issues.
2015 - No memories. Nico won I think?
2016 - Hamilton's disregard of team orders, otherwise again famous for no passing.
2017 - Can't remember.
2018 - Hulk's flip, otherwise boring.
2019 - Can't remember.
2020 - A weird Red Bull race after a season of Merc domination, but nothing exciting happened.
2021 - Nothing interesting beyond the championship issues, which if it wasn't the last race would have been a quirky story rather than the controversy we all talk about.
2022 - Can't remember.
2023 - Can't remember.

It's just tragic.

I'm concerned about your memory; have you had a neurological check lately? ;-) 

[TomNokoe]

How will they differentiate Leclerc major and minor on the timing tower?

I hope they just go with LEC and LEC, it's only FP1 after all.

However, I presume like Ralf and Michael they will change the abbreviation for both, meaning Charles will not be "LEC" for the first (and last?) time in his career. It will be a fun piece of trivia for years to come.

BTW, speaking of trivia, I was taking a quiz about Hamilton's Mercedes career and supposedly in Abu Dhabi 2018 FP1 he ran #1 on his car for the first and only time. I had no idea!

[JHSingo]

I really despise this race. Even 15 years on, I still can't get over how a circuit can have a blank cheque for it's design and make such a horrible circuit for racing or any kind of drama, and on top of that male sure it's the final race for pretty much every year. At least most years it fails to get that - and now it's mostly become a glorified test session for young drivers on Friday.

But when I look back at iconic moments, most are terrible:

2009 - genuinely can't remember anything about it's first race.
2010 - Schumi nearly decapitated, Alonso unable to overtake Petrov.
2011 - No memories.
2012 - The best race, ironically the one time it's not the last one. Lots of incident and intrigue.
2013 - Can't remember anything.
2014 - Merc finale; nothing interesting apart from Rosberg's tech issues.
2015 - No memories. Nico won I think?
2016 - Hamilton's disregard of team orders, otherwise again famous for no passing.
2017 - Can't remember.
2018 - Hulk's flip, otherwise boring.
2019 - Can't remember.
2020 - A weird Red Bull race after a season of Merc domination, but nothing exciting happened.
2021 - Nothing interesting beyond the championship issues, which if it wasn't the last race would have been a quirky story rather than the controversy we all talk about.
2022 - Can't remember.
2023 - Can't remember.

It's just tragic.

 

2009, I seem to recall Hamilton retiring from the lead with a brake failure? Vettel won I think, and Button and Webber had a close battle for P2 and P3. After the race Boris Becker was interviewed by the BBC, saying that it would be Vettel's year next year while James Corden mocked him in the background. Don't ask me how I remember this...

2011, Vettel's seeming inevitable domination of the race (unusually for that season) was stopped within seconds of the race starting, as he suffered a puncture and ended up spinning at turn two, I seem to recall. Not sure who won, probably Hamilton?

2022 and 2023...yeah, total blanks. Probably a worrying sign. 

[jonklug]

I visited for three days in 2017, it rained for two of them.

Cue everywhere you go, always take the weather with you

Damn. This sounds like rotten bad luck

[jonklug]

I hope they just go with LEC and LEC, it's only FP1 after all.

However, I presume like Ralf and Michael they will change the abbreviation for both, meaning Charles will not be "LEC" for the first (and last?) time in his career. It will be a fun piece of trivia for years to come.

BTW, speaking of trivia, I was taking a quiz about Hamilton's Mercedes career and supposedly in Abu Dhabi 2018 FP1 he ran #1 on his car for the first and only time. I had no idea!

I don't think they will change LEC, I think we will have LEC and either ALE or ALC for Arthur Leclerc.

[PayasYouRace]

F1nale

F1nally.

[LolaB0860]

I'm concerned about your memory; have you had a neurological check lately? ;-) 

 

Remembering almost anything from the last 15 years of Abu Dhabi GP is mission impossible

 

By the way. How on Earth is this "event" 15 years old already. Dear god.

[loki]

They don't have pocket change from their millions of dollars of salary to pay for their meals? It's up to "zero points and fired" Valtteri to feed them?

Because he’s a diamond geezer…

[Frood]

In AD? Has it actually ever rained there?

There were actually wet races at Yas Marina at the start of the year in Formula Regional Middle East and F4 UAE!

https://www.youtube....h?v=Ndbh7mPvFug

Edited by Frood, 06 December 2024 - 06:32.

[DW46]

Damn. This sounds like rotten bad luck

It was a dull soulless place anyway, $45 for a double JD. Also the opulence was wasted and on me 😂

“Would you like help with your bags sir?”

“Er no it’s a satchel with some shorts and hair product in it I’ll manage.”

[JimmyClark]

In AD? Has it actually ever rained there?

One thing I do remember is that it rained in FP1 in 2010 I think. A short sharp shower and that was it.

[Henri Greuter]

It should be LE1 and LE2!

 

 

LEO  and LEY   ??  (Older  &  Younger)

[Bleu]

There was one race when DRS was not working for anyone in the first third or so. Hamilton/Bottas Mercedes era.

[Anja]

I think this circuit looks much more pleasant in the daylight. 

[TomNokoe]

LEC and LEL