Will Verstappen take pole again in 2023, or will the Ferraris be the star of Saturday again?
In some ways, the 2023 season seems to have been over for a while. Actually, after the winter test, we knew that Max Vestappen would win again. Ultimately, he won the title well before the end of the season. Especially on Sunday, the RB19 in Max’s hands is still practically unbeatable, although the gap is no longer as terribly large as it was during the Grand Prix of Miami.
Ferrari has regained the speed on Saturdays in recent races. Team red is particularly fast on tracks with many fast straights and slow corners. It is the tire-guzzling, fast, long go-getters that kill the Fezza. Mercedes, McLaren and to a lesser extent Aston Martin are better at this. In Abu Dhabi it is a bit of both, but yesterday Ferrari seemed to be the biggest challenger to Red Bull and Max again, at least for one lap.
Russell was also fast at times, but Hamilton, on the other hand, lost a lot of time with problems. The British veteran has often won here, but also suffered perhaps his biggest defeat thanks to Michael Masi. Toto Wolff has already indicated that things will go well this weekend. Because there is a decent western route. Ouch. But will things go well in qualifying today?
Q1
Verstappen soon sets the best time and Norris follows. The McLaren is also reasonable again this weekend after some lesser races. It’s the story of the year: Max wins and several people come second. Leclerc initially also seems fast, but perhaps not as fast as expected. Teammate Sainz, who crashed hard yesterday, is still a bit slower.
It is then quiet on the track, while the Mercs, Alonso, Perez and Sainz are really balancing in the danger zone. Apparently everyone wants to get back on the track at the last possible moment. The Williams team tells Alex Albon that they expect the ‘track evolution’ to be estimated at four tenths.
That’s fun and may well be the case, but of course not if you’re driving in traffic. Sainz already indicates as he exits the pit lane: this could get tricky. Sometimes you shouldn’t think that, because then Sainz flies out. His round isn’t good enough. Perez is improving and Tsunoda is also doing very well. Carlos therefore exit and bad news for Ferrari in the battle with Mercedes. There is a difference of four points between the two in the World Cup in favor of Merrie…
Magnussen, the two Alfas and Logan Sargeant are also out. Sargeant’s time was actually enough for Q2. But he violates the track limits. The American is therefore emphatically applying for a seat in Formula E. After earlier rumors that Logan would be a permanent member of team blue, there is now a strong rumor that Frederik Vesti will take over the seat. The Dane is currently second in the F2 championship, is a protégé of Mercedes (and Toto Wolff) and won the F2 sprint race this morning.
Pos | Driver | Q1 |
---|---|---|
16 |
Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari |
01:24,738 |
17 |
Kevin Magnussen Hare |
01:24,764 |
18 |
Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Racing |
01:24,788 |
19 |
Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo Racing |
01:25.159 |
20 |
Logan Sargeant Williams |
DNF |
Q2
Max also jumps straight to the top of the field in Q2. Perez follows with Piastri behind. But Norris is faster than the second Red Bull and takes P2. So it’s Max, Lando, Checo, Oscar. Behind them are Russell, Tsunoda, Leclerc, Alonso, Stroll and Hamilton. The rest have to do it in attempt two.
During the ‘break’ Albonio sits down again. He clearly doesn’t feel like dealing with traffic that throws a spanner in the works and is rewarded with a provisional P5. But was it the right bet? No, because at the end it turns out that the track has indeed become much faster. After a huge tombola, Russell eventually pushes Hamilton out at the last minute.
The seven-time champion thinks there is something wrong with the car. After all, that is necessary now that Russell draws the qualifying match in the last race. The other dropouts are Ocon, Stroll, Ricciardo and Albonio. Hulkenberg is once again going strong in the Haas F1. But yes, we know that the Haas unfortunately runs out of tires after two laps in the race…
Pos | Driver | Q2 |
---|---|---|
11 |
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes |
01:24,359 |
12 |
Esteban Ocon Alpine |
01:24,391 |
13 |
Lance Stroll Aston Martin |
01:24,422 |
14 |
Alexander Albon Williams |
01:24,439 |
15 |
Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri |
01:24,442 |
Q3
And yes, Max immediately sets the fastest time again. Verrrrrassssing. The Dutchman is going like a rocket. Norris is second, Piastri third. Many drivers do their first runs on used softs and are therefore not a factor in this first run. Max gets through all the sessions so easily that he can always ride on new tires.
Norris goes fast in the second attempt, but not hard enough. In the third sector he does a Tokyo Drift and that’s it. Piastri goes faster than his teammate, but also remains behind Max by three tenths. Leclerc benefits. The Monegasque qualifying beast goes to P2 with a lap out of nowhere.
Perez can’t match it. He remains stuck in P5 and is only a tenth faster than Tsunoda. And then his time is also taken away, causing him to fall back to P9. It’s just not the year of the Mexican. Russell then crosses the line and splits the McLarens. Tsunoda, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Perez and Gasly complete the top 10. Tomorrow another walk in the park for Max to the next victory. Zin an!
Pos | Driver | Q3 |
---|---|---|
1 |
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing |
01:23.445 |
2 |
Charles Leclerc Ferrari |
01:23,584 |
3 |
Oscar Piastri McLaren |
01:23,782 |
4 |
George Russel Mercedes |
01:23,788 |
5 |
Lando Norris McLaren |
01:23.816 |
6 |
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri |
01:23,968 |
7 |
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin |
01:24.084 |
8 |
Nico Hulkenberg Hare |
01:24,108 |
9 |
Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing |
01:24.171 |
10 |
Pierre Gasly Alpine |
01:24,548 |
This article Formula 1 Qualifying: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023 first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
#Formula #Qualifying #Abu #Dhabi #Grand #Prix