Luke’s Weekend Take – Abu Dhabi GP 2024

Coming into now the last practice session of the 2024 season, it will be the last time that the drivers can amend to perfect their setup ahead of qualifying and the race. Immediately we hear Alonso say that he things it will be a good day and I am not sure if the team had asked him to be a bit more positive on the radio given the last few times we heard him complain, or if he genuinely felt that the car is feeling good that day.

It was pretty much business as usual for everyone and there weren’t many notable events but 28 minutes in, we hear Russell say that the car feels slow as we see him out in last place out of all the timed laps we had so far. Zhou Guanyu was impeded by Sergio Perez on his push lap, but this seemed to have gone under the radar while we see a worrying scene out of Sainz’s Ferrari as we see some white smoke on one of his push laps. This was obviously concerning as with Leclerc already on a penalty, this could be the end of the championship battle if both cars are taking grid penalties. However this seemed to be a false alarm as Sainz was seen after doing push laps again and it was seen that it could be a clearance issue as Leclerc was also having the same smoke coming out and it was only a certain part of the track.  

Verstappen in the closing minutes is once again heard saying that his brakes on the front axle are not working and that he thinks that the brakes are glazed however still managed 3^rd quickest at the time, but by the end we see Oscar Piastri go fastest, followed by Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton go top 3 in FP3. Ferrari really off the pace at 5^th and 9^th ahead of qualifying.

Onto Qualifying and to start with we see Aston Martin send Alonso on Hards to take the set through a heat cycle as they usually do for the race. Perez gets his first push lap deleted for going over track limits into Turn 1 which is not good as Perez will most likely have to get another of soft tyres on, and similar to Perez, Colapinto also had his time deleted for Turn 1 track limits as well. Kevin Magnussen after his first run in Q1 we see him go 3^rd fastest ahead of both McLaren’s as Sainz is quickest so far with Verstappen close in 2^nd place. In the elimination zone it is very tight as it is only 0.032 seconds from 18^th to 15^th as Perez and Colapinto don’t have a time at all due to track limits however Perez’s time has been reinstated but he had already gone out to do his 2^nd lap, Perez was not happy at all that the team didn’t properly check here as this way they ended up wasting an extra set of softs. In the end we see Alex Albon, Zhou Guanyu, Lewis Hamilton, Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan eliminated as Hamilton says he messed it up big time there. This is Hamilton’s lowest ever start for him in Abu Dhabi, but it seemed he picked up a bollard on his lap as Magnussen hits the bollard on one of the last corners and then Hamilton picks it up in his car which would have messed up his aero dynamics.

Leclerc in Q2 nearly goes in the barriers on Turn 14 as he had to aggressively correct his steering and nearly goes in the barriers. With 5 mins left we see Max out of the car and seems to have given up on Q2 as he is fastest here after the first runs, but it is not something we often see as he will have to get back in for Q3 if he is through. Leclerc goes quickest on the 2^nd run in Q2, but his lap time got deleted for track limits at Turn 1. At the end of Q2 we end up losing Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson, Lance Stroll, Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen and this is super bad news to Leclerc as this means he will start in 19^th minus any Williams penalties. Valtteri Bottas however manages to make it to Q3 for the first time this season which is mighty impressive.

In Q3 we see Verstappen nearly completely lose the car coming out the last corner and has a massive slide but still manages to go quickest and match his time in Q2, that would have gone way faster if it wasn’t for the slide. Piastri goes 2^nd fastest on used softs but loses the time for Turn 1 limits. After the first runs we see Max Verstappen on provisional pole followed by Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Valtteri Bottas as Bottas and Piastri had no time, however Piastri’s time was reinstated and promotes him to 3^rd fastest on the first run.

After the final runs we see Hulkenberg on provisional pole as he goes fastest after his second push lap, Piastri immediately takes this off Hulkenberg and Norris now takes provisional pole as he makes it round. And in the end the order is Lando Norris on Pole followed by Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will form the Top 10 for tomorrow. McLaren really did their job securing a 1-2 start ahead of the race tomorrow especially for their fight with Ferrari for the constructors and Lando got pole when he is also in a battle with Leclerc for 2^nd place in the drivers championship. Nico Hulkenberg was under investigation after qualifying as he overtook in the pit exit road which was against race director instructions and he got a 3 place grid penalty for this which dropped him to P7 from P4 tomorrow.

Who do you think will come out on top in the race? Will Ferrari manage to bring it back and challenge for the constructors championship? I think it is a big ask and a lot has to go their way for them to be crowned champions. Tune in tomorrow to find out.