Here the protagonist has been Vettel and his Ferrari, since they have achieved the best time in the first of the free practice sessions of the 1 F2017 Abu Dhabi GP and in free practice 2 he was able to be second behind Hamilton's Mercedes, current champion of this world championship. So Mercedes and Ferrari once again dominating not to vary in the last race of the season. Although the equality seems quite high, so we will have to wait until tomorrow to determine who will take the cat to the water and get the last pole of the season...
from behind follow the Red Bulls, that some problems have been found today, such as the one Verstappen had when he complained about his engine. Force India looks strong here too, so they will be contenders to get into Q3 tomorrow in qualifying. Williams, Renault and McLaren are a bit behind, but the fight will be expensive to enter the last round of qualifying and get some points for the Spanish drivers: Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz with the McLaren and Renault respectively. Here everyone will give the maximum they have in their engines since they don't have to conserve anything anymore... we will see interesting things therefore.
On the other hand, we have learned interesting things, such as current McLaren investors They are already thinking about a compensation plan so that the departure of Honda with the contribution of 100 million plus Alonso's salary, about 40 million for the following season, does not resent the team in terms of budget for development in 2018. On the other hand , with Renault, more investors will probably join the MCL33 monocoque, in fact a new one has already been added, and it has been Fernando Alonso's Kimoa brand, although I suppose that in this case it will not contribute anything, but will have reached some kind of agree with Zack.
As for what has happened on the track, all the teams have been testing tires and runs of different durations to prepare well for qualifying and the race, as well as try new things Looking ahead to 2018, like the case of Ferrari, which seems to have copied the cleanest and smoothest Red Bull flat bottom, and has mounted countless sensors (the famous rakes) in the car to measure airflow pressures. The rest of the teams have also been trying new things.
Results of free practice 1:
| #8211; | #8211; | - | - |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Piloto | Team | Time |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1'39 "006 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1'39 "126 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1'39 "154 |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1'39 "518 |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1'39 "741 |
| 6 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1'40 "293 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1'40 "522 |
| 8 | Stoffel vandoorne | McLaren | 1'40 "569 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1'40 "723 |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1'40 "773 |
| 11 | George Russell | Force India | 1'41 "131 |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1'41 "306 |
| 13 | Lance stroll | Williams | 1'41 "581 |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 1'41 "646 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1'41 "748 |
| 16 | pascal wehrlein | Clean | 1'41 "752 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1'41 "864 |
| 18 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Haas | 1'42 "065 |
| 19 | Marcus Ericsson | Clean | 1'42 "344 |
| 20 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1'42 "585 |
Results of free practice 2:
| #8211; | #8211; | - | - |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Piloto | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1'37 "877 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1'38 "026 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1'38 "180 |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1'38 "352 |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1'38 "537 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1'38 "894 |
| 7 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1'39 "323 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1'39 "333 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1'39 "529 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1'39 "559 |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1'39 "635 |
| 12 | Stoffel vandoorne | McLaren | 1'39 "671 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1'40 "201 |
| 14 | Lance stroll | Williams | 1'40 "329 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 1'40 "694 |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1'41 "128 |
| 17 | pascal wehrlein | Clean | 1'41 "270 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Clean | 1'41 "302 |
| 19 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1'41 "496 |
| 20 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1'41 "560 |
tomorrow we will return with AM and the latest news from the paddock as well as Free Practice 3 and qualifying. By the way, comment on something else before saying goodbye, and it is that McLaren could not carry out the tests with Pirelli in Brazil after the GP of this country due to the lack of security and the robberies with weapons that there were, therefore they decided to suspend the tests due to lack of security. For this reason, McLaren will be allowed to run the two single-seaters on both days of the test that will be held next week on the 28th and 29th. Thus, Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne will test the 2018 tires as other teams have already done while Lando Norris does development work…
PS: Massa says goodbye to F1 with this race, so it will be emotional. On the other hand, it already seems an open secret that Kubica will replace him. Great news as well as the award given to Billy Monger, the Pride of Sport award.