2015 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX

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Analysis: Five reasons why the Abu Dhabi GP matters

It may feel that way, but the Formula 1 season is not over yet. Jonathan Noble brings you five reasons why the Abu Dhabi finale is still relevant.

With Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes having long ago got their hands on the Formula 1 drivers' and constructors' championships, the tension has been taken out of the final few races of the 2015 season.

But even without much to play for in the title stakes, there are still plenty of reasons why this weekend's final race of the season in Abu Dhabi still matters.

Here then are the five things that will be important.

Rosberg vs Hamilton momentum

While Hamilton may be able to shrug off Rosberg's recent run of five pole positions and two victories as the simple ebb and flow of a season, there is no doubting that how the battle between them unfolds this weekend will have a big impact on the winter.

Rosberg would clearly like nothing more than to add another pole position and win to his tally, so he can head in to the off-season full of confidence that he has unlocked something, and proven that he can still deliver a run of form that can deliver him the world title he so craves.

He knows well too that more success for him this weekend will leave Hamilton facing fresh questions about what has happened in recent weeks, and a potential bit of soul searching over the winter to try to ensure that the form does not carry on in 2016.

It may be just another race victory in a season when Mercedes has been dominant, but knowing what it will mean for the winter months and the mind games ahead of 2016, this one will matter much, much more.

How robust can Ferrari's challenge be?

Ferrari took great heart from its performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix, where Sebastian Vettel's pace was enough to force Mercedes into three-stopping.

He was close enough to keep Hamilton and Rosberg on their toes, and afterwards team boss Maurizio Arrivabene played up the fact that it had been their one of the better performances of the year.

This weekend's race at the Yas Marina should give us a definitive answer on just how much progress the team has made, and whether or not momentum is with the team as it bids to deliver much more in 2016.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff is one of those convinced that the Ferrari challenge is coming.

"I am anticipating a robust challenge from Ferrari because they have done some clever moves, and they have definitely caught up," he said after Brazil.

"You can see that even towards the end of the race in Brazil, Sebastian was not very far away. When Lewis and Nico were pushing flat out, the biggest gap was seven seconds. That is not a clear cut dominant race win. I think we will have a situation where Ferrari will be a very important competitor."

Driver pride at stake

Although the top three places in the drivers' championship have now been decided, there is still a great deal of pride at stake further down the order, as drivers vie for an extra boost heading in to the winter.

Finnish duo Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas have had two collisions in recent races, so the fact that they are disputing fourth place in the drivers' championship helps serve up a decent amount of interest.

Raikkonen may have said at the last race that it wouldn't change his world if he didn't end up on top in this private battle, but you can be sure that Bottas would want nothing more than to end the year as top Finn, and break the Mercedes/Ferrari dominance at the top of the standings.

Further back, there is a fascinating battle for 10th place in the drivers' standings, with Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Max Verstappen all battling for a place in the top half of the field.

It may not be the most important thing that they have ever fought for but, for each of those three, ending the year in the top ten would be a great way to sign off their campaigns.

Is downforce now ruining the racing?

It was interesting to find out from Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe in Brazil just how quickly F1 cars have recovered the loss of downforce that came about when the new 2014 regulations were introduced.

With current cars not quite able to beat historic lap records, there has been a perception that the latest generation of cars are not powerful enough and not delivering enough grip.

The reality is very different though, and it is the only the fact that they are around 140kg heavier than F1's benchmark-delivering machines that is slowing them up.

"The loads we present at the moment aerodynamically are around historic highs," said Lowe. "There is a common perception that we have less downforce than in history, but we have the most or very nearly the most we have ever had."

More downforce, of course, means airflow is ever more critical, and has often resulted in cars being unable to follow each other too well. And that means overtaking becomes near impossible for cars that have similar performance characteristics.

In the last two races, Hamilton was complained about being unable to get on terms with Rosberg because he cannot follow him closely enough through the corners.

Are we getting back to an era where overtaking becomes the exception rather than the rule?

Abu Dhabi in the past, thanks to the arrival of DRS, has at least produced racing where overtaking is possible. If this weekend's event lacks such thrills, then it could be a warning sign that F1 could be braced for some tough times in 2016.

Deals to be done

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has become a big hit from the business perspective, with sponsors, and the big CEOs using it as a venue for important meetings.

This weekend will be no exception, as there remain plenty of big deals to be sorted that are vital if F1 is to look forward to 2016 full of optimism.

The key ones that will be grabbing everyone's attention will be what is happening at Lotus and Red Bull, as Renault closes in on a decision about its F1 future.

Red Bull wants to be in a position to announce its 2016 engine plans this weekend, while Lotus is hoping that Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn gives the final green light to a team takeover that will resurrect the French car manufacturer's works outfit.

In the background too will be Force India's hopes of luring Aston Martin on as a commercial partner, while the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone's push for an independent engine will again likely be a hot talking point.

The action in the paddock will once again just as intense as that taking place out on the circuit.
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FIA Drivers Press Conference



PRESS CONFERENCE


First of all then, a question to you all: how would you sum up your year and what was your favourite moment? Romain, why don’t you get us started.

Romain GROSJEAN: Well, I think the favourite moment is pretty easy – Spa Francorchamps, the podium. To summarise the year: it was a pretty good year I think in terms of driving. We had a good baseline to start the year with the car. We couldn’t really update it as much as we wanted but still fighting for sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, so pretty pleased with that and yeah, last year with Lotus.

And Daniil?
Daniil KVYAT: Well, a very eventful year I would say, it went by very quickly. I think the start was quite painful but then I think I’m proud of how we managed to climb our way up through all the issues that we had to start with and then I think we kind of stabilised there. Some strong races and some good points, but obviously we are always looking for more in the future. The highlight I think was the podium, even though I wouldn’t say it was the best race. We had a couple of really strong races, I would say even the last couple of races I was quite pleased about them. Hoping to finish on high here, yeah.

Kimi?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Pretty average, I must say. Better than last year but still far away from what it should be. But there’s life and next year we’ll try again.

Roberto?
Roberto MERHI: Yeah for sure we started in a very difficult way, with no testing and to be honest I never drove this car before. But I think through the year the thing improved quite a lot – I mean the team and also the car and also me, driving the car. I think the last races were quite good. And obviously the best moment of the year I would say were the last laps in Silverstone with the wet or maybe the qualifying in Spielberg was quite good.

And Fernando, how would you sum up your year and can you pick out a favourite moment?

Fernando ALONSO: Well, tough year, obviously difficult and struggling with the pace all year and the reliability, so definitely a difficult season for us. But personally I think it was necessary. It was a step forward in my career after the two championships, after five fantastic seasons fighting for the world championship but arriving second, so I needed some new motivation, some new project that I could trust and I could believe is the only way to become champion again. After one difficult season, as I said, I learn so much. I enjoy working with McLaren, with Honda, with all the Japanese discipline and Japanese culture into the team. I still remain very positive. I’m very, very happy and looking forward to next year being a little bit easier than this one that, as I said, has been difficult in terms of results.

And finally, Lewis, how would you sum up your year. So many favourite moments I’m sure, difficult to pick one?

Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, what can I say? Obviously all different experiences but it has been the best year of my career and I’m in a very fortunate position, a lot of great work done by my team. Probably one of the best races for me was Austin obviously, the pinnacle of the year for me. Yeah, and excited to be here in Abu Dhabi, with the 44th UAE national day and I’m here to try to win that 44th race, which I still haven’t done, so it’s cool how it all kind of ties in.

Did you see all the 44s around here did you think that was for you, rather for the day?

LH: Well it is my number, it’s associated with me, so….

Fernando, you mentioned there it has been a tough season and it’s coming to an end here. Your 252nd grand prix start, it puts you fifth on the all-time most experienced drivers list. You talked a bit there about motivation and I just wondered what is your main motivation and goal for 2016.

FA: At the moment there’s a question mark, I guess, where McLaren-Honda can be next year. There are a lot of expectations in the team. I think we worked really all season, being united in some difficult moments and always moving forward, so I think for 2016 the main goal for the team is to come back to where we belong, we think, and being competitive, fighting for the top positions. I don’t know if that means fighting for the championship, I don’t know if that means fighting for victories of just being on the podium sometimes, that’s always difficult to know in a very complex sport like Formula One. There are definitely some big challenges ahead in this winter and I see all the things that the team has done in the last couple of months and these seem very logical, very positive and I’m confident that it’s going to be a completely different season next year and I’m happy with the progress.

Thank you. Lewis, coming back to you, I know you are very aware of fans on social media and the discussions that take place. There’s been a lot of discussion for this final round about whether you and your team-mate Nico Rosberg should be allowed to go for it with whatever strategy you want to use on Sunday in a sort-of end-of-season free-for-all. What are your thoughts on that?

LH: I don’t really have any thoughts on it, to be honest. It doesn’t really make any difference what my thoughts are. We’re going to be racing… the strategists will give us the best… whoever’s up ahead will have the best strategy and the guy behind will have the second best strategy, so I don’t really have any thoughts on that.

OK. Romain, coming back to you, your 83rd and final grand prix for the Enstone-based team, currently Lotus. You’ve scored 10 podiums for the team, so in what mood do you say goodbye this weekend?

RG: yeah, it’s the first time of my career that I have had to change teams in Formula One, so it’s something new. The first time I went to Enstone was September 2005, as one of the driver development and I learned everything from there. So yeah it’s going to be… switching off the car on Sunday, jumping out of the E23 and thinking that was the last race with the team is certainly going to be quite hard. On the other hand I really want to push hard all weekend long to score good points, do a good result, thank the guys for all the support, through tough times, better times as well and I think we did both learn from those years, so it was a nice experience. Very much looking forward to the next one as well, it’s going to be very exciting with Haas. It’ll be good to have a good weekend and say goodbye in a proper way.

Thank you. Daniil, a season of two parts personally for you. From Monaco onwards it’s gone well. Your 10 points ahead of your team-mate with one race to go, so what aspect of your performance this year has given you the most satisfaction?

DK: Yeah, like you said, since Monaco we probably started to follow the right path more of less, a bit technically, a bit myself, but to be honest it didn’t change much. An up and down season but we scored some good points, we managed to start taking the maximum out of the package most of the weekends. These things kind of give satisfaction but of course we are looking for more performance and we are not yet where we want to be but for sure it doesn’t take one day to be there. So we will keep pushing. Like I said there were some good races in Spa, in Mexico and Brazil where I think we were taking the absolute maximum out of the car and we need to try to do this every weekend.

Roberto, back in the cockpit for Manor this weekend. A lot of change going on in that team. Can you tell us about the team’s prospects and your own?

RM: Yeah obviously Manor wants to do a step for next year, to try to be fighting for points every race, every grand prix and they are putting a lot of effort on it and hopefully it goes well. The plan also for me next year is to try to stay in Formula One and trying to see what is the best options out there and yeah we will see. At the moment there is nothing clear yet but we will look in the next few weeks to see what is happening.

Q: Finally, Kimi, both your team principal Maurizio Arrivabene and team-mate Sebastian Vettel have said the target for next season is to challenge Mercedes for the championship. How do you analyse the progress this year towards that – and do you think it’s achievable?

KR: Obviously this year has been a lot stronger year from the team than previous year and you can easily see it from whichever way you look at it and it all comes to next year. Obviously that’s the aim: the aim is always to try to be in the front and Mercedes has always been very strong last years and everybody else tries to beat them. Is it going to happen? Are we going to be in a position next year? We hope so at least. We have to wait until we put the cars on the circuit in a test and the first few races – then we really see where we are. Obviously there’s a lot of work being done at the factory, number and stuff but it’s never the same until we’re really on the circuit. Then we can see it pretty well, or feel it quite quickly, after a few laps, if it’s going to a good one or not so good one. I’m sure we’re going to have a strong package – but is it strong enough? Time will only tell.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Khodr Rawi - motorsport.com) Question to Fernando. Fernando, how realistic is to be beat Sauber and finish ahead of them in Constructors’ Championship here in Abu Dhabi? Do you think it’s realistic?

FA: I don’t know really. I think it’s unlikely. I think they are nine points ahead, I think, and we score points three or four times this year only, so to score as many as ten in one race, in the final race is a little bit difficult but, you know, I think we will try to do our best. We will try to perform a good weekend but I think our minds are on next year’s project and probably half of the car is next year’s parts or next year’s philosophy as well so I think we are not too worried about beating Sauber this weekend or not.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, Bahrain, P2 was your best result for two years. Has it been also been also the best weekend for you during this times at Ferrari lately?

KR: The end result was probably best but it doesn’t meant that we are somehow better than other weekends. The end result, it just looks good. But it’s not been the easiest few years but that’s how it goes, y’know? We improved a lot from last year but we’re still not happy and when I don’t finish five races it’s quite a big… many races out of how many we’ve done so far this year. You don’t expect to be very high up and fighting for a lot. So, we have to improve and I’m sure we can still improve it and next year is a new challenge. Let’s see. I’m sure we can do better.

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to Romain Grosjean. How much are you worried by the delay of the building of your cars?

RG: Something we have experienced in the past. We have always managed to put it on track on time. As long as it’s ready for FP2 then I’m happy. We’ll try to forget that, as we’ve shown in, I think it was Suzuka and Brazil when we were a little bit late. We did manage to put the car on track and go for it. It’s just harder work for the guys who don’t deserve this – but they are going to do the maximum and then from there we try to score some good points.

Q: (Joy Chakavarty - Sport 360) My question is for Romain. Romain this is the first time that you’re joining a second new team. How different is the feeling when you were joining the F1 for the first time and now, after 83 races, joining another new team. Can you just give us an idea of the mix of emotions that you have right now? Sense of anticipation for next year? Kind of sadness or sorrow? Whatever for leaving the team behind now?

RG: Yeah, I think you summarise it pretty well. It’s sad to leave… more than a team it becomes a family through the years. It’s going to be hard to leave the guys but I know they won’t be far in the paddock so that’s good news. On the other hand there’s real excitement at joining a new team, a new adventure, an American Formula One team is going to be great. Looking forward to it and going to Haas is a very different thing. So I came the first time in Formula One as a rookie. Everything to learn. Right now I’m going in a new team and I’ve probably got the experience they were looking for. We try to be successful as soon as we can – but it’s quite different. It feels better now than it was the first time. Easier.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Honorary) Lewis, after your visit to the NASCAR race last week, what did you see there that would be really cool for the fans or competitors in F1? Or perhaps something you saw that said no way should come to Formula One?

LH: I don’t know, I’d have to really think about that. There were definitely some things that for sure they do a lot better than us. Or, whether it’s a lot better… but there were for sure things that we could learn from them. It was a great show, a great spectacle, particularly for the fans. A bit like DTM, the fans get very, very close to the garages in the background and to the drivers and… what else? Otherwise it was a really cool event. I hope I get to do one one day.

Q: (Wafa Suqqar - beinsports) Kimi, after the second round in Malaysia, Ferrari fans feeling better that maybe this year will be different. What Ferrari can promise the fans about 2016?

KR: Like I said before, we’re going to give our best and hopefully it’s enough to fight for championships. We keep improving, following our own way of doing the things that we’ve done from last year to this year and hopefully then it’s enough to be where we want to be as Ferrari. So, we can promise a lot of things. Is it going to happen? Who knows? I really hope for all the guys there in Ferrari that we will come back strong – or stronger next year than this year – but there’s no point to make big promises. We’re going to do our best and then we’ll see.

Q: (Walter Koster – Saarbrucker Zeitung) Gentlemen, last year Sochi, this year Mexico, next year Baku in Azerbaijan; three new tracks in three years. Are you looking forward to new tracks or do you regret not returning to the eliminated tracks in the past like Imola, Magny Cours, Istanbul Park or Valencia? This is for the four drivers who know these tracks.

FA: At the end of the day it doesn’t change anything for us. Going to some of the circuits that we raced on for all our careers, like Imola, Magny Cours, Istanbul – they are nice tracks and there is nice tradition there so you enjoy racing at those circuits. When you go to new countries, you open the sport up to new people and to new generations so it’s also quite a good feeling. We are travelling a little bit more. When I started some years ago, there were 16 races; now, next year, they have planned 21 and most of them out of Europe, so it’s definitely more demanding in terms of travelling and preparing the championship but as I said, it’s the direction that the sport chooses and there is the advantage of opening up Formula One to new countries and this is also good news, I think.

LH: Not really much to add to what he said but Fernando’s right, it’s good to go to different countries and to spread the word of Formula One, give them the experience and gain new followers for the sport. Those tracks you mentioned, apart from Imola, were not particularly spectacular tracks anyway so for sure it would be kind of good to keep the balance of the real classic circuits rather than just a bunch of new circuits because the new circuits are generally not as good as the old circuits, they don’t carry the same history or heritage and I think it’s important that we keep really close to the heritage of Formula One which is those old, historic circuits.

KR: It’s always the new places that are quite similar, designed by the same guy, so I’m not saying that they’re not good but they are more the same. I enjoy the older, traditional circuits. You maybe didn’t like Magny Cours, I liked it, not many people, quiet, easy. It was one of the best places to go! I liked the older, they looked a bit nicer, a more normal feeling than when we come here and everything is put – in this case – in a more desert area. I prefer there, it’s easier for people to go to – for us. We go wherever the race is. The weekend itself doesn’t change. We have the same people as here, the timetable is more or less (the same) and the same things happen.

RG: I think it was really great this year to see Mexico was... a very warm welcome from all the fans, it was an awesome weekend. I would like to see Magny Cours back on the calendar, it would be the French Grand Prix, unique for me. Paris? The traffic is not so good. I would like a French Grand Prix. I think Fernando’s point is completely right: in an ideal world you would like to do all of them but it’s not possible so I think we follow the calendar, we like discovering new places but going to Silverstone or in Germany or Barcelona is always quite special.

Q: (Christopher Joseph – Chicane) Romain, earlier Fernando spoke of his appreciation for the influence of the Japanese discipline on him and his team. What are you hoping to get from the influence of the Haas team and the American approach on yourself next season?

RG: Well, I think I have already been seduced by their approach and when I met Gene Haas, trying to pronounce the word properly - it’s very hard for a Frenchman – it was straightaway... the spirit was ‘let’s go racing’ and I liked that. I really liked their philosophy, discovering more and more about America. I didn’t yet get to a NASCAR race, I’m on the backfoot on that but I will probably go next year and I think there is this American spirit with the European base as the team is going to be in between Italy and Banbury in the UK and then all the management in the US. So it can be a great mix.

Q: (Graham Cagill - The National) Lewis, you’ve won here twice before and you were well on your way to winning in 2012 as well before the car let you down and you’ve had two pole positions also, so I think it’s fair to say that you go well here. Just wondering if there’s any reason why you think you go so well here and what your expectations are for this weekend?

LH: I don’t know; I guess there are some tracks that suit some drivers’ styles more than others. Ideally you would like your style to suit everywhere exactly the same but there are some that you just happen to go better at. I know this is a bit like a karting track, there’s a lot of late braking and bouncing off kerbs and really having to throw the car around. It works for an aggressive driving style, I guess and yeah, I’ve had some great experiences here, even from the first race which I was leading but – (to Kimi) you won the first race didn’t you? – I’m thinking you might have won the first race maybe. Someone won the first race after my car failed but a great experience. It’s always a good finale here, you’ve got some good battles, the weather’s always fantastic, great fans and for me this weekend is... I’ve had an amazing year here last year and I’m here to try to do something similar.

[BogdanB]

Ko je Filip na forumu

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Nema ga.
Momak ima sajt koji sadrži vijesti za Motogp i F1 i to je to al su ga onako mahinalno nazvali forumašem.

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Trening2 na SK6. 14:00.

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Trening2

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Izjave vozača nakon prva dva treninga


Manor:

Spoiler

Roberto Merhi
“It’s fantastic to be back in the car again; I’ve really missed the racing. Today was my first taste of the Yas Marina Circuit and it’s great. The track was a little bit green today maybe, but I’m sure it will improve as the weekend continues. I experienced quite high tyre degradation on the longer runs, but tonight we’ll be working on set-up and I’m sure we’ll have a solution for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to my first qualifying since Sochi, and of course the race.”

Will Stevens
“It’s been a really good Friday, with plenty of work completed. I love the circuit and it has special memories for me, having made my debut here last season. We need to work on the set-up a little more, to improve some issues with tyre degradation on the option tyre on longer runs. We’ll look at that some more this evening, but last year the track came up quite a lot, so hopefully the graining we’re seeing on the front tyre will be easier to manage in the race.”

Sauber:

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Marcus Ericsson
“A quite challenging day. We tried some set-ups on the car under different track conditions, with higher temperatures in FP1 and lower ones in FP2. Overall, but especially in FP2, it was difficult to find a set-up for the car I felt comfortable with. Now we have to analyse the data during the night, so that we can make the right changes which could put us in a better shape tomorrow.”

Felipe Nasr
“In the morning we did some aero measurements to collect further important data. After that on the car side we tried out different adjustements. In FP1 the temperatures were, of course, higher than in the late afternoon session, so we had to make the right changes. However, I do not think we worked the tyres in the right direction for the lower temperatures in FP2. There is still room for improvement in finding the appropriate tyre temperatures. It is only Friday, so we need to look into the data to understand things better.”

Wiliams:

Spoiler

Valtteri Bottas:
It was a normal Friday, going through our set-up tests with both cars. We got all the results we wanted but we are a little behind our performance goals, so we're trying to find something for better lap times tomorrow.

Felipe Massa:
I expected a little bit better. We didn't improve so much from the soft tyre to the super soft, compared to some other cars, so this is the point we need to make better tomorrow. Also, the tyres were not 100% ready for the first lap on the super soft. I don't think these are big problems to understand, so I hope everything can work well tomorrow.

Forc Indija:

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Sergio Perez
“Today has been a good start to our race weekend, despite the brake issue we experienced in the evening session. The first session is not very representative of race conditions here, because the track temperatures are much higher than you would have in the evening, so we took the opportunity to try a few test parts that will help us in the development of next year's car. FP2 was a very positive session: I felt comfortable in the car from the start and the changes we made worked well. Our long run programme was interrupted by the brake issue, but we have plenty of data from Nico's runs that we can analyse tonight. The baseline set-up we worked on is already quite good, so we're in good shape for tomorrow."

Nico Hülkenberg
“I’m feeling pretty happy with a successful day and lots of laps under our belt. In the morning we had a busy programme with several test items and future development work, which went to plan and gave us a lot of information. The afternoon was straightforward with no issues and our one-lap performance looks quite competitive. There is still room to improve with our long runs so we need to do our homework tonight and understand what we can change for tomorrow. Overall I’m feeling positive about our performance today.”

Toro Roso:

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Max Verstappen
“This morning’s FP1 was a good start to the weekend. We started to understand the track and the car, as well as working on the balance. Of course, the position where we ended up this morning isn’t where we wanted to be, but we are not that worried yet. We had a similar situation in Brazil and in the end we were competitive. In this afternoon’s FP2 we continued our programme, trying to set up the car in a better way and I think we went in the right direction. If we now put everything we’ve learned from today in place, we are almost there. I hope for a good rest of the weekend here in Abu Dhabi.”

Carlos Sainz
“It hasn’t been a straightforward Friday… definitely not the day we wanted. We had a few issues in the morning which didn’t allow us to run as much as we would’ve wanted. Therefore, it wasn’t a very representative FP1. This afternoon everything was going well, but with 45 minutes of the session left the engine suddenly switched off… It’s not a good way to start the last race weekend of the season, but luckily it’s still only Friday and we can work on this in order to come back stronger tomorrow.”

Meklaren Honda:

Spoiler

Fernando Alonso
"Many things could be behind this afternoon’s performance: first, I think we’ve made some improvements to the car – the team has kept pushing hard to bring performance. But, second, we probably ran the Supersoft tyre at the optimal point of the session, a little bit later than the others. I’m happy with the car, and our progress, but, unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be ninth-fastest tomorrow. I tried the Supersoft on my long run – as we expected, there’s a bit of graining on that particular tyre, so the race will be tough, but it’ll be the same for everybody.”

Jenson Button
“Our side of the garage was trying very different things from Fernando’s. Our programme was all about gaining an understanding for next year. I’ll be changing my car over to his settings tomorrow, which’ll make it a bit more enjoyable, but it’s all useful learning. Fernando’s performance was very encouraging – we’re pretty happy with that – it’s very promising. I’ll be running that set-up on my car tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes. Our biggest issue on the Supersoft tyre is overheating in the final sector. That makes the car quite pointy, so it’s about looking after the rears while also pushing the fronts hard to make them work in the first sector. It’s a tricky balance and will make for an interesting race.”

Red Bul:

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DANIEL RICCIARDO
“Today was a good day for us. This afternoon we made some adjustments with the set-up from this morning and the evening session is the one that reflects the conditions we will see in qualifying and the race. I was happy with the balance and think we were more or less where we want to be. As always, there’s some fine tuning to do but I’m pleased with where we ended today. Force India were quick and surprisingly strong here. I’m happy with the car. We are pretty much 95% to where we want to be so that’s good for a Friday. As always on Saturday, Ferrari and Williams seem to make a bit more of a step. Hopefully the others don’t close the gap too much but let’s see what happens tomorrow. Sure we can find a little bit more but probably not a whole lot. If we qualify top 5, we’ll be happy.”

DANIIL KVYAT
"It didn’t look too bad today. Overall, the balance wasn’t so great so we have plenty of work to do tonight, to try and find some more stability in the car and try to make it a bit more driveable for me, but it think this is usual on a Friday. It looks very tight from P3 onwards, so I think P3 is an open battle at the moment, but you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Obviously we are aiming to fight for those positions, that would be nice and I'm hoping that the P3 spot will stay as open as it was today and we are able correct the little things we need to correct from today and we will be in the right place tomorrow."

Mercedes:

Spoiler

Nico Rosberg
"It’s been a good start here in Abu Dhabi – but it will be a tough weekend for me as I have quite a high mileage engine in my car. After the Monza problem, we have had to stretch the engine life more than we had planned over the 19 races, so I definitely have a small lack of power on the straights and therefore need to make up extra time in the corners. It will be a big battle with Lewis here. He didn’t really bring together his quick laps, so it will be even closer tomorrow I’m sure. I’m looking forward to it and I definitely want to win this race and give the boys in the garage a reason to celebrate at the end of the season."

Lewis Hamilton
"It’s been a pretty normal Friday. The track is behaving very similarly to how it did last year so there’s not much new to learn there. I didn’t get the best out of the tyres but they’re actually really strong here – especially the super soft. I made some changes to the car between the sessions and so far it’s felt relatively good. The long run pace doesn’t feel quite as strong so that’s something I need to work on. I’ll probably make some more tweaks tonight and hopefully tomorrow it will be better. It’s very hard to overtake here, so of course it’s better to be up on pole. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to win from further back."

Ferari:

Spoiler

Kimi Raikkonen
“It was a normal Friday, everything worked apart from some difficulties with the Supersoft tires in the long run. Maybe the lap times could have been a bit better on the single lap, but overall it was not too bad. I haven’t seen the data from today yet, but it’s only Friday and we don’t know what the others were doing. Obviously there is always something that we can improve, the Mercedes seem to be very fast, but we’ll try to do as good as we can tomorrow. This is a nice place to finish the season, hopefully we can do well.”

Sebastian Vettel
“All in all it is Friday, I think we can still improve and we have to improve. We are a little bit too far behind, I would like the gap to be smaller, and bigger to the cars behind. Force India was surprisingly quick and so was Red Bull Racing. In the first practice session I took some notes on my pad, but this is only my “to do” list for today and tomorrow…”

Lotus:

Spoiler

Jolyon Palmer
“It was good to get even just a handful of laps today and the crew did a great job to get the car fixed. When I saw the car stripped down before FP1 I certainly didn’t expect to be lapping before the end of the session. I pushed hard for the laps we had and I did have a bit of a spin, but no harm done.”

Romain Grosjean
“It’s been a frustrating day as time in my car was limited in both sessions and with me only driving FP2 we’re quite a bit behind where we hoped to be. We have quite a bit of work on the set-up to get it to my liking. Everyone at the track has worked really hard over the past 36 hours and I want to be able to give them a great reward tomorrow.”

Pastor Maldonado
“Today was pretty straight forward and we’ve made good progress. We’ve completed a pretty full programme and we know where we want to go with the car. There haven’t been any surprises for us today so we’re pretty happy and looking forward to tomorrow.”

Pireli:

Spoiler

Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director:
“We saw two very busy sessions and quite a
wide variation in the rate at which teams improved by switching from the soft to the supersoft tyre. This was largely a result of the changing track temperatures, which affect different cars in different ways. However, the track is still evolving, so we’ve not quite seen the full picture yet. During FP1 we experienced some thermal degradation as expected: however this stabilised during FP2, which was more representative of race conditions anyway. Nonetheless, we’d anticipate some degree of thermal degradation to remain a factor during the race, with drivers having to look after the rear tyres in particular.”

[Vanja #66]

Što bi rek'o naš narod - biznis ez južual...

[Dule Krtola]

Checo

[Dule Krtola]

Auuu
Kakav šok

[BogdanB]

Auu,sta se desi ovo? Meni lici na mehanicki kvar

[Dule Krtola]

Pa valjda izgubio snagu u bolidu. Al kako god, gledaćemo barem nešto zanimljivu trku.

[Dule Krtola]

BRAVO CHECO!!!!

[quard1aN]

Koliko je monotono postalo

[BogdanB]

Kako postalo monotono, vidis da je Kimi treci, a Fetel nije prosao Q1?

Послато са GT-I9300 користећи Тапаток 2