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F1 2013: Abu Dhabi GP Review – Juggernaut Vettel Crushes Competition

It isn’t only Kimi Raikkonen who knows what he’s doing around the Yas Marina circuit. Sebastian Vettel delivered yet another dominant display to take victory by half a minute at the 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Mark Webber secured pole position with a stonker of a lap from Vettel on Saturday and if one driver had the ability to challenge the four time champ it was the Australian; or so it appeared. A controversial weekend for the Lotus team got significantly worse as Raikkonen, who qualified fifth overall, was relegated to the back of the starting grid. The Lotus failed a floor deflection test after the qualifying session.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton secured the second row of the grid in their quest for second overall in the constructor’s championship. Contrastingly, Fernando Alonso endured a difficult session in which he failed to advance to the third part of qualifying. Felipe Massa, supposedly on the verge of signing a 2014 deal with Williams, managed to squeak through to the top ten shoot-out.

Nevertheless, race day is the one that counts and seeing as Vettel has put together a near perfect season there was no reason to suspect he would not ace the start of this race either. He did exactly that as he swooped into the lead of the race as the red lights extinguished and never looked back. A Singapore-style domination ensued and Vettel was more than a minute ahead of sixth place by lap 35. Alonso was the sixth placed man.

There was to be no repeat of 2012 for Raikkonen as the Finn suffered damage to his steering in a collision with Giedo van der Garde’s Caterham in Turn One. Raikkonen was the only retirement in the race but insisted that he had no regrets about the decision not to start from the pitlane after his exclusion from qualifying. “I went to the inside and then somehow managed to touch with a Caterham,” Raikkonen explained. “We didn’t touch hard but I think the angle was very unlucky and it broke the steering.” It was also revealed that Raikkonen’s management and Lotus team owner Gerard Lopez had reached a provisional agreement to settle their financial issues. The agreement will see the Finn race at the final two races of the season.

Without a care in the world, Vettel was in a class of one with an untouchable pace of 1.5 to 2 seconds faster than anyone else. The most frightening thing was that Vettel was hardly pushing to the limit of what the Red Bull is capable of. The competition must shudder to think what the Red Bull would truly be able to pull out if it was under pressure.

As Vettel disappeared down the road quicker than the sun could set, the dice for second remained close all the way to the chequered flag. Rosberg ran second for the first quarter of the race ahead of Mark Webber who was suffering with a slight KERS issue. By the 20th lap however, AussieGrit was on it once more and took second place from Rosberg. Romain Grosjean kept both the Mercedes and Red Bull honest throughout the race but was unable to mount a challenge for the remaining steps of the podium.

Hamilton endured a difficult afternoon after qualifying on the second row of the grid. The Brit fell back into the field and admitted after the race that he had to do a better job to match teammate Rosberg. “Clearly with Nico’s result the car’s better than what I’m able to bring home with it,” said Hamilton. “Same old … different day. It’s the same every race. It can’t be other people’s fault. Nico’s been getting great points for the team. I just need to work harder to try to do the same.”

Several incidents throughout the race required the stewards’ attention but only Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release in the pitlane. Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado were under investigation for exceeding the track limits as was Alonso. The incident involving Sutil and Maldonado was chalked up to a racing incident, but Alonso’s off track excursion was reserved for judgement after the race. The Spaniard switched to the soft compound tyres on lap 44 and rejoined the circuit alongside Jean-Eric Vergne. However, Alonso was outside of the track limits, as indicated by the white lines, when he made the pass on the Toro Rosso driver. Alonso was quoted post race as saying that Vergne should have given him more space. The stewards agreed with Alonso and no penalty was imposed.

As Vettel, Webber and Rosberg wrapped up the podium ahead of Grosjean, Alonso’s last dash on the soft compound tyres earned him the fastest lap and fifth overall. Paul di Resta resisted pressure from Hamilton in the closing stages of the race to finish sixth. Hamilton managed seventh place on the day as Felipe Massa, who enjoyed a long stint ahead of his teammate, brought his Ferrari home in eighth place. Sergio Perez snatched ninth place from Sutil on the final lap as they rounded out the points paying positions.

The untouchable Sebastian Vettel celebrated his seventh consecutive victory with several donuts. Vettel was fined 25 000 Euros in India for celebrating his fourth world title in the same manner but didn’t receive the same punishment this time as he returned the car to parc ferme.

Vettel’s race engineer, Rocky, instructed the German to bring the car back to the pits to which Vettel responded : “Let me quote: Yeah, yeah, yeah I know what I’m doing.” It seems he most certainly does.

November 3, 2013
Raikkonen excluded from qualifying – will start at the back of the grid

Kimi Raikkonen has been excluded from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying following a floor deflection test failure. He will now start the race from the back of the grid.

The stewards summoned the Lotus team earlier after considering telemetry data and video footage, so that the team could argue their case following the floor deflection test which was performed on his Lotus E21 as well as Hulkenberg’s Sauber.

The left hand side of the floor of Raikkonen’s Lotus was found to deflect more than the permitted 5mm vertically when the testing load was applied to it.

Lotus investigated and found that the issue was caused by the broken floor which had broken due to kerb damage but the stewards have not accepted their explanation.

The statement issued by the FIA said: “The stewards heard the explanation of the team that the relevant part broke upon contact with a kerb.

“However, the stewards did not accept that the incident referred to constituted an accident, or excused failing the relevant test.”

So it would seem that since the stewards have previously accepted the same explanation for Grosjean in Hungary, they are not willing to let it go a second time. Perhaps Lotus should have taken steps to ensure that the same thing did not happen again.

Raikkonen will now start from the back of the grid.

November 2, 2013
Raikkonen’s car fails floor test after qualifying

Kimi Raikkonen could lose his fifth place position on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix grid after his car failed the floor deflection test during a technical inspection following the qualifying session.

According to a statement from the stewards, “car number seven [Raikkonen] did not comply with Article 3.17.5 of the 2013 FIA Formula One Technical Regulations as the front floor deflected more than 5mm vertically when the load was applied vertically to it at the point which lies 100mm of car centre line on the [left-hand side].”

Lotus team members have been summoned to the stewards to argue their case. If there was a broken part, or the floor had been damaged during qualifying, he could escape penalty.

Raikkonen’s team mate, Romain Grosjean, escaped a penalty at the Hungarian Grand Prix after his car failed the same test. At the time, the stewards ruled that his floor had been damaged and so no penalty was given.

Stewards today said that Raikkonen and Hulkenberg’s cars had been tested, but the Sauber had complied and the Iceman’s car failed the test.

If penalised, it is likely that Raikkonen will be excluded from qualifying and will start from the back of the grid.

Follow @F1_Madness on Twitter for the latest news and updates on the situation as well as all other F1 news and live commentary on race weekends.

November 2, 2013
Wonderful Webber on Pole in Abu Dhabi

Red Bull’s Mark Webber put in a scintillating flying lap in Q3 to take pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

With both the Red Bulls on the back foot through Q1 and Q2, they seemed to have found some extra pace in Q3 to lock out the front row with Mark Webber in P1 with a 1:39.957 and Sebastian Vettel in P2 with a 1:40.075. Vettel who wasn’t very far behind is team mate made a mistake at the exit of T1 on his flying lap by running wide onto the astro-turf and lost a bit of time there.

The Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton locked out the second row of the grid in P3 (1:40.419) and P4 (1:40.501) respectively. Both Rosberg and Hamilton were in the top two in Q1 and Q2 and were faster than both the Red Bulls. But they were no match for the Red Bulls who seemed to have found a bit of extra pace in Q3. Hamilton’s final Q3 run did not end the way he wanted it as he had an over steer moment coming out of the T13 chicane. He ran wide over the kerbs and spun. “Something gave way on the right side of the car. I got out of the chicane and something snapped on the car” said Hamilton.

Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen will line up 5th on the grid alongside Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg who had another strong qualifying session in 6th. The other Lotus of Romain Grosjean will start in P7 with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in P8. McLaren’s Sergio Perez (P9) and and Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo (P10) round up the top 10.

It was another bad qualifying for Fernando Alonso who could only manage P11. It is the first time in the 2013 season where Alonso did not go through to Q3. “A difficult weekend for us. We are not competitive. My laps were not clean. We will see what we can do with a fresh set of tyres in the race” said Alonso. McLaren’s Jenson Button was the other big name that did not appear in Q3. Button, whos qualified in P13, was left feeling rather frustrated with his performance saying that everything for them today was a challenge. “We were maxed out on front wing from the word go. There’s nothing much we could do” said Button after being knocked out at the end of Q2.

Below is the full timing sheet from the 2013 Fomrula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

November 2, 2013
F1 2013: Practice 3 Report – Abu Dhabi GP

Sebastian Vettel headed the timing sheets of the third free practice session ahead of the Abu Dhabi grand prix.

The newly crowned four time world champion was followed by teammate Mark Webber as Red Bull again locked out the top two positions in the standings. The session got underway with a track temperature of 47 degrees Celcius; three degrees warmer than Friday’s first free practice session.

Several drivers including Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso endured several off track excursions during the session but sustained no damage. Marussia’s Jules Bianchi was as fortunate as contact with the barrier brought a slightly premature end to his session. However, the Ferrari of Alonso looked a handful as the Spaniard was shown sawing away at the wheel of the car as the coaxed it through the corners around Yas Marina circuit.

Pastor Maldonado and Valterri Bottas ran the Williams with a revised exhaust system and both driver’s provided encouraging feedback. The system is a reversion to an ‘old-style’ system which sees the exhaust exit to top of the body work.

The qualifying simulation, run on the yellow walled soft tyres, revealed an average gain of 1,7 seconds but several drivers were able to gain more than two seconds during their run. Nevertheless, we are of course unaware of the different fuel levels that are being run by teams in practice sessions.

The Mercedes pairing of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton appeared as the best of the rest behind the Red Bulls. Interestingly, Mark Webber set the quickest first and second sector while Vettel came out tops in the final sector of the lap. Abu Dhabi has never been a happy hunting ground for the Aussie but Webber may yet prove Vettel’s stiffest competition in qualifying later on this afternoon.

November 2, 2013
Raikkonen Nearly Boycotts Abu Dhabi GP

Kimi Raikkonen has confirmed that he had to be convinced to attend the final three races of the season including this weekend’s Abu Dhabi grand prix.

The Finn was nowhere in sight of the Yas Marina paddock by Thursday raising speculation about the reason for the 2007 champion’s absence. Although many believed that Raikkonen’s non-appearance was a result of the tension caused by a coarse radio message from trackside operations director Alan Permane during the Indian GP. While what transpired in India played some part it wasn’t the only reason Raikkonen was contemplating not driving at all.

“It’s a small part of it,” Raikkonen told Sky Sport. “Those things shouldn’t happen but unfortunately it happened and that’s not really the issue. It’s the other stuff and obviously all the things come together in the end.

“It’s easy to say that’s the reason why I didn’t almost come, it’s not that simple. Sometimes it’s not very nice when you hear that you don’t have the interests of the team [first] and then you’ve been paid zero euros the whole year.”

It isn’t often that Raikkonen is bothered by anything and it’s an even more rare occurrence for him to talk about behind-the-scenes issues; it says a lot that the 2007 champion has spoken out in the manner that he has.

Since the Indian GP the Lotus PR machine has been working overtime to calm the waters. An interview with team owner Gerard Lopez was posted on Lotus’ official webpage chock full of praise for Raikkonen; quite a turnaround from Singapore where Lopez branded the driver as “ungrateful.”

Raikkonen has further confirmed that he is willing to skip the races in Texas and Brazil if the issues are not resolved.

It is quite difficult to fathom why Lotus’ demeanour towards Raikkonen has taken such a dramatic turn. Surely some gratitude should be shown towards the driver that is consistently delivering points and doing so despite not earning a red cent from them.

November 1, 2013
Vettel On Top in FP2 in Abu Dhabi

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel topped the time sheets at the end of the second free practice session at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The young German set the pace this evening in Abu Dhabi with a 1:41.335 with his team mate Mark Webber P2 with a 1:41.490, 0.155s slower than Vettel. What was also encouraging for Red Bull was the very good long run pace they had on the primes and on the soft option tyre.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished the session in P3 with a 1:41.690, 0.355s off the pace of Vettel. Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen finished P4 with a 1:41.728 and Nico Rosberg ended his session in P5 with a 1:41.758. Raikkonen was very strong on his long run pace this session, his team mate Romain Grosjean who finished FP1 in P1 finished FP2 in P12.

McLaren’s Sergio Perez received some very encouraging news towards the end of the session from his race engineer Andy Latham telling him that they were very similar on pace to Mercedes and they were quicker than Ferrari. Checo ended the session in P6. Jenson Button trailed a very different setup by running a very shallow rear wing. The proof of which reflected in the speed traps where he was quickest.

Ferrari seemed to be struggling for pace in the session. Fernando Alonso ended the session in P8 and his team mate Felipe Massa finished in P10. They’re long run pace seemed to be there about, but nothing close to Lotus or Mercedes. It looks like its going to be a difficult weekend for them.

The full time sheet for the session is included below:

November 1, 2013
Grosjean fastest in first Friday practice at Abu Dhabi

Romain Grosjean topped the time sheets after the first practice session this morning with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton taking up the second spot. Four time world champion, Sebastian Vettel finished the practice session in 3rd place.

The track was super hot with temperatures over 45C and saw Hamilton and Vettel trading quickest times for most of the session. But it was Grosjean who beat the heat to put in the top practice time of 1.44.241 with less than two minutes of the session remaining.

Vettel’s time in third place was just over a quarter of a second slower than Grosjean’s time.

Jenson Button, who finished the session in 8th place once again had difficulty with traction, at one stage complaining to his team, “WOW! We really have no grip at all!”.

Rather surprisingly, both Ferrari drivers finished outside of the top 10 with Fernando Alonso in 12th and Felipe Massa down in 17th place.

Here is the full time sheet for the first free practice session at Abu Dhabi.

Photo by Lotus F1 Twitter Team

November 1, 2013
Abu Dhabi Preview Quotes – Force India

Force India preview quotes ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Paul di Resta, Force India
2012 Qualifying – 13th, 2012 Race – 9th
“We will certainly go to Abu Dhabi to try and repeat the performance (from India). The direction we’ve taken with the car recently is more of a back-to-basics approach, which has helped. It’s given me more confidence and I can be more committed with the car. That’s really important for a driver and it will help us for both qualifying and the race.

“I enjoy driving in Abu Dhabi because it’s a twilight race and one of the more spectacular events of the year – a bit like Singapore. As a track you don’t have to rely too much on aero performance because it’s mostly low-speed and that should suit our car quite well.”

Adrian Sutil, Force India
2012 Qualifying – n/a, 2012 Race – n/a
“Yas Marina is one of the most perfect tracks on the calendar because there’s not a stone out of place! It almost feels like a futuristic venue and with the harbour location it’s like a second Monaco. The track layout is not my favourite because it’s mostly low-speed, but as an event it’s certainly a highlight of the year.”

October 31, 2013
Abu Dhabi GP Preview Quotes – Red Bull Racing

After sewing up both the Driver and Constructors’ Championships for the fourth consecutive year, here’s what the Red Bull Racing team had to say ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP this weekend.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2012 Qualifying – DSQ, 2012 Race – 3rd
“The race in Abu Dhabi is one of the highlights of the racing calendar. Starting at dusk and finishing in the dark makes it pretty impressive. I have special memories of the Abu Dhabi GP after winning the first race here in 2009 and then repeating the victory in 2010 to win my first world championship, that was an event I will never forget.

“The circuit is impressive: 5.5 kilometres, 55 laps counter clockwise with large run-off areas and a pit lane that leads through a tunnel to the other side of the straight. A few key points of the track for me are; Turn 1 because it is very difficult to see and is very fast. The last corners, (Turns 20 and 21) must be regarded as one, because you have to exit perfectly from the first to catch the last corner correctly. The trick here is to get on the throttle as early as possible in order to build up enough speed for the subsequent straight.”

Mark Webber, Red Bull
2012 Qualifying – 2nd, 2012 Race – DNF
“Racing in the twilight and finishing at night with a spectacular backdrop; the Abu Dhabi GP is a unique event in that sense. The track temperature is dropping during the race which is an interesting point for us, performance-wise, with the tyres. Also we’ll have a different visor tear-off for the first part of the race, for the first 10 or 15 laps we’ll have a dark tear-off because of the low sun in the last sector, and then when the sun has gone behind the grandstand we can get rid of that tear off and run a clear one for the rest of the race.”

October 31, 2013