2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

[f40]

We know he´s a master at hotlapping but we don´t know if much of that is because of the car.

Maybe at times it is, however you've got times like this weekend where Vettel produced his fastest lap at the right time while Lewis Hamilton went 2 tenths slower when it mattered.

 

[niky]

Disregard the discrepancy between Q2 and Q3. The balance of the McLaren changed drastically from Q1 to Q3, as I pointed out earlier, and as both drivers commented on during the post-qualifying conference.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

He actually is - He's the type of driver (much like Alonso) who has the potential to extract the most out of a poor handling car, or a car that isn't exactly planted to the ground, and acting just as you expect or would like it to. Exhaust blowing will be banned next year, so I think it will be interesting to see how Button performs relative to Lewis then - as I do find it rather ironic how Button has really come on now that the exhaust blowing technology has been maximized and the rear of the car has likely become much more stable (something JB really needs in order to be on par with Lewis) on the whole. JB even said some of his recent success has been down to getting the car sorted out and to his liking quite early in the weekend, which again makes me wonder how much of this is down to the EBD (which is quite an efficient & consistant generator for rear downforce).

I think the tyres favour Button's style too. Last year he wasted a lot of tyres as he never pushed them enough and pitted with plenty of life in them. This year he can drive similar to last year as that is what is needed to have good tyre life further on in stints. Jenson would probably agree Lewis will be better in a bad car as he says he is impressed with what Lewis can do with a car that is out of balance. I think it removes Lewis's positives a lot in that he can maximize the performance of the car and tyres to the limit by driving aggressively through the whole race. As Lewis put it at the beginning of the season, he has to drive the car like a granny and prefers last years tyres.

I personally would have preferred durability and performance of last years tyres this year as it would have made wheel to wheel racing more exciting this year with the DRS and Kers. Instead we have people on different strategies getting overtaken quite easily mainly due to tyre wear.

Next year the lap times will be even slower and tyre wear could be even more. The drivers would not have to have to be as fit as in say 2009 or 2010 or 2011 it seems. Will make young drivers making their way into F1 transistion a lot easier .


Anyway congratulations to Lewis on the win 👍. Shame Vettel got out the race so early, could have been an interesting close battle at the front but Lewis probably would have been in the same place as Fernando.

 

[Ardius]

Next year the lap times will be even slower and tyre wear could be even more. The drivers would not have to have to be as fit as in say 2009 or 2010 or 2011 it seems. Will make young drivers making their way into F1 transistion a lot easier ..

The signs suggest completely the opposite. Pirelli are going to make super durable Bridgestone-esque tyres. Did you even watch this race? The only overtakes I recall from tyre wear were on Di Resta and Perez and that was due to them being on a slightly different strategy to everyone else.

Personally I preferred the high-wear tyres from the start of the year. It was more interesting. Now its sort of gone back to the pre-2011 norm of everyone maintaining position bar DRS and KERS intervention. I'm not really looking forward to 2012 in this respect. I still strongly dislike the DRS and it seems F1 is heading towards almost entirely DRS-created racing.

Earlier this year, perhaps a diverging strategy like Alonso and Ferrari tried at this race might have worked better due to their better tyre life. But now it means nothing as the tyres last much longer and give a decent performance consistently. There is no more big drop-off and no more drama near the end of the race where some drivers' gambles on pitting earlier begin to affect their pace.

If we're going to take tyres and fuel strategy out of the equation, then we should at least replace it with some decent naturally created racing on track. Problem is, no one has sorted this out yet. DRS is not the answer but sadly people in F1 seem to think it is.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

The signs suggest completely the opposite. Pirelli are going to make super durable Bridgestone-esque tyres. Did you even watch this race? The only overtakes I recall from tyre wear were on Di Resta and Perez and that was due to them being on a slightly different strategy to everyone else.

Personally I preferred the high-wear tyres from the start of the year. It was more interesting. Now its sort of gone back to the pre-2011 norm of everyone maintaining position bar DRS and KERS intervention. I'm not really looking forward to 2012 in this respect. I still strongly dislike the DRS and it seems F1 is heading towards almost entirely DRS-created racing.

Tyres are said to have not changed much, it depends more on the track. Perez did a one-stopper in the first race. Teams know more about the tyres now so strategies will get more and more similar now too. Yes I watched the race. Webber overtook Button when he went for the crazy strategy idea.

The problem with the tyres is that they lack performance in race. The race pace of the cars this year is so much slower than last year IIRC even counting for the double diffuser loss. If only Bridgestone stayed a year longer we could potentially have seen close wheel to wheel racing as the tyres would have more grip and the drivers would be driving flat out for longer than driving carefully as they are doing now and Kers and DRS might have worked more to plan. I personally don't like the direction F1 is heading regards to speed and the kind of endurance racing they have. Soon the cars will be of similar speed to older lower Formula cars and that is not a good thing for me. Hopefully next year will not all be about driving carefully as long as possible and that Pirelli tyres can maintain a higher level of performance before drop off point.

 

[homeforsummer]

Personally I preferred the high-wear tyres from the start of the year. It was more interesting. Now its sort of gone back to the pre-2011 norm of everyone maintaining position bar DRS and KERS intervention. I'm not really looking forward to 2012 in this respect. I still strongly dislike the DRS and it seems F1 is heading towards almost entirely DRS-created racing.

Agreed that the tyre wear for the first half, two-thirds of the season made for interesting racing. It really brought some drivers' talents to the front - basically, those who can manage their tyres.

DRS is hit and miss. I don't mind it being there, but I'd prefer to see it used in the race as it is in qualifying, so drivers with the biggest cojones would have the option to use it more frequently - around corners, on the shortest of straights etc if they wanted - just to perhaps create an overtaking opportunity in more unlikely places.

 

[hampus_dh]

The cars will start slightly slower then the beginning of this year but at the end of 2012 they will be just as fast if not faster in raw pace.

But still, todays cars are dogs without their DRS and KERS.

EDIT: Love this one, Button just hates Vettel´s finger

 

[Crushed]

Someone please PLEASE tell me why Mark Webber went to the PITS on the LAST lap!!!??? WHYYYY!!!!!!!!?????????

 

[Cowboys965]

Someone please PLEASE tell me why Mark Webber went to the PITS on the LAST lap!!!??? WHYYYY!!!!!!!!?????????

Because he had to use the harder tire compound.

 

[RTSolvalou]

Clearly the double DRS zone was a miserable failure here, only one was needed, and we all knew it would be before the race started. I like the idea of DRS but their paranoia about not having enough action is causing these poor decisions.

Currently we have artificial (or extraficial) downforce, artificial tyre deterioration and artificial overtaking, bernie's considering artificial rain, what's next? Although I would love to see an artificial driver/bot racing everyone.

----
I think Petrov did well to nab 13th under his cicumstances, and even moreso for Button.

Despite the obvious it was still a bit of a bore, but it would have been rude to stop watching the race, I realistically think we should see Petrov (and/or hopefully Senna) fighting for 6th/7th in Brazil, I think some 'unfortunations' for the race hampered the Renaults hidden improved form here.

 

[hampus_dh]

Renault isn´t that quick in the slow corners and Brazil have a few of them,

 

[Bobert power]

Vettel LOST!!!!! I hate Vettel. How about that Mclaren ye got 'dere!

 

[Blaze_409]

hehehehe. "What really happened to Vettels Tire"

 

[Imari]

There is a distinct lack of grassy knolls at Abu Dhabi.