2018 F1 challlenge round 21: Abu Dhabi Discussion thread

That had to be one of the more interesting races in Abu Dhabi, not that the Yas Marina Circuit has a glittering history of producing exciting racing. Mind, it was interesting enough at the front and entertaining in the midfield. It doesn’t happen very often, but the Grand Prix was more exciting than the F2 races – the GP3 races were dull as well. With Abu Dhabi, you need a fairly sizeable delta to attempt to overtake – quite hard to achieve that with spec machinery. At least with F1 cars, you have different engines and chassis’, thus creating speed differences between the respective machines. Of course, that often doesn’t occur in reality, but last Sunday the respective strengths and weaknesses of the cars created some feisty racing.

I loved Vandoorne making it three-wide to overtake Grosjean and Ocon into turn 11. It was encouraging to see him showing some fighting spirit; a fine racing driver who just hasn’t been in the right situation, like many in F1 – and many at McLaren. Magnussen found himself in a similar situation a few years ago, but thankfully he found refuge at other teams.

Alonso was crafty as ever, refusing to allow Grosjean through on the back straight before turn 8. Grosjean almost had the move complete, so Alonso just extended the braking zone a touch, preventing the Frenchman from moving to the inside. It was pointless, but so entertaining. Alonso drives as if he’s 18 years of age, I love his driving. Fernando maybe wasn’t the absolute best qualifier, but he was one of the best racers in F1. By that, I mean spatial awareness and race craft. Alonso will be fine in other series, because IndyCar and sportscars are as much a racing contest, as they are a speed contest. With overtaking so difficult, F1 has become more about pure speed than racing, with such a premium on qualifying. Take Brendon Hartley; he’s a great racing driver – just lacking that final tenth or two to be a successful F1 driver in 2018.

Truth be told, I think F1 has been pretty good in 2018. The fight at the front was closer; the pressure of the increased competition took its toll on some more than others. The closer fight between Merc, Ferrari and Red Bull made some drivers overreact. The midfield was great between Force India, Renault, Haas and others.

I really hope that Verstappen has a consistent race-winner in 2019. Following the smoky Honda-engined Toro Rosso in Abu Dhabi can’t have been too encouraging for Max, let’s hope that Honda’s 2019 engine is on-par with Merc and Ferrari. Its barley believable how good Verstappen is, he’s already in the head of the top contenders, including Hamilton and Vettel. His race craft, consistency and natural instincts are something special; he is one of few drivers who can make things happen that shouldn’t be possible. Thank goodness that Verstappen drives in F1.

After a year of stability in the regulations, we get yet another raft of aerodynamic changes. The simplified front wings are supposed to make following another car easier. It all sounds great, but the reality is that the teams are scrambling to claw back the downforce they will lose. I wouldn’t be surprised if by mid-season the top cars are as fast as Abu Dhabi 2018. Just like in 2009, this is the fundamental issue; allow engineers to tinker, and they’ll do exactly that. You can’t introduce aerodynamic changes without water tight rules on development. In fairness, the 2019 changes are supposed to be a stop-gap until 2022. I just hope that the 2022 regulations outlaw certain aero development altogether, the teams will hate it, but this is supposed to be a series for the public to watch, and they mostly don’t care about the latest 15-element front wing being introduced - zero relevance, no marketable benefit to the car manufacturers, and extremely costly.

I think the key distinction between Verstappen and other drivers, is that the former never competed in a series directly below F1. Hamilton, Vettel, Ricciardo and others competed in either GP2 or World Series Renault before going to F1. From the moment that Max drove an F1 car he looked ready, despite the vast difference compared to the comparatively basic F3 car he drove in the preceding year. Things like that don’t just happen, that level of almost-instant composure can only come from a few. You only have to look at Leclerc’s early races in F1, and Giovinazzi F1 debut to see how hard it is.

As likeable as Ricciardo is, and as brilliant he is at overtaking, he’s been outpaced by Verstappen this year. It’s easy to look at the number of accidents that Verstappen has had, whilst Ricciardo has been scoring good points and winning. Look at the overall trajectory, though, and it isn’t great for Ricciardo. Particularly towards the end of 2018, Verstappen was more intelligent with his race craft and less calamitous, and he will only get better in that regard.

Verstappen’s rapid route to F1 couldn’t happen today, because of the number of license points it is now required to race in F1. In effect, you have to compete in F2 or something like Super Formula to accumulate enough points for an F1 Super License. I’m trying to imagine if Hamilton had gone straight from Euro F3 and into F1 for 2006, I suspect he wouldn’t have been ready. GP2 gave him experience in something with a lot more power, downforce and technical sophistication, in preparation for F1 in 2007. I think that makes Max’s first few seasons in F1 even more remarkable.  I’m looking forward to seeing how Hulkenberg fares against Ricciardo in 2019. Ricciardo is a Grand Prix winner, but Hulkenberg has fared pretty well against all his teammates in the past. Sainz was the young hotshot for 2018, yet Hulkenberg still managed to out-qualify him and finish ahead of him in the races. As much raw talent as Sainz has, I don’t think 2018 was a great advertisement for the Spainard, especially when one considers the new youngsters turning up – Russell, Norris, Albon.