2023 F1's END OF TERM PARTY ABU DHABI GP **Includes POST RACE TESTING**.

[DoubleFart]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Hahaha, that is the most blatantly obvious "We're sending you a message. Consider this a warning shot" action I have seen in years from F1.

[Star]

I've finally seen the race and here are my thoughts, for what they're worth.

Well that race was about as exciting as I expected. It's a good job I wasn't expecting too much as I'd have been disappointed.
Great effort at the start by Leclerc to make something of it and hustle his way by Max, but there was no way he was going to back off and let a car by him. Come on, Max doesn't give way like that, we all know it. Then Norris and Pistri had a bit of a to and fro but in the end Norris was too strong for his rookie teammate. 

Hamilton hitting Gasly and then trying to blame him was a little odd. I mean Gasly had a lock up, he didn't do it on purpose, unlike when Alonso had his 'erratic driving' moment after he'd exited the pits.  Oh and it was nice for Yuki Stunoda to get to lead the race for a few laps. I'm sure he enjoyed that, even if we all knew it wouldn't last long.

The penalty for Perez when he was trying to pass Norris seemed a bit odd to me. They did touch and I guess it was his fault, but he gave the place back like a good boy and then got by him anyway a while later. That penalty affected not only his race but the fight between Ferrari and Mercedes for second place in the championship. It helped Mercedes to beat Ferrari in the end, despite the best efforts of Charles Leclerc to do what he could for the team.

Max won it again, was there ever any doubt? He has 19 wins and he's led 1,000 laps in a season, both of those are records and I am sure he's happy with how it's all gone. There's no doubt he's a hell of a driver and there's every chance that he'll do it all over again next year. Isn't that something to look forward to? Well F1 2023 is done and I'm not that sorry to be honest.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Re Yuki Tsunoda in his spell leading the race he became only the second ever Japanese driver to lead a GP, (and he more than tripled the number of laps led by a Japanese driver.)

Before Yuki the only Japanese driver to have led a GP was Takumo Sato, who led a total of 2 laps (10klms) during the European GP at Nurburgring in 2004.

Yuki blitzed the record and led 5 laps and 26 klms at Abu Dhabi this weekend

Other Odds and Sods from the weekend.

As has been mentioned already Max became the first person in F1 history to lead 1000 laps in a season. He actually led 1003 laps. The previous most laps led in a season was set by Seb Vettel back in 2011 with 739 laps led. If you were going to say oh yes but not surprising given the number of races and laps raced that wont hold water. He led 1003 of the 1325 laps in the season. That equates to over 75%. To put it in perspective in 2011 Seb led 739 of 1133 laps. Thats 65%.

The closest person ever to Max in % of total laps led? Well, that would be Jim Clark in 1963 when he led 506 of 708 laps in the season. Thats 71.5% of all laps in the season that Jim led.

Talking of Jim Clark, Max scored his11th hat-trick weekend (win, pole position and fastest lap).... that ties him with Jim Clark,
(only Hamilton (19) and Schumacher (22)have more.)

Oh a bit of a coincidence but 1003 laps led is the exact number of laps led by McLaren in their record breaking 1988 season. McLaren of course needed two drivers to do that, Prost and Senna.

It was also Max's 4th consecutive win at Abu Dhabi....he had never previously won four consecutive races at the same track.

Max was the only driver to complete every racing lap in the 2023 season.

Lets just make a list of the records Max broke this year:
The most single-season wins (19),
The most consecutive race wins (10),
The most podium finishes (21),
The highest points total (575) and
The largest championship-winning margin (290).

Something not about Max!

Lando came 6th with 205 points. Just one more point would have had him finish 4th. Alonso and Leclerc both scored 206, Nando got 4th on countback.... both Charles and Nando had 3 x 2nd places, but Nando had more 3rd places than Charles. Had Lando scored that point he would have taken 4th on account of his 6 x 2nd places

No win for Lewis again this year... for the 2nd year running. His last win was in 2021 at Jeddah. It brings his average number of wins per year down to 7.

Oh and we had no retirements in the race and that was a first. Not the first time ever (that was Zandvoort in 1961).... but it was the first time a seson finale had no DNF's.


You can now all take the next 96 days off watching GPs. (actually its just 95 days now for me having just passed midnight. 2nd March is the next GP in Bahrain. We have testing before that though. And car launches

@XcraigX you can take the next 90 well deserved days off from dealing with GTP ! (on the basis you post the thread a week befor the GP)

[Star]

Wow, Max has dominated everything, including the stats page

Thanks for doing them as always @Everso Biggyballies I do enjoy reading them. I don't remember them, but I like to see them at least

Yay for Tsunoda breaking that record, bless him.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Just when you thought it was all over for the season......


ABU DHABI POST RACE TESTING

Tuesday 28th November. ie TODAY

Formula 1 has stayed in Abu Dhabi for this week’s post-season test which gives young drivers a chance and an opportunity to learn more about Pirelli tyres.

Who is driving and more

Its actually a bit more than a tyre and rookie driver test as each team will have two cars, one for rookies and one for senior drivers as teams will be trying to get every last piece of data. Im sure many of the teams will also be evaluating bits that they are thinking about for next year and looking for data and feedback as to what is the right track to take.

Technically one car is for rookies ..... a young driver who has no more than two grand prix starts - similar to the FP1 rules. The other car is for drivers with a valid superlicence is designated for Pirelli tyre testing, so that F1 can learn more about the different compounds and how to improve for the following season.

Nonetheless, it is pretty much a normal testing session as teams run different programmes, try new things and extract as much feedback from the drivers as possible. The only difference being is who drives one of the cars.


Who is driving in F1’s 2023 Abu Dhabi post-season test?

Teams will be running many young drivers that have already featured for them in certain FP1 sessions across 2023. McLaren, for example, had IndyCar’s Pato O’Ward in their car for first practice at Yas Marina Circuit and he will be driving for the team again in the post-season test.

There is also Oliver Bearman, who will have an outing in the post-season test after driving for Haas in FP1 in Mexico and Abu Dhabi. However, he will be driving alongside Haas’ long-term reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi instead of Nico Hulkenberg or Kevin Magnussen.

Meanwhile, Williams and AlphaTauri are giving out F1 debuts. Honda protégé Ayumu Iwasa will have his first taste of F1 machinery with AlphaTauri ahead of his move to Super Formula in Japan next year, after finishing fourth in the 2023 F2 championship.

Then there is Franco Colapinto, who came fourth in the 2023 F3 standings. He will be testing for Williams at Yas Marina Circuit in his first F1 outing just days after making his F2 debut, where Colapinto finished 19th in the sprint race but retired from the feature race in Abu Dhabi. He will share driving duties with Zak O'Sullivan.

Team Pirelli Tyre test allocation Young driver allocation

Alfa Romeo TBC TBC

AlphaTauri Daniel Ricciardo/Yuki Tsunoda Ayumu Iwasa

Alpine Esteban Ocon Jack Doohan

Aston Martin Fernando Alonso/Lance Stroll Felipe Drugovich

Ferrari Carlos Sainz/Charles Leclerc Robert Shwartzman

Haas Pietro Fittipaldi Oliver Bearman

McLaren TBC Pato O'Ward

Mercedes George Russell Frederik Vesti

Red Bull Sergio Perez TBC

Williams Alex Albon/Logan Sargeant Franco Colapinto/Zak O'Sullivan

If Williams have not already decided the fate of Logan Sargeant I guess this could be an opportunity for them to look at other junior options. Personally I think they will stick with Sargeant who has improved a lot of late and shown some good pace if not always consistent. He has shown he is worth another go rather than starting from scratch with another.


Can I watch F1’s 2023 Abu Dhabi post-season test on TV?

No the post-season test will not be live televised, so the best way to follow the action is via team social channels or your usual F1 news sights. Some have indicated they will be running "Live updates".

Im not sure of any action in terms of live timing on the F1TV or other F1 Apps ..... if you find one post it here

[Star]

On quick thing, a friend of mine found the following. He's not sure if it's accurate but it could be:

This year is the first time God save the queen has not been played on the podium since 1952.
Not sure how true this is.

I know the national anthem wasn't played this year, but I'm not sure if there have been other years when it wasn't and I haven't had time to look into it. We can blame Max for this one too

[DoubleFart]

You wouldn't hear it now anyway given that Liz has passed, but for sure it's the first time a British driver or team hasn't won in many a year.

Russell 2022
Hamilton 07-21
Button 2006
McLaren/Williams 80-2005

That's just off the top of my head. Once you throw in Lotus, Clark, Stewart etc and it's pretty easy to see how Britain has had a team or driver win a race for 70 years.

[Star]

I was just thinking about it, don't they play the anthems after the sprint races? If they do, (and I don't watch them so I wouldn't know) Oscar Piastri won one of them and he drives for McLaren, a British team. So it could have been played then.

[Everso Biggyballies]

I was just thinking about it, don't they play the anthems after the sprint races? If they do, (and I don't watch them so I wouldn't know) Oscar Piastri won one of them and he drives for McLaren, a British team. So it could have been played then.

Im pretty sure they dont do the full podium thing for the Sprint races, more an informal thing in pitlane handing out plaques and stuff. It is I think to do with making the full GP result a bit more special and unique.

Of course at Qatar I remember thinking and commenting about how all the post Sprint race attention was focussed on Max because he had ties up hiss WDC in the Sprint Race. I remember his car was on a plinth with nothing comparable to suggest Piastri or McLaren had won the race we had just seen.

The other thing I vividly remember is they had a quick handing out of the winners plaques on a small plinth about 6 inches high, and Max joined them and was interviewed first with a very naff yo have joined the likes of other WDC x3 legends Lauda Stewart Senna Brabham Piquet thing and the only thing musical they played was 'We are the Champions" endlessly.

In a nutshell no British Anthem played this year in F1 circumstances.. Last time that it was heard was in its "Gods Save the King" form after Russell won the 2022 Brazilian GP. The last time God Save the Queen was played was Saudi Arabia 2021 when Lewis won.

You wouldn't hear it now anyway given that Liz has passed, but for sure it's the first time a British driver or team hasn't won in many a year.

Russell 2022
Hamilton 07-21
Button 2006
McLaren/Williams 80-2005

Button also won with McLaren in 2010/11 and 12. Brawn would like to remind you about 2009.
McLaren called to say Italy 2021, and Williams mentioned Maldonado winning in a Williams in 2012

[DoubleFart]

I could have quoted all of the above, but I'm on mobile and if I quoted all of the British winners I could recall I'd probably have arthritis by the end

Believe me, I didn't enjoy writing the Hamilton line.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Believe me, I didn't enjoy writing the Hamilton line.

Lol.... at least we can write and say that Lewis Hamilton is the only Mercedes full time F1 driver NOT to have won a race either Sprint Race or Full GP since Jeddah 2021.

Did I mention Lewis has NEVER won a sprint race That makes him the ONLY Mercedes driver not to have won a Sprint Race. (Bottas won two in 2021) Lewis has only ever had 3 podiums out of 12 starts.
Bottas never failed to get a Sprint win or podium as Lewis's Teamate.

[Everso Biggyballies]

What drivers are taking part in the test and when?

Updated full driver line up for todays testing, split by each car (two cars per team). AM and PM.


Team AM PM
Red Bull Sergio Perez Sergio Perez
Red Bull Jake Dennis Jake Dennis

Ferrari Carlos Sainz Charles Leclerc
Ferrari Robert Shwatrzman Robert Shwatrzman

Mercedes George Russell George Russell
Mercedes Frederik Vesti Frederik Vesti

McLaren Oscar Piastri Oscar Piastri
McLaren Pato O’Ward Pato O’Ward

Aston Martin Lance Stroll Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin Felipe Drugovich Felipe Drugovich

Alpine Esteban Ocon Esteban Ocon
Alpine Jack Doohan Jack Doohan

Williams Alex Albon Logan Sargeant
Williams Zak O’Sullivan Franco Collapinto

Scuderia AlphaTauri Ayumu Iwasa Ayumu Iwasa
Scuderia AlphaTauri Daniel Ricciardo Yuki Tsunoda

Alfa Romeo Sauber Zhou Guanyu Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo Sauber Theo Pourchaire Theo Pourchaire

Haas Pietro Fittipaldi Pietro Fittipaldi
Haas Oliver Bearman Oliver Bearman

[Everso Biggyballies]

[Star]

I was just thinking about it, don't they play the anthems after the sprint races? If they do, (and I don't watch them so I wouldn't know) Oscar Piastri won one of them and he drives for McLaren, a British team. So it could have been played then.

Im pretty sure they dont do the full podium thing for the Sprint races, more an informal thing in pitlane handing out plaques and stuff. It is I think to do with making the full GP result a bit more special and unique.

Of course at Qatar I remember thinking and commenting about how all the post Sprint race attention was focussed on Max because he had ties up hiss WDC in the Sprint Race. I remember his car was on a plinth with nothing comparable to suggest Piastri or McLaren had won the race we had just seen.

The other thing I vividly remember is they had a quick handing out of the winners plaques on a small plinth about 6 inches high, and Max joined them and was interviewed first with a very naff yo have joined the likes of other WDC x3 legends Lauda Stewart Senna Brabham Piquet thing and the only thing musical they played was 'We are the Champions" endlessly.

In a nutshell no British Anthem played this year in F1 circumstances.. Last time that it was heard was in its "Gods Save the King" form after Russell won the 2022 Brazilian GP. The last time God Save the Queen was played was Saudi Arabia 2021 when Lewis won.

You wouldn't hear it now anyway given that Liz has passed, but for sure it's the first time a British driver or team hasn't won in many a year.

Russell 2022
Hamilton 07-21
Button 2006
McLaren/Williams 80-2005

Button also won with McLaren in 2010/11 and 12. Brawn would like to remind you about 2009.
McLaren called to say Italy 2021, and Williams mentioned Maldonado winning in a Williams in 2012

Ta for explaining that, I didn't know if they had ceremonies after the sprint events or not as I say. Clearly not then. It won't be God Save The Queen again any time soon, potentially for a very long time. Obviously we currently have King Charles, then it will be King William and then King George if all goes to plan.

[erwin greven]

December 12th.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Russell crashes for Mercedes in Yas Test.... season ending for George.

After completing 58 laps, the GP distance, George suffered 'a component failure' on his W14, and hit the barriers at Turn 6. It seems the car wasnt too badly damaged but the reason for the as yet unidentified component failed is under investigation..

He was uninjured as the car was recovered back to the pits, with Frederik Vesti continuing on in the concurrent young driver test.

Elsewhere on a relatively quiet day of testing, F2 champion Theo Pourchaire suffered a slow start with problems on his Alfa Romeo, but continued on and has reached 60 laps.

As shown in the graphic earlier Carlos Sainz topping the morning session for Ferrari from Sergio Perez.

Things were delayed at the start.... delayed by 25 minutes due to the Medical Helicopter not showing up in time for a 9am green flag, while a water leak under the W Hotel bridge at Turns 13/14 resulted in a further 24-minute stoppage.