Amid all of the emotions on drivers leaving Formula 1 and some changing teams, was also an electric race to some extent, that took place in Abu Dhabi. Max Verstappen, for the first time ever in his career, led from pole to finish the race at Yas Marina, with a very reliable and powered up Honda engine under the hood. Mercedes is believed to have powered down their car a bit, to ensure that there is reliability. Mercedes lacked the power and Bottas again did not have a very good start, and hence with the VSC giving an early window for all to shift to Hard tires and Mercedes taking that opportunity alongwith Red Bull, it was a clean victory for Max Verstappen. The mid – field again had some action with some DRS trains (a situation in which several cars following each other have DRS) forming at times.
It was a borefest as many would say as the Yas Marina circuit failed to provide a race as exciting as people wished it would be, especially after two completely extreme races in Bahrain, in the form of the Bahrain GP and the Sakhir GP. The three championship positions at stake were Bottas’s second place in the Drivers’ Championship, Racing Points third in the Constructors’ Championship, and McLaren’s 4 in the Constructors Championship. But with it being a fairly simple race with not a lot of drama, and Perez having to retire very early due to a technical issues in his final race for Racing Point (which might also be his final race in F1, atleast for one season), Bottas secured the second position in the Drivers’ Championship and McLaren overtook Racing Point, everything else was just plain simple and flat out.
THE DRS ZONES?
The two straights where DRS is available are one after another, separated by just 2 short corners which makes the DRS zones almost not effective, as if a driver overtakes another in the first DRS zone, the driver who has been overtaken just regains his position by using the DRS in the next zone and hence, the only two ways to effective is to either overtake only in the second DRS zone or be very very good in defending against DRS, which is a tough job as the DRS is very powerful.
The DRS zones require the driver to plan it out properly but the current arrangement means that it is only logical to use one DRS zone and hence, the second DRS zone is generally a waste, and hence, there is requirement of changes to be made to the placement of DRS zones around the circuit.
THE MERCEDES STRATEGY
Lewis Hamilton did not have a very good race and not only said that he was affected ‘mentally’ and ‘physically’ as he was suffering from Covid – 19 for more than a week but also wasn’t happy with the strategy that Mercedes chose. Mercedes decided to pit under the VSC, same as Red Bull and that meant that without the pace advantage over Red Bull, supposedly due to the power engine being powered down, Mercedes had very less chances of overtaking Verstappen, who was on the same tyre strategy.
This is what even actually happened as Mercedes stayed where they were and Hamilton, was also unable to overtake Bottas, and the finishing order was the same as the starting order. If Mercedes would have pitted later then they might have still faced issues as Alexander Albon played his role efficiently and drove a very good race but with Mercedes not having the right power, it seemed that if the race lasted even a couple of laps longer then Albon might have taken a chance to overtake Hamilton as well.
THE RICCIARDO PERFORMANCE
Ricciardo finished a strong 7th, after what was a some great tyre management for around 30 laps of the race. He also was able to create a good gap and was benefitted from Vettel holding back the cars towards the back for a long time, and was able to get out in the points after the pitstop. After that he continued with a good performance and ended behind the two McLarens. He will be moving to McLaren, which will be Mercedes powered from 2021, and hence can be expected to get some podiums.
THE CHECO COLOSSAL
Sergio Perez, a.k.a Checo, had to retire from the race after a technical issue but before that he was giving a very strong performance against the other drivers at the back of the field. He was steadily climbing the order after a very good start to the race. Sergio Perez looked to be set to finish in the points, as without a Safety Car, noone would have a free pitstop and hence, Perez had a very good chance of finishing in the points and even boosting his team and keeping them 3rd in the Constructors’ Championship.
THE SEASON REVIEW WILL ALSO BE COMING SOON!
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