The Official 2017 Abu Dhabi GP Thread **Spoilers**

[anonymous-user]

REALIST123 said:

It flattered to deceive. Some good races early in the year.

Croft says next year will be a good one........

...if Ferrari improve, Mercedes don't and RBR get a decent engine. We might have 6 cars chasing the wins.

Remember McLaren.

Surely the Renault engine will be faster if it does not blow up

[anonymous-user]

p1stonhead said:

Surprised to see such a statement from Brundle to be honest. Actually saying it was rubbish.

Spot on by Brundle.

I worry about 2018. This plus the "halo" is hard to accept.

[PDP76]

Mr Tidy said:

Well of course they were - didn't you see "Ferrari World" behind the circuit at any point today? It looks bigger than the F1 track FFS!

One of the most pointless dull empty spaces I’ve ever been in. If I was actually paying for entry I’d have been massively disappointed.

[HustleRussell]

Hulkenberg looked a bit silly straight lining the chicane and passing Perez didn’t he? He obviously should’ve conceded the position immediately and had another go. It seems pretty unfair that he was able to retain that position.

[johnxjsc1985]

if they want a really close finish to a WC they need to rejig the calendar .I think like a lot of people I missed half an hour as I fell asleep and when I woke up nothing had changed.
If money isn't a problem the good people who own Abu Dhabi need to look at the circuit this winter.

[thegreenhell]

All this blaming the circuit, of course none of the teams want to point the finger at the cars. If the cars could actually follow each other closely it wouldn't matter what the circuit was, and until the cars are able to follow each other closely then any circuit change is just a sticky plaster over the bigger problem.

[johnxjsc1985]

thegreenhell said:

All this blaming the circuit, of course none of the teams want to point the finger at the cars. If the cars could actually follow each other closely it wouldn't matter what the circuit was, and until the cars are able to follow each other closely then any circuit change is just a sticky plaster over the bigger problem.

its a good point , from listening to Mercedes they designed their Car to do a super quick qualifying lap get away quick and lead from the front.
To be fair it has worked for 4 years

[sandman77]

HustleRussell said:

Hulkenberg looked a bit silly straight lining the chicane and passing Perez didn’t he? He obviously should’ve conceded the position immediately and had another go. It seems pretty unfair that he was able to retain that position.

I wondered myself if he (Hulk) new he would would be given a penalty but knew he would be able to gain a 5+ second gap over perez before his pit stop or did he really believe the move was fair?

[Vaud]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

I worry about 2018. This plus the "halo" is hard to accept.

I think 2018 will be closer.

I agree on the halo but as I understand it, and I may be wrong - it is down to ongoing legal issues against the FIA following Bianchi's death.

Essentially they couldn't "not act" and this was the least worst option?

[HustleRussell]

sandman77 said:

HustleRussell said:

Hulkenberg looked a bit silly straight lining the chicane and passing Perez didn’t he? He obviously should’ve conceded the position immediately and had another go. It seems pretty unfair that he was able to retain that position.

I wondered myself if he (Hulk) new he would would be given a penalty but knew he would be able to gain a 5+ second gap over perez before his pit stop or did he really believe the move was fair?

It was a roll of the dice IMO, Hulkenberg would've known immediately that it wasn't a valid pass and waited for the team to tell him to reverse the order. He was probably deliberating over how he could let Perez past without Ocon sneaking through too- but the team never did and as it turns out the resulting 5 second penalty wasn't enough to reverse the order

I've gone off Perez this season and wanted Renault to beat Toro Rosso but that was not the way to do it.

The stewards have taken a lot of flack this season but IMO they should've told Hulkenberg to let Perez past, or failing that applied a time penalty to his finishing time which would classify him behind Perez. IMO that was the proper sporting way to deal with it.

[thegreenhell]

Apparently Bottas failed a cockpit extraction test with Halo fitted during practice in Abu Dhabi, taking longer than the allowable 7 seconds.

[London424]

thegreenhell said:

Apparently Bottas failed a cockpit extraction test with Halo fitted during practice in Abu Dhabi, taking longer than the allowable 7 seconds.

If the drivers were smart they'd all do the same.

[Vaud]

Interesting - I was about to correct you to 5 seconds, but then re-read the 2018 rules - 7 seconds to get out, 12 to replace the wheel as well.

[Hub]

Mr Tidy said:

Not impressed by Steve Jones - he turned up clueless and hasn't really gained much knowledge (although he did underline how much of a tw*t EJ is regarding wheel attachment) but when he has DC, MW and SW on the team he talks over them (gobby is my polite description)!

Mind you in a couple of years it won't matter anyway as it will all be Pay to View so he'll need to find alternative employment and I won't be watching F1 then, because it won't be good enough to justify the stupid price Sky will want. (I'll get the results on the web).

There will still be a highlights show won't there? (I hope!). I don't mind just watching the highlights with races like yesterday's ("highlights? what highlights?" etc!).

[HTP99]

Hub said:

Mr Tidy said:

Not impressed by Steve Jones - he turned up clueless and hasn't really gained much knowledge (although he did underline how much of a tw*t EJ is regarding wheel attachment) but when he has DC, MW and SW on the team he talks over them (gobby is my polite description)!

Mind you in a couple of years it won't matter anyway as it will all be Pay to View so he'll need to find alternative employment and I won't be watching F1 then, because it won't be good enough to justify the stupid price Sky will want. (I'll get the results on the web).

There will still be a highlights show won't there? (I hope!). I don't mind just watching the highlights with races like yesterday's ("highlights? what highlights?" etc!).

Yes but not on terrestrial TV, it will be put together by SKY and is going to be on one of their free to air channels, the British GP will still be show in its entirety though on one of the terrestrial channels, don't know which though.

[thegreenhell]

HTP99 said:

Yes but not on terrestrial TV, it will be put together by SKY and is going to be on one of their free to air channels, the British GP will still be show in its entirety though on one of the terrestrial channels, don't know which though.

Sky own a Freeview channel called Pick. They will probably put the highlights show on that. It will also probably be compressed to a 60 minute show with at least three ad breaks.

[Europa1]

Vaud said:

I agree on the halo but as I understand it, and I may be wrong - it is down to ongoing legal issues against the FIA following Bianchi's death.

Essentially they couldn't "not act" and this was the least worst option?

This is the part I struggle with - I would be interested to see a simulation showing how the halo would have helped in Bianchi's crash (or DeVillotta's), and the probability of it deflecting the spring thingy that hit Massa.

[Eric Mc]

thegreenhell said:

HTP99 said:

Yes but not on terrestrial TV, it will be put together by SKY and is going to be on one of their free to air channels, the British GP will still be show in its entirety though on one of the terrestrial channels, don't know which though.

Sky own a Freeview channel called Pick. They will probably put the highlights show on that. It will also probably be compressed to a 60 minute show with at least three ad breaks.

Nobody knows.

I've only paid passing attention to F1 this year and have only watched around 50% of the races.

When it goes Pay Per View - that's it finished for me.

[Dr Z]

Can't say I enjoyed the race as much, but there were some good moments. Mercs in a league of their own like old times, and Bottas stringing Hamilton along, almost toying with him. He was toying right? That's how it looked me.

The car park sector needs to be changed at this track, as this showed last year too.

Off to get some McHonda t shirts now. Should be on sale.

[Hungrymc]

I think Bottas had enough pace here to easily hold Lewis off (was there or thereabouts all weekend)... A very strong drive from him after being second best by a distance for large parts of this year.

Bit of a quiet race and a shame to end the year with such an uneventful one. All in all, an enjoyable year though.