F1’s Karun Chandhok compares how Max Verstappen took pole position in Abu Dhabi Qualifying from Lewis Hamilton. Today we will discuss about F1: Practice 2 results| Qualifying start time| Practice results
F1: Practice 2 results| Qualifying start time| Practice results
The 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021) is a Formula One motor race to be held on 12 December 2021 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The race is the twenty-first and final round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. The race will decide both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 12 December 2021 | ||
| Official name | Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 | ||
| Location | Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.281 km (3.281 mi) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 58 laps, 306.183 km (190.253 mi) | ||
Practice 2 results
Friday night marked the beginning of the first glimpse of F1 cars on the floodlit Jeddah Corniche circuit, and it was Lewis Hamilton who topped FP2 ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and Alphatauri’s Pierre Gasly. The session was then red-flagged with five minutes remaining for Charles Leclerc’s heavy crash.
Leclerc crashed his Ferrari at high speed late in the session while driving into the barriers at Turn 23, thankfully climbing out of the car and driving away – his chassis clearly bore the brunt of the impact. He finished 10th in the season.
A scary moment came in Hamilton’s first soft-tire run when he suffered a slow-moving Haas exiting Turn 10 in the middle of the session, but the FP1 leader had already clocked a fastest of 1m 29.018 on the mediums. Time had set, his teammate Bottas was just 0.061s back in P2 (also on mediums) and Gasly another 0.020s off in P3 for AlphaTauri – albeit on soft tyres.
Qualifying start time
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are battling for points total, with rivals leveling 369.5 points through 21 races. Valtteri Bottas is third with 218 points, so the season finale falls to the top two drivers. And qualification could very well prove to be a deciding factor.
Qualifying airs at 8 a.m. ET on the Saturday before the race. It is approximately one hour in length and is divided into three phases with an intermission after the first and second phase. The first stage is of 20 minutes and consists of all 20 cars trying to secure the fastest time. The five slowest cars in the first period are eliminated and placed at the back of the race grid. The second qualifying period is 15 minutes and the remaining 15 cars compete for the new fastest time. In this second stage the five slowest cars are eliminated to determine positions 11 to 15 in the grid. In the final ten minutes the 10 remaining cars compete for the fastest time to secure pole position.
Practice results
This placed Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who had shot with a lap of 1m24.034 just ahead of Hamilton, 0.343s in second place – and Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas in third by a gap of 0.392s, who had been in the first turn. 12 had gone to the barrier. In his medium-tire lap. That slide saw him change to soft tires after just 15 minutes of the session.
So Red Bull rounded out the top five, Verstappen (six-tenths down on Hamilton) P4 ahead of fifth-placed Sergio Pérez. The championship contender had a competitive time of 1m24.989s at the start of the season during his medium-tire runs, turning to soft for his qualifying simulation, before being held soft for his long run.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso underlined the team’s solid momentum by finishing sixth, eight-tenths from the top.
