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Ten more minutes …
… then it moves on to the last race of the 2020 season. There are 55 laps on the calendar, the risk of rain is unsurprisingly 0 percent. Let’s hope for an exciting race and no more serious accidents.
Farewell scenes
We leave these photos of Ferrari and Racing Point as they are.
Mercedes remains undefeated
Mercedes has been undefeated in Abu Dhabi since the hybrid era began in 2014. Four times since then, victory has been for Lewis Hamilton, one for Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas. Sebastian Vettel celebrated the last victory outside of Mercedes here in 2013, at the time still at Red Bull. However, the statistics do not mean anything, it was demonstrated in yesterday’s qualifying. Verstappen won the first non-Mercedes pole in Abu Dhabi since 2013.
Open the session ticker now!
The last race of the 2020 season will start in half an hour, with all the drivers reaching the starting grid. At this point, there is one last time this year that we should open our session ticker with Christian Nimmervoll in parallel. There you will find the complete coverage of the race, here we focus on the most important information, images and voices. So in the last race everything was as usual.
Pit lane opens
The pit lane opens and the drivers now have ten minutes to get to the starting grid. We saw in Istanbul in 2020, for example, that this doesn’t always go smoothly, when Giovinazzi and Russell crashed before the start. Of course, the conditions were much more difficult than today. Here in Abu Dhabi, however, the tunnel to the pit exit is not entirely without risks …
Career strategy
Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc, Verstappen and Sainz will start immediately on Medium, the other five top 10 drivers on Soft. Medium drivers could have an advantage because, according to Pirelli, the medium-hard strategy is the fastest today. Soft-hard is a bit slower on paper. Either way, it seems clear that drivers will attempt to stop under normal circumstances.
The best mask of the day …
… today you clearly saw Daniel Ricciardo! We saw some fun ideas throughout the season. And it is definitely at the top.
It will start in an hour!
Pérez: it doesn’t feel like goodbye
The Mexican already has the certainty that at least it will be his last race for Racing Point, and perhaps his last race for now. It was a pleasure working with this team, he explains before leaving. At the same time, it also makes it clear that it doesn’t feel like the last race. It feels like it did before any other GP. No doubt, emotions will appear after the end of the race at the latest.
Albon: The uncertain future doesn’t matter
The Red Bull driver could drive his last Formula 1 race today. However, he himself emphasizes that he does not care. He wants to face the race like any other. There is no point in worrying about it. Overall, you feel like you will have become a better pilot in 2020. But is that enough to keep your cockpit?
Award for Hamilton
The world champion was named the top seed of the 2020 season before the race. By the way, this “title” was already arranged before Abu Dhabi. Hamilton took pole position ten times this year, his teammate Bottas five times and one pole each went to Stroll and Verstappen.
Verstappen: A good start is important
“We will have to wait,” said the Dutchman when asked about his chances of winning. But he is “confident.” It is important to start well. Anyway, it was “a good year” for him. Now he wants to try to end the season with a highlight. But he also knows that the Mercedes drivers will not make life too easy for him …
A parting gift …
… was also available from McLaren for Carlos Sainz. Pretty big. You will definitely not carry it in your hand luggage on the return flight 😉
Ferrari’s farewell to Vettel …
… can be found here in the video, by the way. A nice gesture, even if the last year together didn’t go as expected.
Vettel expects a good strategy
The German only starts from P13 in his last Ferrari race. The pace will make it difficult to remove a few more points. He himself also explains that therefore he primarily expects the strategy. “Of course it’s a little more emotional than usual,” he admits, explaining that he wants to try and get something for his boys in the garage at the end of the day.
Hamilton: I feel better today
Before the start of the race, the world champion explains that he feels better today than yesterday. You can tell that he looks fitter in the interview. Let’s see what’s happening to him today from P3. In the race, his teammate Bottas hopes the Mercedes will perform better on medium tires. You had problems with the softs in qualifying yesterday. As a reminder: the first 3 will start in the middle after.
