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After a first completely anonymous and not very indicative free practice session, the teams carried out a program intense me full in the second free practice session of the Abu dhabi. The script seems to be the same one lived in recent years in the emirate that now usually closes the Formula 1 World Championship, with Dominican mercedes, Red Bull in pursuit me Ferrari more in difficulty on the sharp track of Yas Marina. However, there are some interesting features that need to be explored further.
Top mercedes
From what seems almost obvious at this point, the W11 on the Abu Dhabi track records theand square. We took the best laps from Hamilton and Verstappen (both times canceled due to track limits, but the most significant for our analysis) and compared them as usual.
Hamilton appears faster than the Dutchman in almost all polls, both in extension and in minimum travel speeds curve. Verstappen finds something only in the 17-18-19 triple, but the 7-time world champion’s car has superior performance on all types of track corners, as well as higher peaks on the long straights. Mercedes also seemed conservative in terms of power, because in the tests with prototype tires at the beginning of the session Hamilton seemed to have an additional margin of about 2 tenths in the two long straights of the central sector of the circuit. It’s tough for opponents to counter Brackley’s team this weekend. Must be given merit but a Red Bull not having given up even this day. As our observer Carlo Platella pointed out to me today live, a number of solutions were tested on the RB16, including the monopilone on the rear wing, leaving no stone unturned, even in the last race, as in the rest. it’s from the season.
Ferrari for now particularly extreme
However, the situation at Ferrari is particular. Analyzing Leclerc’s performance we have seen one SF1000 particularly high performance on the straights, despite the engine disadvantage inherent in this year’s car. Even on the longest straight on the track, Leclerc hits 321 to Hamilton’s 317 and wins about a half-tenth on that stretch.
The motivation seems to be mainly due to a choice of load particularly aerodynamic low for red, probably dictated by the dual need not to waste too much time on the straights and maximize opportunities for overtaking for Leclerc given the 3 penalty spots on the grid to which the Monegasque will be forced. A reason could also be found in the red’s poor aerodynamic efficiency, which, to take some load points, risks disproportionately increasing drag on the straight. The fact is that for now the choice that is seen on the track is the following. And in the first part of the round the result would also be gratifying, because in the first two sectors Leclerc even performs superior to Max Verstappen and appears on the second line of the sector before 131 thousandths than dutch.
However, the drama for the redhead is the last sector. Lack of load and suboptimal tire temperature management make the SF1000 incredibly inefficient in the most choreographic area of the circuit, (choreography for the harbor and the hotel, because the track has monotonous 90 degree curves). Leclerc does well in the last 38 seconds of the round 610 thousandths to Verstappen and even more than 1 second to Hamilton. To give an idea in the triple 17-18-19 Leclerc loses more than half a second from Hamilton in just 500 meters of track.
This approach could make life very difficult for red-haired drivers even in the race, who will probably have to choose between an extremely conservative race pace to try not to wear down the tires too much or a more aggressive strategy with one stop more than the others to try something. different.
The sprint for third place in constructors
Meanwhile, the sprint for third place among manufacturers Renault, Racing point me Mclaren for now it appears in the thousandths thread. Due to the limits set so far, it is unlikely that Ferrari will be part of this package, although the time sequence between these teams is incredibly tight: from fifth to tenth we are in the order Norris, Ocon, Pérez, Leclerc, Ricciardo and Stroll, all locked at 122 thousandths. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to make predictions on this front, at least for today. We will see if the rating confirms the impressions of the first day.
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