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After qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alexander Albon was asked the question he knew was coming: How soon after this weekend’s race will Red Bull make its decision on its drivers for the 2021 F1 season?
Red Bull’s plans for its two teams is the last unresolved question in the driver market for next season. Yuki Tsunoda is expected to replace Daniil Kvyat at AlphaTauri. But who will be Max Verstappen’s teammate next year?
What Red Bull wants is a driver who can reinforce his chances of winning races weekend after weekend. Too often in 2020, Albon hasn’t done that. But with Verstappen in pole position and Albon in a useful fifth, he has a chance to show he can do it in the season finale. It could be your last chance to claim a seat in an RB16B.
Verstappen will start from pole position on medium tires, with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton trailing on the same rubber, then Lando Norris and Albon on softs. Red Bull’s chief automotive engineering engineer Paul Monaghan explained how the team sees the look of the race.
“There are clearly some doubts about how smooth to be able to do a competitive period,” Monaghan explained. “So if you can put yourself in the middle, and our perception is that it’s a more robust race tire, less prone to overheating, which is the C5, then we can choose our first stint duration instead of imposing it. us.
“If the soft tire degrades, there may be more space behind us as it opens. So we can look, if the Mercedes tries to undermine us if we go out in grid order, at least cover [them]. “
Given Albon’s starting position, Monaghan hopes he will be able to stay close enough to his teammate and the Mercedes to play a useful role in the race.
“Looking at the relative pace of the cars, McLaren, Renault, Ferrari don’t seem to be as close to us as they have been. So I think Alex is not too detrimental.
“We have enough pace in the car for him to get away from the riders behind him so he doesn’t get stuck either. So there should be some room for him if he has to pit a little earlier than everyone else.
“Likewise, if a Mercedes jumps, then everything is fine, it’s the game. Ideally you will get two of them. “
The last point is definitely on the optimistic side of the projections. But Monaghan’s vision shows Red Bull’s expectations of Albon. In general, he has not been able to play this kind of role in racing so far this year. Too often he has fallen back into the clutches of midfield.
His first problem on Sunday will be circling Norris’s McLaren immediately in front of him. If he can do that, he could be in a good position to support Verstappen’s bid for victory.
Albon’s concern is that Sergio Perez, his rival for next year’s Red Bull seat, will perform more heroic acts of the kind he accomplished last weekend, when he won after falling to 18th place. for tomorrow’s race after a power unit change. A new Mercedes engine plus a stack of intact tires could generate a spectacular load from the rear.
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Pérez has a role to play in one of the other great games at the end of the season tomorrow: the fight for third place in the constructors’ championship. Racing Point comes in with a 10-point lead over McLaren and Renault 12 points further behind.
Qualifying has left this fight intriguingly prepared. McLaren has a clear positional advantage with Norris fourth, two places ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr. Both will start with worn rubber: Norris soft, Sainz medium.
Renault has taken the ‘first row of new tires’ in places 11 and 12, and the ‘Q3 tire rule’ is playing into their hands. As last year’s race showed, this can confer a significant strategic advantage, allowing them to run longer on the first stint and have cooler tires to attack late in the race.
Finally Racing Point has a compromised position imposed by circumstances. Pérez starts at the back with fresh rubber, while Lance Stroll is eight years old on worn tires.
If they were to finish where they started, McLaren would overtake Racing Point by 16 and take third place. How vulnerable the MCL35’s worn rubber will leave them, and what kind of progress Pérez can make, will determine how this fight will play out.
Renault is clearly in the weakest position. But Esteban Ocon is hopeful that the race will come to them.
“Tomorrow we can freely choose the tires, which will be important,” he said. “Obviously the C5 is a very soft compound, not easy to use in the race, so we’ll see what we do. For the others that could be difficult.
“Thanks to that I hope he gave us some strategy options to try to come back, because we have to go back for the points in the constructors. So tomorrow it will be an aggressive race ”.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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To you
Will Verstappen sign 2020 with a win and will Albon help him get there? Will Hamilton find a way to get another win?
And how will the fight for third place in the constructors’ championship be decided? Share your thoughts on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the comments.
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Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2020
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