Abu Dhabi 2012 - QF

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Abu Dhabi seems to be Vettel & Hamilton’s territory; they monopolized poles and victories in the last 3 editions of this GP. Same story today: HAM was fastest in P1 (VET 3rd) and VET in P2 (HAM 2nd).

The track is becoming much faster as the rubber builds in, as much as 1.5 seconds between sessions. Second practice is programmed to simulate the day-to-night changing conditions that will happen during the race with the big drop in track temperature that follows after the sun goes down. As has been the pattern must of the year Red Bull has the fastest package to solve the single lap-low weight QF conditions, with Ferrari showing the way in the race long-run simulation. McLaren sits usually in the middle although they are looking very close to Red Bull to dispute them the pole for tomorrow.

P1- HAM (1.43.285) BUT VET ALO WEB SCH ROS MAL BOT (Bottas, Wiliiams tester) RAI  - MAS 11th

P2 – VET (1.41.571) HAM BUT WEB GRO RAI ALO MAS MAL PER

For Red Bull focusing on the task of starting at the front has been their winning formula , it could work again in this layout as long as like in the past they have a good start (and  Webber is watching Vettel’s back) so they can build a gap before the second lap when DRS kicks in and they can dominate from the front. If McLaren or Ferrari can’t match Red Bull QF-speed they will have to compromise again with a longer 7th gear (to optimize DRS), less downforce to have better chances of passing on the straights but sacrificing adhesion on the corners for the rest of the lap, with higher tyre wear and a car much difficult to drive as we saw in India with Alonso. Ferrari spent the entire first session evaluating new components developed specifically to improve QF pace.

OK, let’s do this, we know who the candidates are, the hard part of course is the order...

Cato – VET  HAM  ALO

Good luck!

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