All info you want to see before the next Abu Dhabi GP starts
The 2020 Formula 1 season will end this Sunday with the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The event at Abu Dhabi will be the 17th race of the year and it will surely be an interesting one.
The noise surrounding the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix already started with Lewis Hamilton’s positive Covid-19 test from last week. George Russell replaced the seven-time champion at Mercedes and looked set to win the race before a pit disaster and a late puncture left him ninth.
Whether Hamilton would return or Russell would remain with Mercedes for this weekend was not decided until recently. However, it will be interesting to see what happens.
With Lewis Hamilton back in his car, Mercedes will look to forget last week’s tough outing and close the year with a solid result.
The battle for P3 in the WCC
Sergio Pérez won last week’s Sakhir Grand Prix for Racing Point. It was the first win for a Mexican driver in 50 years. Most importantly for Racing Point, the team now has a nice lead in the battle for third place in the World Constructors’ Championship over McLaren and Renault.
Pérez has been close to the podium places in the last four races and he could be in that position again in his final race for Racing Points.
Renault’s Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo finishing second and fifth, and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz finished fourth. With those results, the three teams in the battle for P3 in the WCC had at least one car in the Top 5 last week. Achieving such a result at Abu Dhabi could be decisive for any of the three teams.
Red Bull’s fortunes
Red Bull Racing has clearly been the second-best team in the 2020 F1 campaign, but it has also suffered from misfortunes in lots of races. Last week, Max Verstappen had been the fastest driver in Friday’s long run and had a great shot at a victory, but his race ended after four corners through no fault of his own.
Moreover, strategic gambles did not pay off for Alex Albon, who was close to Pérez in the early laps of the race but finished only sixth.
Rest of the field
Ferrari will have Sebastian Vettel on their driver lineup for the final time in the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Vettel has taken part in 117 races for Ferrari and has the third-highest tally of wins for the Scuderia (14). He also ranks second in podiums with 55, and fifth in Pole Positions with 12.
Start of the Sakhir GP 2020
Vettel’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, will have a three-place grid drop in this weekend’s race after causing a collision in the first lap of the race at Sakhir.
Leclerc’s mistake ended his hopes of fighting for P4 in the World Drivers’ Championship.
Down the grid, Kevin Magnussen will drive his final race for Haas and possibly in his F1 career (after 118 starts in his career and 78 for Haas). Moreover, rookie Pietro Fittipaldi will replace Romain Grosjean at Haas again (Grosjean already drove his final race in F1 after minor injuries from his scary crash in the Bahrain Grand Prix prevented him from returning).
Jack Aitken could have driven for Williams again this weekend as Russell’s replacement. However, Aitken’s chance disappeared with Hamilton making a return..
2020 Abu Dhabi GP Facts & Figures
The 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be the 12th race at the place since 2009.
Mercedes has won the last six editions of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and it will be hard to bet on another team beating them this weekend. Hamilton has taken four of those six victories and his return could mean another success for him at Abu Dhabi.
Sebastian Vettel won the first two Abu Dhabi Grands Prix back in 2009 for Red Bull. In the following season, Vettel and Red Bull won again at Abu Dhabi, which sealed Vettel’s first World Drivers’ Championship.
Hamilton won in 2011 for McLaren-Mercedes, while Kimi Raikkonen took a famous victory in the 2012 edition (his first in three years). Vettel and Red Bull dominated in 2013 before Hamilton sealed his second championship with a dominant win in 2014.
Nico Rosberg won in 2015 for Mercedes, and then he sealed his only championship with second place in 2016 (behind Hamilton). Bottas took the 2017 edition for Mercedes, while Hamilton controlled the last two from Pole Position.
Hamilton is the most successful driver at Abu Dhabi, with five wins. On the other hand, Mercedes’ six victories are the most for any team at Abu Dhabi.
Yas Marina Circuit Details
The Yas Marina Circuit at Abu Dhabi was designed by Hermann Tilke.
The track is a 5.554-km circuit with 21 corners. The layout is very technical and demands versatility from the car’s setup. It has a couple of straights and several mid-speed and low-speed corners.
The track has one of the most spectacular pit exits in Formula 1, as the pit exit street cross under the track through a tunnel.
The lap records at the Yas Marina Circuit are held by Lewis Hamilton. He recorded a 1:39.283 min lap in last year’s race and a 1:34.779 during qualifying.
2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Tyres
The dry tyres for the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be the C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C5 as P Zero Red soft.
Pirelli explained their choice to go with the softest option with a statement in a press release: “This is the same nomination as last year for the evening race, which takes place a couple of weeks later than it did in 2019.The track surface is very smooth and about average in terms of severity. This makes the three softest tyres in the P Zero range suitable for the state-of-the-art Yas Marina circuit.”
The tyre allocation for this Grand Prix will be two sets of hard, three sets of medium, and eight sets of the soft tyres. Also, teams will be able to test the C4 compound for the 2021 season during FP2.
2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Weather Forecast
Friday, Dec 11th - FP1 & FP2
Conditions: Clear sky
Max. temperature: 27°C
Chance of rain: 1%
Saturday, Dec 12th - FP3 & Qualifying
Conditions: Partly cloudy
Max. temperature: 25°C
Chance of rain: 3%
Sunday, Dec 13th - Race
Conditions: Partly cloudy
Max. temperature: 26°C
Chance of rain: 0%
Who will be on the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix podium?
Without knowing who will be the Mercedes drivers on Sunday, predicting a podium was going to be difficult. With Hamilton’s confirmed return, a level of normality can be expected for the race.
2019 Abu Dhabi podium: 1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Verstappen at Yas Marina Circuit on November 25, 2018
Of course, there was not a Mercedes driver in the podium last weekend, and it might happen again, but it is unlikely.
In the Hybrid Era, Mercedes has never had consecutive races without a driver in the podium.
Sergio Pérez could have yet another tremendous weekend and a podium could be in the cards. The beauty of having just two teams constantly at the front, is that when those teams fail to produce a perfect race, podium places are open for many candidates.
This season, 13 of the 23 drivers who started a race have scored podiums, the highest number since the legendary 2012 season.
Hopefully, we will have a fantastic and safe race for every driver to close a difficult 2020.
This is the prediction for the top three of the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: 1. Valtteri Bottas, 2. Lewis Hamilton, 3. Max Verstappen.
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