What to expect from the 2019 Abu Dhabi F1 GP?

The last race of the 2019 season is already coming up this Sunday! Can you believe we already saw 20 races this year? The season started off with 7! 1-2 finishes by Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in the first part and now ends up with a very tight battle for each GP victory at the top teams, but als for the midfield teams.

In the drivers championship the battle for 3rd between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen will be settled during the upcoming 2019 Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix. Verstappen is now 3rd with 260 points and has a lead of 11 points to Leclerc. Sebastian Vettel looks towards a gap of 30 points and can't finish the season better than 4th and has to win the race to do that.

Behind them we have the battle for 6th between Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz who both have 95 points. Alexander Albon can also become 6th if he can score 12 points more than Gasly.

The constructor championship only has a battle for 5th. Renault and Toro Rosso are only 4 points apart and the French brand will do everything to hold their 5th position.

It will also be interesting to see the difference between the three top teams Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Last years Abu Dhabi GP also had some great fights between both Red Bull and Mercedes drivers. And the 2 long straights will be in favour for both Ferrari drivers who can benefit the cars high top speed.

2019 Abu Dhabi GP Facts & Figures

The Abu Dhabi F1 GP is already going to be driven for the 11th time this year. The twilight race is held as the last race of the season since 2009. The Grand Prix has been dull and exciting in previous editions. It was especially exciting when the driver championship title was at stake. Unfortunately there won't be any decisive championship battle for the title this year. The last time this was the case was back in 2016. When Nico Rosberg could lose the title to Hamilton.

6 times WC Lewis Hamilton won the most GP's in Abu Dhabi. He scored 4 wins. Runner-up is Sebastian Vettel with 3 wins. The German driver did score more pole positions than Hamilton with 4 poles against 2. Hamilton hasn't scored a pole position since Germany 2019 and only has a total of 4 poles this season until now. He worst pole total since 2011! So the British driver will be very motivated to get to 5 to have a total amount of 88 poles.

Yas Marina Circuit

The circuit is driven anti-clockwise and has 21 turns. 12 of those turns are left-handers and 9 are right. The slowest corner is turn 7, which is a big hairpin. The cars have to slow down to 70 km/h. The quickest "turn" is no.3 which is taken full throttle and cars reach over 275 km/h. On the first back straight the cars reach a top speed up to 340 km/h.

Overtaking isn't a problem on the Yas Marina circuit. Last year we saw passes at turn 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 16. Because overtaking is slightly easier than last year we might see even more.

The lap record dates back to the first race on Yas Marina circuit back in 2009 and is set on 1:40.279 min. It belongs to Sebastian Vettel and was driven with the Red Bull RB5. His fastest lap of last year came close with 1:40.867 min. Will he break the 10 year old track record this time in the Ferrari?

2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Infographic

What happened in last years 2018 Abu Dhabi F1 GP?

2019 Abu Dhabi podium: 1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Verstappen at Yas Marina Circuit on November 25, 2018

In the opening lap there was a lot of contact between the 20 drivers. Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg even was flipped over and crashed out of the race when he and Romain Grosjean collided in turn 9 which deployed the safety car.

The safety car was pulled in on lap 5. Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari stopped on the start/finish straight with power unit problems. He retired in lap 7 and caused a VSC period to clear the track. A lot of drivers pitted to switch tyres. Hamilton also pitted to switch from Ultrasoft to the hardest compound Supersoft tyres to go to the end. Valtteri Bottas got in the lead.

Replays showed that Brandon Hartley oversteered into the barriers back on the fourth lap. Having already pitted for a new front wing on the opening lap, the Kiwi isn't doing himself any favours in his battle to keep his race seat.

In lap 16 Sebastian Vettel did his pitstop for Supersoft tyres. The pitstop was quite slow with 3.7 sec. One lap later Valtteri Bottas also got fresh tyres and gave the lead to Daniel Ricciardo who drove his last race for Red Bull. His teammate Verstappen pitted in lap 18 to switch from Ultra to Supersoft tyres.

In lap 20 a few drivers were warned that rain could fall in 5 minutes and In lap 23 it started to rain in the Abu Dhabi desert! Nobody switched to rain tyres anyway. Marcus Ericsson who also was driving his last race in F1 for Sauber also had to retire with Ferrari power unit problems.

In lap 34 Ricciardo at last did his pitstop. The Red Bull team fitted new Supersoft tyres and returned to the track 8 seconds behind Verstappen on P5. Force India driver Esteban Ocon received a 5 second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. In lap 35 Valtteri Bottas made an error in turn 5 when he braked to late and Vettel padded the Finnish driver for P2. Verstappen who was driving on P4 also came very close when Bottas again out braked himself and cut the chicane to stay ahead of the Dutch driver. In turn 11 of lap 38 he got P3 from Bottas with a great overtaking manoeuvre. One lap later Bottas also lost P4 on the charging Daniel Ricciardo on the fresh Supersoft tyres.

In lap 40 Bottas did a pitstop to get rid of his tyres that had a few flat  spots and ruined his race. He switched to the softest compound, the pink Hypersoft tyres.

With 10 laps Ricciardo closed the gap to his teammate Verstappen and was looking at a podium finish in his last race. In lap 46 Ocon had an engine problem and lost oil. He retired the Force India while driving on P9. Right after Ocon's retirement we saw Pierre Gasly also had a smoking power unit. The French driver also retired and stopped in turn 12 of lap 48.

Abu Dahbi F1 GP 2019 Tyres

For the 21st and final grand prix of the year, Pirelli is bringing the very softest combination of tyres in its range: C3 as the White hard, C4 as the Yellow medium, and C5 as the Red soft. These are well-matched to the smooth surface of the Yas Marina circuit, providing the optimal compromise between performance and grip at a race that starts in the late afternoon and ends in the evening. After the grand prix, testing begins for next year with all the teams.

• Yas Marina is almost exactly average for the season when it comes to severity, with smooth asphalt and a well-balanced mix of corners that is more about traction and braking than lateral forces.
• Historically, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has been a one-stopper, with low wear and degradation. This looks set to be the case again this year, with the hardest choice a step harder than in 2018 (when supersoft, ultrasoft, and hypersoft were chosen). Last year, Lewis Hamilton won the race by going from ultrasoft to supersoft quite early, under a virtual safety car.
• There’s been a harder tyre choice made compared to previous seasons at a few races this year: this is to help drivers to push to the maximum during each stint, rather than manage their pace to guarantee a one-stopper.
• With the race going through until the evening, track temperatures tend to fall quite drastically as the race progresses. As the car gets lighter on fuel, this can alter the pattern of tyre behaviour to potentially increase stint lengths. It also means that the FP1 and FP3 sessions aren’t particularly representative.

Selected sets for the 2019 Canadian F1 GP

2019 Abu Dhabi GP Weather Forecast

The weather forecast for Abu Dhabi has never been an issue. We saw some drops last year, but those drops almost evaporated before they hit the track.

Friday, Nov 29th - FP1 & FP2
Conditions: Sunny
Max. temperature: 28°C
Chance of rain: 10%

Saturday, Nov. 30th - FP3 & Qualifying
Conditions: Sunny
Max. temperature: 28°C
Chance of rain: 10%

Sunday, Dec. 1st - Race
Conditions: Sunny
Maxi. temperature: 28°C
Chance of rain: 0%

Who will be on the 2019 Abu Dhabi GP Podium?

Last years drivers of the Abu Dhabi F1 GP

Valtteri Bottas might get a new engine after his power unit broke down in Sao Paulo 2 weeks ago. He will receive a 10 places grid penalty, should Mercedes decide to fit in a new engine in the back of his W10.

Last year we saw 3 drivers of 3 different teams on the podium. It looks like the same picture will be shot this year. Except who of the 6 drivers will be on the top 3 steps is hard to predict.

Red Bull was looking very strong in Brazil and Honda almost scored a full podium on the height altitude (700 m above sea level) Interlagos circuit.

The Yas Marina circuit is situated on sea level and has a very smooth track surface and medium downforce circuit. As we know all 3 cars are very close in pace. So it all comes down to driver quality and tyres strategy. Hamilton was on the podium in the last 5 races and might be a sure thing for some online F1 betting. He won two second places and won 3 races. So a lot have to go wrong for Lewis Hamilton to not end up on the podium.

Red Bull, as always, has a very strong 2nd half of the season with Max Verstappen. The Dutchman pulled out 3 pole positions and scored a very dominating win in Brazil, were he was quickest in every session and overtook Hamilton 2 times on the track.

What Ferrari will do is sort of a gamble these days. We have seen all sorts of errors this season. Wrong race strategies, driver collisions, team orders, etc. Vettel is quite strong on the circuit on Yas Marina Island and will probably be very motivated to end on a high. But down't forget Leclerc, who finished 7th in last years race, driving the Sauber...

Our podium prediction for the 2019 Abu Dhabi Formula 1 GP is: 1. Max Verstappen, 2. Lewis Hamilton, 3. Charles Leclerc.

The race starts on Sunday 1st of December 2019 at 13:10 GMT, 17:10 (local) and 05:10 (PT).

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