The Friday in F1 Abu Dhabi GP left mixed impressions in fighting positions, as Lewis Hamilton returned while Mick Schumacher started.
Though Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas topped FP2 after a Max Verstappen and Red Bull-led FP1 session, the day was an unusual one for Mercedes, whose Lewis Hamilton struggled to reacquaint himself with his W11 upon return in Abu Dhabi GP at Yas Marina circuit.
During his COVID-19 quarantine period, Mercedes say, the team made adjustments to the cockpit of the seven-time F1 champion’s car to accommodate George Russell – his stand-in, in preparation for a possible second weekend with the 22-year-old.
Hamilton suggested that his troubles might have been partially because of these changes, as in FP1 he only managed fifth. In that session, a brake tracing problem was attributed to cockpit changes not suited for the Brit. Swapping out these parts meant that driver number 44 sat out approximately 40 minutes of FP1.
Nonetheless, the Brit was grateful to be back in the car with Mercedes after his COVID-19 experience, and FP2, he says, was a more fruitful session during which he came second. “I’m grateful to be back with the team and back in the car, it felt like the first day back to school kind of thing” said Hamilton. “I missed doing what I love last week, so I was very happy to arrive at the circuit this morning.
“It’s taken a good session and a half to get back into the flow even though it’s been such a short amount of time that I wasn’t in the car. The car didn’t quite feel the same as I had left it, so I’m now working my way back to feeling more comfortable balance-wise. We had an issue with the pedals and the brakes in FP1 which cost us around 40 minutes of track time, but the team did a great job to change everything so quickly; they have been flat out for three weeks now and still keep pushing.
“Otherwise the sessions all went ok, the last one felt a bit better, although we didn’t get to do the long run at the end. In my absence, I think George did an amazing job. So I think everyone knows that. Bu from my 27 years of racing (including F1), I’ve never missed a race. So yeah, one day, I’ll write a book about it,” summed up Hamilton.
In the other Mercedes, Bottas – who improved from P2 in the first practice to P1 in the second – said balance issues that caused headaches with regards to tyre temperature management, and added that, despite the “decent” Friday, there remains work to be done. Interestingly, both Mercedes F1 drivers set their best time on the medium tyre, where Hamilton’s quick time on the soft was deleted due to track limits.
“The main focus will be to get the balance right throughout the entire lap, as I was struggling with the front end in some corners and with the rear end in the others,” said Bottas. I also couldn’t really get the Soft tyres into the window. I didn’t have any grip on my first lap, so I think they were too cold, but in the following lap they were already overheating, so there’s clearly some work to do.” He also offered up the opinion that the medium tyre is the preferable of the two compounds.
“The Medium actually felt like a better tyre for me, but that’s because we weren’t able to extract everything from the Soft,” said Bottas. After topping FP1, Verstappen slotted into a familiar P3 for FP2, but the Dutchman warns that his lap times remain unrepresentative because of an inability to set a timed lap on the soft compound – a session also interrupted by a mandated Pirelli test of next year’s C4 compound.
In contrast to Bottas, his view was that the soft tyres held up well. “It was ok and there is still a bit of work to do to close the gap to Mercedes who seem strong again but I didn’t get a lap time on the soft compound as I came up behind Perez on a long run so it’s hard to tell exactly what the gap is. In qualifying we know we can’t go so wide in the final corner and will pay more attention, but I don’t think it’s a big issue.
“The soft tyre seemed to hold on ok so I think that will be ok for qualifying and we will see whether I can sit in a different Press Conference chair,” Verstappen said, referencing his repeated P3 appearances. Teammate Alexander Albon echoed the 23-year-old’s comments, adding that he needs to gain more experience on the soft F1 tyres in order to remain competitive after he came P4 in both sessions.
At McLaren, testing of 2021 F1 aero parts tainted FP1 lap times, and come FP2, the team showed their cards when Lando Norris came P5. Despite the result, the Brit warned that the team must “maximize” their Saturday in order to stay competitive for the remainder of the weekend. “A positive final Friday of the year,” he said.
“We made some good improvements, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do overnight. I think we can be happy with what we did, but we saw how close it was, so if we don’t maximize everything we can easily be a long way off where we want to be.” Teammate Carlos Sainz had different fortunes, with his soft tyre runs being interrupted.
The Spaniard said the red-striped F1 compound would be the indisputable qualifying compound, and stressed that he still must gain a better understanding of the tyre as he echoed those around him. A surprise performer of Friday was Renault driver Esteban Ocon. Usually not one to outperform his teammate, the Frenchman managed P3 in FP1, and P6 in FP2. He said one-lap pace was strong, but that long-run pace was unconvincing.
“It was a pretty good Friday in terms of our short runs,” said Ocon. “We still have some work to do overall because our long runs aren’t where we want them to be, especially as that has been among our strengths this year. That does, however, give us something to work out over the weekend and I’m sure we’ll get there.
“Otherwise, it’s promising on the timesheets and it’s going to be very tight once again. Whether it’s a long track or a short track, it’s very close.” Teammate Daniel Ricciardo missed out on FP1 due to an fuel pressure issue, but the Australian, ever the optimist, pointed out that the first session, taking place in the day time, is the least representative.
He adds that FP2, when he was finally able to hit the track, was productive as the F1 team ‘hit the ground running’. At Racing Point, both cars appeared highly competitive, with Sergio Perez leading the team in FP2 despite being on the medium compound. Irrespective of the events of Qualifying, the Mexican will start at the back because of a power unit change after his race-winning Sakhir GP performance.
Perez came P7 in both sessions, and is left disappointed by penalties that inevitably await him after F1 qualifying, which are certain to undo anything he can manage in Qualifying. “I’m happy with the balance of the car and the progress we’ve made – it’s just a shame we’ll be starting near the back [due to a change of Power Unit components] because I think we have the package for another good result,” he said.
“But it is what it is, and so our focus has been on the long runs. We’ve been working hard to understand how the race is likely to play out and how the Pirelli tyre compounds will behave. Obviously, FP2 is a really important session for this because it’s much more representative than FP1. Despite the interruption in FP2, I think we’re in a strong place and we have a good idea of what to expect.
“There’s a lot on the line this weekend with the battle for P3 in the Constructors’ Championship, but we can go into qualifying with the pressure off and focus on the race. The goal is to fight our way into good points and see how high we can finish on Sunday,” Perez said. Teammate Lance Stroll said his Friday was a success, with all scheduled programs being completed on his side of the garage.
At Ferrari, Charles Leclerc was pleasantly surprised with his pace, which placed him 12th and eighth in FP1 and FP2 respectively. The Monegasque describes a pace progression throughout the lap, with a tricky first turn giving way to easier subsequent corners. “On a track like this, we expected to struggle a bit more, but in fact we seem to be in the mix with the guys we usually fight with,” he said.
“This is probably not going to be as good a weekend as the last one in terms of performance, but it’s definitely better than we had expected. The balance of the car evolves over the course of the lap, as you have little grip in the first corner and then you gain more and more throughout the lap.
“I will also work on my driving as I am lacking a bit of speed here and there,” Leclerc said. In the other Ferrari, meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel attributed his P14 and P15 in FP1 and FP2 to difficulties with finding pace on the soft tyres, as did many of his adversaries. Friday was also a day of note for Haas, who ran with Mick Schumacher in lieu of Kevin Magnussen during FP1.
Schumacher remarked on stark differences between compounds in F1, and stressed that the intent of his time in the cockpit was to get experience above all else. “I would say things went pretty smoothly today in FP1,” he said. “I was getting used to the car – it’s such a big step from Formula 2 up into Formula 1, but I’m happy everything went well. I felt comfortable with every switch and then every switch change in the car.
“I started off on the hardest compound and got to do a few consecutive laps which was really good, every lap really counts as you’re building up the pace and learning where you can push into each corner. It was really just a matter of time and getting the laps in. We then went onto the softer tyre, which was a huge jump – the difference in compound is something you really feel strongly.
“It was cool, really nice. I’m really looking forward to getting back into the car on Tuesday at the test,” Schumacher said, while Pietro Fittipaldi described FP2 as “crazy”, and Magnussen – who stepped back into the car for FP2 – said that his VF-20 felt better than it had in past races. The Brazilian spent FP1 to test the F1 2021 parts.
Another team to run three F1 drivers across the two sessions was Alfa Romeo, whose reserve driver Robert Kubica stood in for Kimi Raikkonen. The Polish driver says they tested items for 2021 during FP1, with Antonio Giovinazzi saying that his long runs in FP2 were cut short. Raikkonen’s FP2 outing, meanwhile, was abbreviated by a mechanical issue that saw his car’s power unit go alight.
“We couldn’t do too many laps on high fuel given the issue we had: of course that’s not ideal, but at least it happened to an engine and gearbox we were going to change in any case,” said Raikkone, who was spotted helping his teammates to fix his car for Saturday. AlphaTauri, meanwhile, continued their consistency on Friday, with both cars in Top 10 in FP1, and Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat in P13 and P11 respectively come FP2.
The former of the pair predicted a remarkably tight mid-field fight, with the latter expressing optimism that the team can be firmly in contention for Saturday’s Qualifying. At Williams, George Russell reprised his role as a driver for the team on Friday, and his misfortunes from Sakhir appeared to continue into this weekend, with a mechanical issue putting an end to his FP2 session. This had no influence on his results, though, as he nonetheless edged out teammate Nicholas Latifi in both sessions. The Canadian said his day was more 2021-oriented, as he tested next year’s parts.
The FIA, meanwhile, released the COVID-19 update of the 7,723 tests undertaken between December 4 and 10. There were a total of three positive cases with no significant name revealed. The overall tally now sits at 94 from about 70000 tests done since the re-start of F1 2020.
Kimi Raikkonen lending a hand in the @AlfaRomeoRacing garage after his fire in second practice. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/WRex7Hrvf7
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) December 11, 2020
Here’s how F1 Abu Dhabi GP FP1 went
Here’s how F1 Abu Dhabi GP FP2 went