Poll: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021, Yas Island - Race 22

Rate the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix out of ten. If you want. I can’t be arsed.

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It’s a difficult one. Max on softs and on the better side of the track should give him an advantage at the start.

However, soft tyres which will go off quicker, especially combined with a full fuel load means that I think Lewis will get past him relatively quickly.
 
I understand that but Lewis' car seemed 4 tenths faster over a lap so why don't just match the Red Bulls and take them in the pits if you lose it in the first corner. It just seems Merc are trying to be "smart".
 
Assuming no shenanigans it's going to come down to whose got the best tyres at the end and is that enough to make up for any car deficit. Obviously Lewis should end up in the best position but you never know. The tyres could have some sort of miracle life.
 
adam cool dude said:
I understand that but Lewis' car seemed 4 tenths faster over a lap so why don't just match the Red Bulls and take them in the pits if you lose it in the first corner. It just seems Merc are trying to be "smart".
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Max flat spotted his medium tyres, so he had to choose the softs for quali. Pointless trying to match another car with the same strategy if you're slower than them... it'll just put you in the same position.

The optimum race tyre is the medium (or so they've said) it's just RB forced their own hand by flat spotting that new set. Now, I personally believe they were always going to start the race on the softs anyway (to guarantee pole and track position) but it won't have helped that they've lost a set of mediums. Remember, the track is going to be cooling down... you don't want to fit a set of hard tyres if you can help it, as they'll take an age to warm up.

Starting medium and fitting a set of softs for the sprint to the line at the end should be the faster strategy assuming they can stretch the mediums to pull off a 1-stop.
 
From what I have read is that Max flatspotted his mediums so had to go on the softs. Not sure if that is sandbagging or it really did happen.

Does Hamilton have to run on Hards or can he get away with a medium/soft combo? If so he must be in prime position unless Max try's to do a Jerez 97.
 
robfosters said:
Well Lewis’ mediums won’t have the pace of the softs but will last longer. If he can keep as close as possible to Max, towards the end of the race, he will be on the quicker softs, while Max will have to switch to the slower mediums. Then hopefully, Lewis can chase him down.
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Listening to them on Sky earlier it seemed that both are likely to switch to hard's in an attempt to one stop; unless there's 2 stops its unlikely Hamilton will ever be on softs
 
adam cool dude said:
From what I have read is that Max flatspotted his mediums so had to go on the softs. Not sure if that is sandbagging or it really did happen.

Does Hamilton have to run on Hards or can he get away with a medium/soft combo?
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He can do the race on any two tyre combinations and has more options because Max had a big lockup on the mediums.
 
adam cool dude said:
I dont really follow F1 anymore but the last few races have brought me back in. What is the positive for Lewis going on the mediums? Surely matching max on tyre choice is all he needed to do and lead from the pole. The Merc looked on a different level. Why take that risk?
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Last longer so that when they both go onto the hard tyres Hamilton will have much more life to attack with them.
 
chrismscotland said:
Listening to them on Sky earlier it seemed that both are likely to switch to hard's in an attempt to one stop; unless there's 2 stops its unlikely Hamilton will ever be on softs
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If that is the case why didn't Hamilton go onto the softs. The Mercedes is the faster car than Red Bull just should be matching them in tyre choice and they should beat them in race pace. They are taking a big chance as one safety car will change everything.
 
adam cool dude said:
From what I have read is that Max flatspotted his mediums so had to go on the softs. Not sure if that is sandbagging or it really did happen.

Does Hamilton have to run on Hards or can he get away with a medium/soft combo? If so he must be in prime position unless Max try's to do a Jerez 97.
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The flatspotting did happen.

They'll likely both run hards in second stint.

We'll probably see something like
Max - Soft 10 / Hard 48
Lewis - Medium 15 / Hard 43

No chance anyone is one stopping a soft and medium combo. Not anyone competitive at least.

If they're getting worried you might see Max stop twice. (if they have enough softs to try a 10 / 10 / 38)
 
adam cool dude said:
If that is the case why didn't Hamilton go onto the softs. The Mercedes is the faster car than Red Bull just should be matching them in tyre choice and they should beat them in race pace. They are taking a big chance as one safety car will change everything.
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Lewis couldn't match Max when they were both on softs, so not sure why you're so convinced that would be the best way to take the fight to Max.
 
adam cool dude said:
Why does he need to attack? He could have just gone on the soft's and got Pole then lead from pole to finish. We all know the Merc is setup for the race.
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Did you even watch the qualifying?

They both ran softs and Max blitzed everyone, including Lewis. Even on the lap he didn't get the tow I think he ended up considerably faster.
 
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