|
THE ROAD TO
POLE
* Max Verstappen clinched pole for the final race of the 2022 season. The
Red Bull driver set the best qualifying time, a 1m23.824s, using the soft P
Zero compound. He is joined on the front row by team-mate Sergio Perez, who
was 0.228s off top spot. Charles Leclerc will start third in his Ferrari,
setting a fastest lap time of 1m24.092s.
* Track temperatures during qualifying ranged between 32.2-33.2°C; as
expected, conditions were cooler than both Friday’s second free practice
session and Saturday’s third and final practice.
* The performance gaps between the three softest compounds in the Pirelli
range present in Abu Dhabi are almost identical. There is an estimated gap
of 0.3s per lap between both the hard and medium compounds and the medium
and soft compounds respectively.
* Red Bull was also fastest in final practice. Perez topped the
classification with a 1m24.982s, putting him 0.152s ahead of Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) was third-fastest with a 1m25.222s. Free practice
was briefly interrupted mid-session by a red flag.
* The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Max Verstappen by Khaby
Lame, the world's most followed influencer on TikTok. The 22-year-old
Italian started posting comical video reactions on the social network in
2020 and his success was immediate, building the fastest-growing TikTok
account ever. Lame now has more than 152 million followers and 2.5 billion
likes, and featured on the Forbes Top Creators 2022 list. |
|
STRATEGY
NOTEBOOK:
A two-stop strategy may
well be the fastest option for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Increased tyre
degradation compared to last year’s race has created question marks
surrounding pre-event simulations. Two pitstops, with an average loss of 22
seconds for each tire change, is projected to be four to five seconds faster
than a single stop.
Two options are considered the fastest: start on mediums, change to hards
(between lap 16 and 22) complete the final stint on either the medium or
hard compound. Completing the final stint on soft tyres is less likely, as
it is unlikely to be as competitive as the other compounds. What teams
choose to do will also likely be down to their remaining tyre allocation.
Anyone wishing to try a one stop strategy may arrive on the grid with medium
compound and then replace them with the hard tyre, with managing the
degradation of a longer first stint key. Other options on a one-stop
strategy include soft to hard and hard to soft, at which point a safety car
would play an important role in the outcome. |
