Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM.....

[coinlocket$]

The first time after 2013 when there is no Mercedes on the Pole! Great Job Max, first Pole Position in 2020.
Well deserved

What?

Leclerc the past year got like 5 or more pole positions.
Anyway gratz to Max but Mercedes will win anyway in a long run.

Fun fact.

Alonso will do the next week (15-12-2020) as a rookie, while Fia denied Sainz, Vettel and Riccardo.

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[Real-Duke]

The first time after 2013 when there is no Mercedes on the Pole! Great Job Max, first Pole Position in 2020.
Well deserved

What?

Leclerc the past year got like 5 or more pole positions.
Anyway gratz to Max but Mercedes will win anyway in a long run.

Fun fact.

Alonso will do the next week (15-12-2020) as a rookie, while Fia denied Sainz, Vettel and Riccardo.

Ups sorry! Correct:: First Pole of a non Mercedes in Abu Dhabi since 2013

[dre1982]

The first time after 2013 when there is no Mercedes on the Pole! Great Job Max, first Pole Position in 2020.
Well deserved

What?

Leclerc the past year got like 5 or more pole positions.
Anyway gratz to Max but Mercedes will win anyway in a long run.

Fun fact.

Alonso will do the next week (15-12-2020) as a rookie, while Fia denied Sainz, Vettel and Riccardo.

Alfonso was allowed because he didn't race in the last two years in the F1 and the others have. But still weird that he is a rookie ;-)

[sana54210]

I am sad to not see Russell with Mercedes, but I think all of this noise about Russel made some not so much F1 hardcore fan not realize that dude is on the league. I mean he races for Williams and not Mercedes and that shows clearly that he is not going to win, that car is not good at all and even Hamilton would lose with that car, however he is still around, so wait for him to actually get better contracts, maybe even red bull one day and he could partner up with Verstappen to beat Mercedes hopefully.

Verstappen finally took the pole position, which shows that no matter how (probably ten times) better a car is, you could still not get the pole position if you not race well, obviously it is very very very rare but it happens, and that is why we watch it, for the unexpected things.

[CLS63]

I am really happy for Verstappen about taking the pole position in Abu Dhabi today. Mercedes has been so dominant this season. Because of that, Verstappen had too much difficulty on getting ahead of Mercedes drivers. I would like to see Verstappen winning the race tomorrow too.

[coinlocket$]

Alfonso was allowed because he didn't race in the last two years in the F1 and the others have. But still weird that he is a rookie ;-)

Indeed, they changed the rule for the test for allowing him to drive his new car.

The test will be interesting if Ferrari finally can use his new engine, the block of engines is such a stupid rule.

[AndySt]

I am sad to not see Russell with Mercedes, but I think all of this noise about Russel made some not so much F1 hardcore fan not realize that dude is on the league. I mean he races for Williams and not Mercedes and that shows clearly that he is not going to win, that car is not good at all and even Hamilton would lose with that car, however he is still around, so wait for him to actually get better contracts, maybe even red bull one day and he could partner up with Verstappen to beat Mercedes hopefully.
Verstappen finally took the pole position, which shows that no matter how (probably ten times) better a car is, you could still not get the pole position if you not race well, obviously it is very very very rare but it happens, and that is why we watch it, for the unexpected things.

Actually, Russell is part of the Mercedes driver system and has already confirmed his performance in Williams for next year, so his appearance in Red bull is a bit problematic, because Red bull also has its own system of drivers. Let's not forget that Hamilton missed the race and got out of the competitive rhythm, and I'm not sure that after the illness, his physical condition is 100 percent. Hamilton also had to make new settings on the car, because Russell adjusted the car for himself in the last race.

[marioantonini]

I am really happy for Verstappen about taking the pole position in Abu Dhabi today. Mercedes has been so dominant this season. Because of that, Verstappen had too much difficulty on getting ahead of Mercedes drivers. I would like to see Verstappen winning the race tomorrow too.

It is incredible to think that this is only Max Verstappen's first pole position in 2020 and only the third in his entire career.He is the only driver who has managed to create some problems in Hamilton this year, even more than Bottas.

I hope for tomorrow to see a good race for Sebastian Vettel, his last race in Ferrari would deserve at least a good placement.

[Cnut237]

I think Hamilton is still struggling with the after-effects of the virus. Given Bottas' poor showing in the last race where he was upstaged by Russell, this is a great opportunity for Bottas to try to restore some credibility, immediately after being upstaged by Russell, against a weakened Hamilton, and before the season finishes.
Not sure whether he'll beat Hamilton, but in any case there is still a chance that Verstappen will upstage them both.

Of course if Hamilton was on normal form and starting in these positions, the race outcome would be Hamilton win with Verstappen and Bottas scrapping for second. This is a good chance for a win for both of them, but it's more important for Bottas.

[dre1982]

Mercedes got some problems with the MGU-K. So they had to lower the power of all Mercedes engines.

So this is good news for Verstappen.

[tokeweed]

I'm just looking the updates at F1's IOS app as I'm currently watching Tottenham vs Crystal Palace football match...  How's Verstappen's driving?  And what was Hamilton's line before the race?

[swogerino]

I think it was a well deserved 3rd place in constructors for McLaren this year.They have been the most stable team after Mercedes and Red Bull.Next year they also attracted new investors to try and bring them to the top of F1 again.A great win from Verstappen but worth only for statistics.

[dre1982]

Great race of Verstappen. He is was very fast today.

Albon did a good job ending close to Hamilton. I think he secured his seat for next year.

[marioantonini]

very boring race today, practically they arrived in the same order they started, no overtaking and no fights.
Hamilton, I think, was still affected by the symptoms of covid, because he seemed very dull, he never attacked Bottas.
I'm sorry for Vettel, last race in Ferrari, also this time out of the points, but Ferrari today was bad, we also saw it with Leclerc

[LTU_btc]

Not the most exciting race, but it happens almost every year in Abu Dhabi. Well deserved win for Verstappen. I agree with @swogerino, Mclaren deserved most to finnish 3rd in constructors championship. While Racing Point lost it on final race. Perez retired because of engine failure, despite that he got new engine before this race, Stroll also didn't had good race. And Racing Point had some bad luck in general, like covid cases of Perez and Stroll.
After all, I can't say that this season wasn't boring. Yeah, Mercedes were in their own league, there was no doubts who will become champion almost from first races. Only Verstappen was able to give them challenge. Ferrari were so disappointing
We had some crazy interesting races like Silverstone, Monza, Istanbul, Bahrain and few others. There was some first time winners like Gasly Perez and some more drivers who finnished first time on podium.
Just remember, back in March there was doubts that 2020 season may not happen at all.

[boltz]

Very boring race in Abu Dhabi today but all the races here have been the same. I don't get it why would you change a power unit to Perez when it's the last race of the season ? Smells fishy right here as I don't see the point because Stroll has had the same power unit for months now and they didn't change a thing to his car.

Anyway, thanks Seb for all this years with Ferrari , it's been a great journey and I do hope he will get more luck with Aston Marton but yet again...Stroll rules that company and I'm afraid Stroll will become the most hated driver in F1 history because of this. I can already see Seb being sacked in favor of Lance Stroll...which will driver fans into madness.

[CLS63]

That was absolutely a great race for Verstappen today. I am happy to see a different driver than Mercedes drivers win today too. Because they were too dominant this year. I really missed the real competition between drivers. I hope we can see more competition next season.

[coinlocket$]

Easy win for Verstappen with a weakened engine in the Mercedes.

Well, will be interesting to see the test of this week, if Ferrari will use or not (finally) the new engine.

[jostorres]

I am only upset about Lando and Russel this year. Lando broke into top ten drivers list, and finishing top 10 is a great deal, I hope that he continues this way and becomes much better, obviously with McLaren his teammate finished 6th so we know where he could reach at least in the future, hopefully next year Lando makes a big break out year and becomes a top 5 driver as well which depends on the car.

However Russel is something else, dude was the only driver that got points with that horrible car, and on the only race that he could have become the leader which he looked like he totally could have normally, they just screwed up all of his plans and pit crew managed to take away his win. We need to encourage younger racers because we will need another generational talent when Lewis is gone.

[Koal-84]

Great race of Verstappen. He is was very fast today.

Albon did a good job ending close to Hamilton. I think he secured his seat for next year.

RedBull is this weekned for my surprise in all sectors and with the engine very strong... The set all at one card at the last race and turn the last engine to the limit? To Albon, my opinion he is not string enough for a second driver at RedBull and can't make pressure at Verstappen to push he to to limit.