Lewis Hamilton took his 11th pole position of the 2018 season in Abu Dhabi as Mercedes swept the front row of the grid for the season finale.
Q1
Pierre Gasly was surely the unluckiest driver in the first part of qualifying. His Honda power unit let go as he approached the final corner of his final run, and although he crossed the line he narrowly failed to get a place in Q2.Gasly lost almost a tenth of his second to team mate Brendon Hartley in the final sector. With that, he might have pipped Kevin Magnussen to the last place in Q2.
Fernando Alonso scraped through with his final lap: “That my friend is magic, well done<" congratulated his race engineer. That meant Alonso completed a perfect season of out-qualified team mate Stoffel Vandoorne. He was unable to beat the Toro Rossos and ended up with only the Williams pair behind him. Renault joined the 'big three' teams in gambling not to do a final run, and must've got a fright when they saw Charles Leclerc setting fastest times through the first two sectors. Carlos Sainz Jnr fell close to the drop zone but made it through along with his team mate.
Drivers eliminated in Q1
| 16 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’37.994 |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’38.166 |
| 18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’38.577 |
| 19 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’38.635 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’38.682 |
Q2
According to Pirelli the ultra-soft tyre was supposed to be up to 1.4 seconds per lap slower than the hyper-soft, and the top teams were therefore unlikely to be able to get through Q2 using it. That wasn’t how it turned out, however.
Lewis Hamilton produced a scorching lap on the harder rubber, comfortably beating the track record for Yas Marina. and almost seven-tenths of a second than Bottas could manage on the same tyres.
That meant their rivals faced a tough call on whether to follow them. Vettel did, though he couldn’t get close to Hamilton’s time. Max Verstappen opted for hyper-softs and improved his time, meaning he will start the race on the softer rubber.
Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull also went out on hyper-softs but he was one of the last to run. As it became clear not enough of the midfielders had found enough time on the hyper-softs to beat him, Red Bull made the smart call to abandon his lap, and his ultra-soft time from earlier in the session was the one which got him into Q2.
The remaining four places were taken by drivers from four different teams: Romain Grosjean, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Nico Hulkenberg all reached the final Q3 of 2018, the latter despite being briefly delayed by a power unit problem.
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Drivers eliminated in Q2
| 11 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’36.580 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’36.982 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’37.309 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’37.541 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’37.743 |
Q3
With all drivers now on the hyper-softs, the first runs set up a thrilling fight for pole position. Hamilton, despite a scruffy lap, led the way, but the top six were covered by less than three-tenths of a second.
On his final run Hamilton cleaned it up and lopped half a second off his time. Bottas was the next driver through but could only find enough to join his team mate on the front row.
Vettel’s last lap started well – he was two-tenths quicker than Hamilton through the first sector and virtually matched him in the second. But in the final sector, where Ferrari had been struggling all weekend, he lost over half a second to the Mercedes and ended up third.
Kimi Raikkonen beat Ricciardo to fourth place by three-hundredths of a second. The Red Bull pair took up their customary places on the third row, Verstappen very unhappy with his tyre temperatures in Q3.
Grosjean declared himself very happy with his first run but Leclerc came very close to beating it as the pair claimed seventh and eighth. Ocon beat Hulkenberg to ninth place by two-thousandths of a second.
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Top ten in Q3
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’34.794 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’34.956 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’35.125 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’35.365 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’35.401 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’35.589 |
| 7 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’36.192 |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’36.237 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’36.540 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’36.542 |
2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- 1,000 wins: A world championship milestone
- 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Star Performers
- Top ten pictures from the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Untouchable Hamilton ends season with 11th victory
- Vote for your 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend
David BR (@david-br)
24th November 2018, 14:10
Phew. Hamilton seems to have finally learned not to let up at the end of the season. Superb qualifying session.
Kribana (@krichelle)
24th November 2018, 14:13
Nah. Let ups are fine. Don’t you love just resting while doing your job, and the others have to work hard?
David BR (@david-br)
24th November 2018, 14:16
Obviously :0)
But in Hamilton’s case can’t help feeling it gives a little impetus to his rivals (and harder work for him) the following season.
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
24th November 2018, 16:38
I don’t know, I look at it as a psychological + for Lewis. He just doesn’t make mistakes, they’ve had all year to improve and are still getting beaten, by a third of a second or more!
David BR (@david-br)
24th November 2018, 19:32
@waptraveler My impression is he’s realized that he can’t afford to give head starts next year though. The rivals are getting closer and closer in terms of car speed at least. And two new drivers up front next year, Gasly at Red Bull and (especially) Leclerc at Ferrari. Maybe neither as accident prone as Vettel and Verstappen.
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
24th November 2018, 20:10
Agree totally with your post below mine. The racing is much closer at the end of this season, next year should be a real fight!
yloops
24th November 2018, 14:14
That Q2 Lap, Hamilton take a bow mate, take a bow.
TheOmega (@omega)
24th November 2018, 15:30
Indeed his pole lap is impressive enough, but that Q2 lap was simply insane.
AMG44 (@amg44)
24th November 2018, 16:32
He blew everyone with that lap. 7 tenths faster than Bottas.
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
24th November 2018, 20:24
The aim of q2 is only to advance to q3, he may have taken too much out of that set of tires.
Andy Bunting (@wildbiker)
25th November 2018, 6:39
Yes for advancing to Q3.
However vitally important part of Q2 you seem to be either unaware of or missing it’s importance?
Fastest time in Q2 on whichever tyres are on the car. Decides which tyres they start the race on.
Mercedes have a major advantage with their tyres to start the race on.
nase
26th November 2018, 7:40
@wildbiker
I think you’re missing Megatron’s point. He’s right in saying that the sole purpose of a Q2 lap is to advance to Q3. This implicitly includes the point you explain in your post, i.e. determining the set of tyres that will be used at the start of the race. And that’s where you appear not to connect the dots:
Megatron’s point is that posting an especially quick lap time in Q2 is:
A) No more useful than a steady attempt that barely gets you into the top 10, as the times are deleted at the end of Q2
B) Potentially harmful to a driver’s race, as the tyres degrade very quickly when pushed hard, which could translate to a performance disadvantage that stays for the entire opening stint.
The Q2 lap times tell us that Hamilton pushed much harder than he needed to, seeing as Ricciardo made it through to Q3 with a lap that was almost 1.3 seconds slower. In that sense, Bottas and the Ferraris did the right thing, as there was nothing to be gained by matching Hamilton’s lap time. Their Q3 lap times indicate that they might have had the pace to achieve much more competitive lap times in Q2 – but they chose not to, and rightfully so.
In the end, it all didn’t matter, as Hamilton used the VSC period for an extremely early pit stop, i.e. we’ll never know if he took enough life out of his Q2 set to affect his race under VSC-less circumstances.
John H (@john-h)
24th November 2018, 14:23
No matter who your teammate is, outqualifying him 21/21 times is an amazing feat. From Vandoorne’s perspective, it is pretty pathetic to be honest.
Aldoid
24th November 2018, 14:32
Yeah, it looks pretty bad. You’ve got to at least challenge your teammate, regardless of how good or bad the car is. The value of Vandoorne’s stock has definitely plummeted. We all know Alonso’s one of the best to do it, but he’s not untouchable. And either way, if you can’t challenge the best then why would any front running team want you? There are no pushovers at the sharp end.
hyoko
24th November 2018, 16:35
ahem, some Valteri guy…
Aldoid
24th November 2018, 16:51
At least Bottas has out-qualified Hamilton on occasion this year, & it wouldn’t be a whitewash on wins this year either if he didn’t have to give up one to Lewis, & another to a popped tire. & There was another close call in there somewhere, I think… Bottas isn’t doing nearly as badly as some suggest.
hyoko
24th November 2018, 18:03
Not meaning lack of skills, but being always ready to yield to the Lord & Master of the team
hyoko
24th November 2018, 16:38
and while Alonso is a well-rounded package on track, his quali skills were never the best he had to offer
KGN11
24th November 2018, 16:58
So he’s not well rounded then?
hyoko
24th November 2018, 17:59
Umpteenth unwarranted conclusion
John H (@john-h)
24th November 2018, 19:26
Even Alonso has acknowledged there are better one lap qualifiers out there, so I’m not sure what your beef is with here KGN.
KGN11
24th November 2018, 20:04
What beef?
Alonso himself said he’s not good in the wet and not good over one lap, that to me says he’s not ‘well rounded’ like she said.
hyoko
24th November 2018, 20:29
Watch the Hungarian 2006 first lap then talk about skills in the wet
David BR (@david-br)
24th November 2018, 20:46
@KGN11 Well If you add not the fastest and not that good at developing a car (just going by his time at Ferrari and McLaren) I guess that does make him a well-rounded not the best at anything. :oP Even Verstappen is better at annoying engine manufacturers.
John H (@john-h)
24th November 2018, 22:43
Well I disagree. Alonso is an excellent qualifier, just not the best. It can still make him a well rounded driver.
I don’t understand your logic I’m afraid.
KGN11
24th November 2018, 23:15
@Hyoko
So you’re going to use one race from over a decade ago as evidence? So Alonso’ words aren’t enough?
KGN11
24th November 2018, 23:16
@john_h
I don’t understand your logic either
hyoko
24th November 2018, 23:44
First, yes, the best lap ever in the wet is evidence enough for me
Second, no, words are no evidence at all
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
24th November 2018, 20:29
Exactly as I used to say about Prost, wasn’t the best in qually or the wet so could not be well rounded or the best.
hyoko
24th November 2018, 23:52
Last time I checked, well-rounded didn’t mean being the absolute best at everything.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th November 2018, 16:57
@john-h Indeed.
Bct29
24th November 2018, 17:39
I disagree, if that was a dominant car in each of his whitewash seasons in term of qualy it would be 39 poles in two seasons. Would his qualy performance be judged the same if the prizes were different?
Aldoid
24th November 2018, 14:25
I really shouldn’t be surprised since he’s done it quite often, but still, every time Lewis manages a lap time that the others can’t get anywhere near it still leaves me shaking my head.
Robz (@yloops)
24th November 2018, 14:29
Yup I know what you mean, it feels like every so often he drops a lap time that’s just outlandish, I don’t feel like the are other drivers that do that in this generation.
That’s not to say there aern’t drivers as fast as him, but those gobstopper laps, (and not necessarily only in q3), always seem to come from Hamilton.
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
24th November 2018, 20:31
Watch the old videos of other drivers watching Senna qualify, they would stand there head shaking and slack jawed.
Dean
24th November 2018, 21:12
Lewis is the best qualifier ever. That includes Senna.
hyoko
25th November 2018, 0:10
Correct me if I’m wrong but AFAIK the best quali record still belongs to JM Fangio with 57% (29 poles/52 entries). And still Jim Clark (45%) and Alberto Ascari (42%) are on top of Ayrton Senna (40%) who still is ahead of that guy you mention (36%), who certainly has the record of total poles, but with vastly more entries.
Bobby (@f1bobby)
25th November 2018, 7:28
Apples and oranges. Ham is definitely peers with all those you mention.
Aldoid
24th November 2018, 21:20
Oh, I’ve seen a few of them live. Been watching for a while.
yloops
25th November 2018, 8:53
To be fair, to all, I did say of this generation. Its rrally difficukt to compare with other Eras.
krxx
25th November 2018, 10:06
@yloops
Difficult or even next to impossible for that matter, certainly for us. This circus is in a constant evolution, qualifying included. The way the cars line up on the grid, the perceived significance of quali at the time and by individuals, implications of the rules®ulations etc etc all change every (couple of) year(s). Just for example in this same generation of drivers you had these rules which meant cars were on different fuel levels in quali, and also different tyres to start the race with. So significant effects on quali results, all depending on a team’s (and even drivers within a team) strategy, which in turn is affected by characteristics of their specific car, also relative to the others’.
Most of the time when people bring this subject up to ‘compare’ drivers, some of these comparisons could have been between a man and his great-great-grandson, it concerns a FBoy who needs affirmation why he’s idolizing his subject of adoration.
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
24th November 2018, 14:39
That was a solid qualifying session. Great qualifying from Hamilton. That Ferrari didn’t behave well in the final sector and it shows from Vettel’s time. If they have the pace tomorrow he or Kimi can win it. Great performance by Leclerc as well!
Super Grover
25th November 2018, 10:21
Yes, according to the time sheets above he went out in Q2 but still managed 8th in Q3, nice work!
José Lopes da Silva
24th November 2018, 15:15
“if you can’t challenge the best then why would any front running team want you? There are no pushovers at the sharp end.” Aldoid said it all.
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
24th November 2018, 15:22
@keithcollantine – I’ve figured out how Leclerc scores so many points! There is (are?) two of him. One of them dropped out in Q2 but the other one made it to Q3…
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
24th November 2018, 15:54
@tribaltalker Mega LOL.
AMG44 (@amg44)
24th November 2018, 16:31
Hamilton’s Q2 lap was magical. Something like what he delivered in Singapore Q3. Its moments like these which make him so special anf unique. Absolutely untouchable at times.
Also hope Ocon scores big tomorrow. He has been overall the better driver at Force India.
mi_chiamo_gino (@michiamogino)
24th November 2018, 16:43
@keithcollantine where is ERICSSON?
Steve Ellis
24th November 2018, 16:57
Leclerc is listed twice.
Gabriel (@rethla)
24th November 2018, 16:58
Gone, with a smile.
John H (@john-h)
24th November 2018, 22:44
Serving a race ban for taking out Grosjean.
Blazzz (@blazzz)
24th November 2018, 16:53
Man Hamilton is capable of producing some magical laps. That Q2 lap was something else. He and Vettel on the same strategy along with BOT. So 3 way fight for the win tomorrow, surely.
I think those on the Hypers will really be compromised: Kimi and Max especially.
Gabriel (@rethla)
24th November 2018, 16:59
Max will adapt, Kimi is compromised on any tyre.
koddamn (@gufdamm)
24th November 2018, 17:56
How exactly will he adapt? The hypersofts were terrible in practice.
Gabriel (@rethla)
24th November 2018, 20:51
@gufdamm
He has shown time after time he and his team can do more than anyone else with the given tyres.
Dean Reynolds
24th November 2018, 21:15
Eh?? He’s won 2 races this year so that can’t possibly be true
Gabriel (@rethla)
25th November 2018, 14:52
Aaaaand i was right. Turns out it is true after all.
krxx
24th November 2018, 17:08
@blazzz
Kimi’s on ultra’s.
Blazzz (@blazzz)
24th November 2018, 16:54
End of season fun- where is @sarahj these days? Seems when Hamilton is doing well, she’s nowhere to be seen… Or is it a he…
anon
24th November 2018, 17:46
@blazzz, please don’t start that sort of fighting here – whilst SaraJ’s posts have been extremely toxic and laden with xenophobia, nobody gains from trying to provoke somebody into that sort of argument either. All it descends into is recriminations, abuse and trolling where everybody ends up losing – you can choose to celebrate the achievements of whomever you want to follow without having to then act to denigrate their rivals so aggressively.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
24th November 2018, 18:03
+1 to that, don’t feed the trolls.
Blazzz (@blazzz)
24th November 2018, 19:43
@annon,
Fair points.
Dean
24th November 2018, 21:21
No..not fair points. That’s a big jump anon has made there. How is that “fighting”? A reasonable question was asked by blazzz based on the absence of said messenger in recent months and anon sticks theres in by trying to denigrate the initial comment which was far from controversial. Maybe Saraj can answer for herself. I for one would be interested in the answer.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
24th November 2018, 18:05
Damn, it looks like I missed a good qualifying (which probably means the best part of the weekend!).
I just hope the race on Sunday is half as good – this rubbish circuit is not the send-off F1 deserves into the winter break.
David BR (@david-br)
24th November 2018, 19:36
True but F1’s happy enough to take the money. Personally I’d like Japan as the final race.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
24th November 2018, 22:37
@phylyp: Agree. Crass Marina is a pathetic car park – could only be improved if it was paved with gold. And never hosted a F1 race again.
However, it’s a fitting testament to Bernie’s legacy – cost over $1B attempting to be prestigious. Yet it’s just tacky, gauche and pretentious.
@david-br: Japan as the final would be great – warmer, but not quite as great as Spa, but still great. If Liberty wants to expand the calendar to 25 races, just race more than once at the classic tracks. Problem solved. ;-)
krxx
24th November 2018, 22:42
@phylyp
Why exactly is this a rubbish circuit to you? Drivers seem to quite like it.
Just curious about another opinion.
LB (@burden93)
24th November 2018, 19:27
High hopes for Danny Riccardo tomorrow. He had the pace today and starting on the Ultrasoft could be key. Fingers crossed his car can make the end and he brings back a great result on his last Red Bull race.
Magically from Hamilton as it has been all season, as others have said above, the Q2 lap was a class above everyone else
budchekov (@budchekov)
24th November 2018, 21:07
Nice to see the Helmet Police haven’t confiscated his Gold lid !
Golden lap there Lewis.
RP (@slotopen)
25th November 2018, 0:28
@budchekov
The 6 year old in me kinda likes the tacky gold helmet. But I really like being able to tell him from Bottas without the numbers.
dusty (@dusty)
24th November 2018, 23:43
I’m voting for Leclerc as DOTD! Still managed to qualify 8th after getting knocked out of Q2.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
25th November 2018, 1:40
@dusty: That’s going to be a worry for Seb. A teammate that can qualify in two positions at once. In a Sauber. Charles might put the Ferrari in all the top 3 Q3 slots next season.
Kerry Maxwell (@kerrymaxwell)
25th November 2018, 4:01
Marcus Ericsson seems to have missed all three sessions? And Charles Leclerc was eliminated in Q2 but placed in the Top 10? I must be missing something.