Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Yas Marina, 2020

F1 should consider Yas Marina track changes to remedy “grim” races – Ricciardo

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In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo says Formula 1 should consider changes to the Yas Marina after another processional Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

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What they say

Ricciardo gained more places than any other driver on Sunday but described it as being more like a time trial than a race:

Knowing my pace was strong and I was creating that gap, that kept me excited. It was kind of like just a long time trial that I was enduring. So personally it was a fairly fun race for me, although not a whole lot of action with other guys.

It’s a shame because it is such a great venue and I certainly don’t want to talk the place down because I want to keep coming back here because it is amazing. But maybe we could play around with the layouts – there is a few alternatives around here – because unfortunately on Sunday it is tricky. It’s sometimes a bit grim from an entertainment point of view.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Dave is optimistic Red Bull will take the fight to Mercedes more successfully in 2021:

This was a race where: A. Red Bull finally found the ‘eureka’ moment with their car after months of trying new parts and binning them, and B: Where Mercedes just couldn’t get the car to work and had constant understeer and balance issues.

Given the minor design changes allowed next year and the aero tech restrictions for the rear of the car, having a good 2020 base model the team understands well and works well will help. It would appear Red Bull are finally there.

I expect Mercedes to be ahead again at the start of the 2021 season but Red Bull should not take long to start to be competitive, at least not as long as they took this year. Add to that a certain Mexican tyre whisperer bringing up the rear for Verstappen and, in theory at least, we should have some proper fights at the front.
Dave (@Davewillisporter)

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64 comments on “F1 should consider Yas Marina track changes to remedy “grim” races – Ricciardo”

  1. Yes Marina doesn’t have an overtaking problem, it has a driving challenge problem. The track is simply too smooth, too forgiving and too easy on tires, car and driver.

    Hence the field lines up in a very representative order, team mates close together on the grid (the same often happens in Spain) and once the race starts the field simply and slowly spreads apart. You see it year after year. There is simply no challenge and little in the way of unpredictability.

    When something does occasionally mix up the order, then overtaking happens and the racing is not bad. But this is the exception and not the rule.

    Even the Shakir GP, on an incredibly short layout with only four braking zones had a great driving challenge with that one glorious bumpy chicane.

    The circuits need to challenge the drivers and Abu Dhabi simply doesn’t.

    1. Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
      15th December 2020, 8:19

      Yas Marinas does have an overtaking problem and you’ve just explained one of the many reasons why.

      The circuit isn’t the main problem, the cars are. The sooner 2022 comes the better. Well conceived car regulations will allow good racing on just about modern circuit and many of the old ones too.

      That’s not to say Yas Marinas couldn’t benefit from some changes, I have always found it deeply boring, but considering the cost how did it go so wrong?

      1. From my point of view Yas Marina suffers from the same thing a lot of the modern F1 tracks do in that they are designed for overtaking. That might sound odd but what I mean is that a lot of modem tracks try to make allowances for the fact cars can’t follow each other properly through medium and high speed complexes so they employ a lot of fast straights with heavy braking zones at the end. They’re trying to solve the issues with the cars in track design rather than fixing the cars. I’m hopeful that in 2022 with the cars more able to follow we may be able to move away from designing boring tracks and get close racing without the sticking plaster combination of that kind of track design and DRS.

        1. @wonderbadger

          If the track is easy, then drivers cannot make much difference and the inevitable end result with easy overtaking is the cars ending up in the order of how fast the car can go. The only excitement is when cars end up on the grid out of order with regard to their race speed (because of penalties, the qualy speed is different from the race speed, mistakes on the key lap, etc). But the easier overtaking is, the sooner the cars will be in the order of their race speed. Then the excitement is over and all that remains is slowly increasing gaps between the cars.

          On difficult tracks, drivers that can keep putting out error-free laps can defeat drivers with faster cars, who don’t have that ability.

        2. I think you’re mainly right.

          I’d say it perhaps falls in to the trap of having designated ‘slam dunk’ overtaking spots. Factoring in overtaking is now a common place in track design, but I think it’s more about how it’s achieved that’s the issue. No one finds highway passes entertaining.

      2. @sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk I think you have nailed the crux of it, as I have said before as has @jerejj said before and again further down on this page. Not that I think they are about to start changing tracks but to me it is silly to even suggest it given the non-clean air cars they are about to introduce for 2022. F1’s biggest problem for decades now imho has been clean air dependence, so let’s see what the new cars actually do once racing in anger before we make these knee-jerk reactions and start changing tracks (again not that there seems to be an actual movement to do so from within F1 that I’m aware of, but just the odd opinion here and there).

    2. I think your right.. but the track certainly has an overtaking problem I believe. All these 90 degree corners are terrible for following, just like we see in Sochi every year. Also the little chicane at the start of sector 2 is terrible to stay close to the car in front.
      We need to get rid of this place, but it probably wont happen because of money reasons of course.
      The only solution to me is change the layout for example skipping turns 4 and 5 and go straight for the hairpin. They could also make gravel traps in stead of tarmac on the outside. That makes it more exciting aswell.

      1. Remembering back, I don’t think the turns 4 and 5 were in the original design, but they had to be introduced to slow cars down as there wasn’t enough run-off at the hairpin. Always thought it was a shame. I think they could probably re profile the turns 4 and 5 to make them slower, with the hope you could stay closer together.

      2. @jesperfey13 David L already points this out partly, but the hairpin runoff is insufficient for the approach speeds that would be achieved skipping the chicane, so out of the question. The North Grandstand could feature an extended runoff below the grandstand like at the West stand, but this should’ve been taken into account in the construction phase back in the day. Unfortunately, not really an option afterwards to alter the stand for this purpose.

      3. Not a snowball’s chance, i’m afraid – there’s simply not enough run-off.

        Also, gravel/grass are considered one of the same in terms of run-off ie. not as efficient. Asphalt is seen as the most effective means of run-off, which, it already has there.

        I can only assume this section of the track was designed in such a fashion to enable the grandstand to be placed very close to trackside.

    3. I agree and to be honest the overtaking difficulty is about right. Overtaking isn’t easy as it is at some tracks, but its not impossible. Gasly for example was able to pass quite a few cars on the same strategy but Vettel and Raikkonen were able to hold off theoretically faster cars.

      Overtaking isn’t what makes a race exciting its unpredictability. Races are not unpredictable if the quickest way to complete the race is to make one early pitstop and set consistent laptimes for the rest of the race. Pushing harder presumably doesn’t yield any improvement in laptime. This means there are no alternative stategy options, no ones car performance seemed to change as tyre wear also didn’t really seem to affect laptime.

      The overtaking there was also actually pretty dull just good exit from a slow corner into DRS. Even having two straights with DRS doesn’t make it existing as cars can only run side by side on straights. Both braking zones at the end of the DRS sections seemed pretty straightforward so there never seemed to be risk of someone locking their brakes. On top of that the camera angles were usually terrible so any overtaking didn’t even look good.

      And on top of everything, like Sochi it just doesn’t feel like a racetrack. It feels like they are racing around an exhibition centre car park. It doesn’t feel like the pinnacle of motor racing.

  2. How to change a portion of the track and when completed Abu Dahbi will offer a corner with a new entrance and an new exciting exit from the existing track and will create a visual jewel F1 Style.
    Approaching the hairpin at the mall end of this racing facility. Turn the cars out of the current layout between the grandstand gap. Run the cars behind the curving grandstand and punch and large enough opening through the bottom rows to run cars medical cars mobile lifts, etc. so that those in the stands will sit just above the cars as the literally drag race from behind the grandstands and then blast down the track.
    I want a seat above where they come through the new tunnel and watch them close up and get blasted by the sound of 2020 Formula One cars.

    This new area requires changing the route into the grandstand opening. Looks like much of the behind area of the grandstand is already in place. But the turn and entrance back onto the straight will require some imagination but if done right.
    When completed this alteration may give the race fan something unlike any other event.
    Well I’m ready. I can visualize these changes as much of its already in place. Gotta spend money to make money. But this idea has merit if pulled off correctly. A change that is more about giving those in attendance something different, something exciting. Fans will want to experience
    the “Chute” drivers will too.

    Find yourself waiting to see and then hear the most powerful Grand Prix Cars blast out from beneath you while sitting with racing fans from all over the world. Gotta be worth the price. A massive visual and audible experience.

    This is a good idea.

    1. It really isn’t. Have another go?

      1. How about your own idea if you are so quick to judge others?? You doubt me then I question back and ask for your how would you solve the the problem at Yas Marina ? Is that more than your intellect is capable of Kernal ? Can you describe how you would improve AbuDahbi? Maybe your best at negative comments but not much else.

        1. Well, Steven, who is “Kernal”?
          And it’s “you’re” not “your”
          Firstly, I’m allowed to think your idea is not the best and there is no obligation on me to provide an alternative.
          However, because I’m reasonable, I do think the ideas submitted by @Sumedh further down have merit if we have to race at this track.
          If it was my choice, i would bin it off entirely and go elsewhere.

  3. I thought the first Bahrain race was worse than this one.

    This one promised a lot with Max on pole and the Mercs 2 & 3 but Max was simply too good.

  4. Perhaps the owners of the circuit should sue Herman Tilke for coming up with this dump of a design from a blank slate

    1. I am pretty sure that he was quite tightly restricted by their design brief. And even had to push them to create things like the elevation (about 4 meters? Something like that) @aftv

    2. Didn’t he have to design a circuit around a hotel? The track is an afterthought

      1. @paeschli you are right that the circuit was something that was added in after the concept for the wider development, including the hotel, was put forward.

        It basically meant that, rather like Sochi, Tilke was basically told where he was allowed to build something that slotted around the other developments which came first and which fitted within the relatively narrow isthmus that the whole development sits on. The wider development was the primary development objective and the track was basically bolted on for a bit of extra prestige, rather than being an integrated part of the development from the outset.

    3. I guess the requirements sheet contained a run around the marina and through the hotel so a tight, twisty angular layout was unavoidable.
      That chicane though…

      1. There’s no excuse for the cookie cutter constant radius turns that are the main problem with this circuit. Tilke office is 100% to blame for these.

        1. @john-h to that end, how would you propose rearranging the track around the footprint of the other structures that are present, ensuring the run off areas meet current circuit homologation requirements and simultaneously ensure there is adequate access for marshals and maintenance vehicles, along with the facilities that are required to operate the circuit and to also support members of the public who attend the venue?

  5. This was a race where: A. Red Bull finally found the ‘eureka’ moment with their car after months of trying new parts and binning them, and B: Where Mercedes just couldn’t get the car to work and had constant understeer and balance issues.

    Please, tell him he’s dreaming. Mercedes turning their cars down to the minimum had nothing to do with it.

    2021 will be the same as every other season in this era of Hybrids, no one will touch the Mercedes. Such a shame it all got delayed to due to COVID, we desperately need a new formula of cars.

    1. I know, baffling it was COTD baffling that he concluded from Mercedes ‘flying in formation’ with jelly legged Albon in 4th and no pressure on them being 1st & 2nd in the WDC and their engines somewhat worn that it was a ‘eureka’ moment, more like ‘your kidding’.

    2. Dave (@davewillisporter)
      15th December 2020, 12:31

      @skipgamer Firstly Mercedes according to James Vowles, restricted their MGU-K duty cycle to a conservative setting which cost them 0.1s per lap in race trim. A Mercedes interview quoted on this site states that the PU difference would not have won them the race. Just “inventing” a “fact” that Mercedes turned their PU down to “the minimum” doesn’t make it true. Neither @tonymansell does reinforcing the above invention with “engines somewhat worn” make it any stronger an argument. Redbull’s PU were also “somewhat worn”. As for “flying in formation” Bottas was desperate to win that race. He even asked Toto for an “atta boy, give it all” before quali. You are ignoring everything both Mercedes drivers said during practice, qualifying and the race. You are ignoring a couple of times during the race where Bottas was asked to give it everything and Max kept pulling away and you are ignoring what Lewis said about getting within 3 seconds of Bottas and sliding around. The Merc just wasn’t set up for this track. Now if both of you are unware of, have not read or watched any of this fair enough but don’t invent BS to ridicule someone who’s taken the time to find out the facts of why Merc were off by 0.4 to 1 second a lap from Max in the race.
      Secondly, read the whole quote:

      I expect Mercedes to be ahead again at the start of the 2021 season but Red Bull should not take long to start to be competitive, at least not as long as they took this year.

      Quote from Horner in Autosport (F1 Redbull car freeze should help Redbull at start of 2021)

      “Obviously a large percentage of the car does carry over, so where we start in Barcelona [testing] in a couple of months’ time, is going to be pretty much where we finish here with the relevant upgrades on it.
      “It’s the first time in F1’s history [that this has happened], and it is why we called the new car, 16B, as opposed to 17, because there’s so much of it that is carry over. Probably about 60% of the car is carry over.”

      I stand by what I said. It’s based on facts. Thank you RF for comment of the day!

      1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
        15th December 2020, 12:44

        @robbie The above. “Them”!

        1. @davewillisporter Lol to “them” and another eloquent response from you. Funny to read someone call you a dreamer while inventing a fact out of the ether. But I’ll happily dream of Max being closer to LH next year than this year, from the getgo. Mercedes famous strength and domination aside, the fact is RBR did erode their advantage over the season, and there is no reason to think next year will start off again with Mercedes having the same large gap to the other teams, particularly RBR. Said reserving room for the possibility anyway, such has Mercedes shown their capability.

          They won’t have DAS, for whatever that was worth in terms of nailing tire temps. And Honda sounds like they’ll have something pretty solid next year too. Newey is back full on with the team as opposed to being a satellite manager for much of the last two seasons. Added up, and it’s hard (as I say but not impossible) to imagine Merc starting next year with the same domination as this. And as we have heard numerous times, the Mercedes cars seem the most negatively affected in dirty air. If Max can start ahead of them on more occasions, his dirty air could negate some of their usual strength when starting 1-2.

          As usual it’s going to be a blast to watch, it’s one race at a time, and as we know anything can happen and often does.

          1. @robbie whilst it is true that the gap reduced over the year, there has been a difference in philosophy between Red Bull and Mercedes over the 2021 regulation changes.

            In the case of Red Bull, they have talked about it being more of an incremental change, which is the attitude that quite a few teams are taking towards the 2021 cars. However, Mercedes seem to be treating it more like the 2019 front wing changes, where changes that were meant to be comparatively small had a relatively large impact on the performance of the cars.

            They have talked about how there are some areas where you can actually make fairly significant changes, which is why they have taken more of an attitude of stopping development of the 2020 car comparatively early and focussing more attention on the 2021 model.

            As such, I would take the fact that Red Bull have been close at the end of this season with a bit of caution, as Mercedes will have been holding back some development this year to focus on next year instead.

            With regards to Newey’s input and the possibility of him stepping up involvement again, I am not so sure that it will be quite as significant. Whilst Newey was involved with the Valkyrie, Newey himself stated back in September 2018 that “the Valkyrie supercar with Aston Martin is complete” and that “for the past 15 months, I have focused once again on F1 cars”. https://www.grandprix.com/news/newey-says-full-focus-back-on-f1.html

            To me, contrary to what Horner was saying earlier this year, Newey’s own comments suggest he was already pretty much back to full time at Red Bull in 2019 and 2020. That suggests that Newey’s input into Red Bull’s 2021 car is probably pretty much the same as it has been for the past couple of years – so, for all Horner’s talk, I don’t think there will be any perceptible difference between Red Bull’s development work in 2021 compared to the past couple of years.

            I might take a more middle ground as a result – the gap might be reduced, but my expectation is that Mercedes will probably have built up a bit of a gap back to Red Bull by the start of 2021.

          2. anon Fair comment. I think it goes without saying that when you have such a dominant car, and the closest competitor has their work cut out for them and really no choice but to keep the nose to the grindstone, then yeah the top team can stop developing earlier and concentrate on next year. That said, I’d be surprised if Merc indeed totally stopped developing during this season, and that RBR totally ignored next years car like they can’t possibly have found the time or the resources to work on both projects at the same time. I think it is very possible that RBR were taking what they were learning they didn’t like about their current car, and translating that to next year’s car at the same time. I’m not convinced it’s so black and white that Mercedes has some big jump on next year’s car, nor that RBR are having a late start. One could argue that RBR have seen themselves with a lock on second in the WCC for quite some time, unable to touch Merc, but nobody able to touch them, and thus would have perhaps felt it prudent to maintain that only, while going ahead and starting on the 2021 car as they explored the issues with the current one.

            I was surprised to hear Horner call it more of a transitional off-season when he said 60% of the car will carry over to next year. Yeah I get that it is better than a 100% new car, no parts interchangeable, even if lately they always look so similar, but to me 40% not being carried over is still going to mean a new learning curve in terms of establishing balance via setup work as they adapt to optimizing the tires, for all the teams, considering the lesser floor, and each teams’ take on how to claw downforce back.

            As to Newey, yeah I agree that he was always involved in the team even when he was doing the Valkyrie, but unlike your information I was going by Horner’s proclamation from earlier this year that AN was back in full. I always understood that even if he was elsewhere he was still always overseeing the design team that works under him, and Horner did say that.

            As to the gap and whether it will reduce, I’ll just say it feels like it will reduce, for what that’s worth, but of course Mercedes has earned the right for us to always be leery of what rabbit they might pull out of the hat next. Here’s hoping for all of us that Max will be able to challenge LH better. We’ll only know when we know.

      2. Dream on dreamer. We’ll see though wont we, whatever you are I are ignoring. Oh btw, have a drink or something, you sound un- necessarily het up that someone disagreed with you. Its a comments page old boy. Part of the fun.

        1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
          15th December 2020, 15:53

          @tonymansell I have a low tolerance for opinions not based on an understanding of facts. Of course its a comments page. You were commenting on my comment. If you can’t debate with facts and need to resort to snark or saltiness, maybe it’s you who needs the drink. I’m here for the knowledge and debate old boy!

          1. @davewillisporter

            No you just have a low tolerance petal. Welcome to the internet. Theres no dolly mixtures here and your ‘facts’ are a summation based on supposition. I lll see you next season to discuss your facts. Well done on your COTD btw , stick on your fridge.

        2. Dave (@davewillisporter)
          16th December 2020, 21:17

          More snark? Seriously! Do you actually have any understanding of what you comment on? At this point your repostes are pathetic.
          Dude. Either challenge my suppositions or shut up. You seem so butt hurt someone has challenged you directly as apposed to your method of sniping with a side comment.
          Leave it go. You got whipped. Learn from it.

          1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
            16th December 2020, 21:50

            @tonymansell See you in ’21. Hope you bring your big boy pants as apposed to the primary school playground you appear to operate in. Adults use facts. Catch up!

        3. Dave (@davewillisporter)
          16th December 2020, 22:47

          @tonymansell Just a point of order. My opinions are suppositions. What I quoted as facts are exactly that. FACTS. Not “facts” as you intimate. I base my opinions on those FACTS. I didn’t make them up. Learn the difference. It’s telling that instead of dealing with the facts I presented, you chose to personally attack. Put your big boy pants on. A is for apple. B is for bat. Think. Otherwise I’ll just own your ass.

          1. Oh are you American, no wonder such rage. Have another cheeseburger fatasss. Try not to shoot anyone today eh?

  6. Here’s an idea: why not go back to the days where the pit lane would be closed under the Safety Car? Spa was also boring I remember, races neutralised because of an SC in the one-thirds point of the race completely takes the strategic element out of the race, as soft and medium runners are both forced into pitting for hards at the same time. Spa was still slightly memorable for Gasly’s incisive passing, and the only memorable thing about Abu Dhabi was the Ferraris dropping back because they tried something different and Stroll proving he’s still nowhere near the point of being a capable team leader.

    In terms of the track, I think removing the chicane at 5/6 would be a start, they could reconfigure 7 into a tight entry opening up into a wide exit which would make it easier to outbrake as well as be able to follow cars better. Also, how about introducing some camber into the corners on the final sector so even if we’re not seeing any overtaking, at least we can watch the cars go fast.

    1. @wsrgo Closing the pit entry under SC would just hand a massive advantage to anyone fortunate enough to pit just before the SC was deployed.

      Also, you’d better make sure there’s a huge red light at the pit entry or you’ll have drivers complaining they didn’t see the boards at the edge of the track.

      1. And you’d also be racking up the parking places for cars running over debris from the incident and not being able to come in for new tyres to replace those.

    2. Why not make the pit lane speed limit lower when the safety car comes out?

      1. hmm, food for thought?
        maybe not a bad suggestion

    3. @wsrgo For starters, removing the 5/6 chicane is out of the question due to the insufficiency of the hairpin runoff for the higher approach speeds.
      Also no for not allowing pit stops during an SC period. It’d only introduce problems, nothing good by penalizing drivers with flat-spotted and or otherwise very worn tyres, which would put them at unnecessary risk of a sudden tyre failure at speed, the same as if tyre changes during a red-flag stoppage weren’t allowed. People should think through before suggesting things, which Norris and Russell didn’t seem to do in Monza and Mugello when suggesting the latter.
      @frood19 Also no.
      @johnever @red-andy @bascb
      Nothing wrong with these things as they are, so people should just accept them. ”If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

    4. Yeh the camber thing is well worth investigating. really helped at the Tuscan GP. Tilke and the ttrolll deliberately used off camber corners to make it harder for the drivers but it just means they cant follow at all, let alone get alongside

  7. For the YM circuit, how about the following changes:

    1) Instead of the regular turn 4 left hander, you take the sharper turn 4 (it is already present on the circuit) and then another right (also present on the circuit) to come back on to the current circuit before turn 5. Hopefully, this sharper turns will slow down the cars enough eliminating the need of the turn 5-turn 6 chicane and we can go to the turn 7 hairpin directly. Also, the sequence of 2,3,4,5 (new) becomes a flowing left-right-left-right turn and also has fair bit of elevation change which would be challenging to the drivers. Best part of this change is that all of it is already present on the circuit!

    2) Instead of the current turn 11 which is a slight sharp left turn (probably a 90 or 100 degree), we make it a little bit gentle; say 75-80 degrees and then have a long left turn from current turn 11 to current turn 15. This will eliminate the boring slow sequence of 90 degree turns from turn 11 to turn 14. This change can also be implemented at low cost as the entire turn 11 to turn 15 area is a flat ground with no construction and has enough run-off.

    Would love to eliminate the under hotel section of turns 17 to 19 as well but I think that will probably cost a lot. But above 2 can be done fairly easily

    1. How about resurfacing the track just before the race just like Turkey?

  8. I think one of Bernie’s old classics is the best solution for Yas Marina.

    Sprinklers.

    1. The best solution of all would be to race somewhere else. For me it’s the worst circuit on the calendar.

      I’ll never forget that godawful final race of the otherwise brilliant 2010 season. Alonso stuck behind Petrov for lap after lap and you just knew he wasn’t going to be able to mount a challenge. I mean even if you were supporting Vettel (fair enough!) it was such a disappointing, I dunno, spectacle to have Alonso lose out in that fashion. Compare that to the brilliant season endings we have had at Brazil, where you can always at least mount an attack if you are quicker.

  9. If you wants to be vegan, better eat plant and not meat-like junk food full of palm-oil and contribute to tropical deforestation.

    Or if you care about inhumane poultry breeding, you can still eat lab grown meat like the one in Singapore. Of course it took little slice of living tissue from live chicken as meat seed for every nugget but at least it’s not the whole animal.

    1. @ruliemaulana palm oil is basically used in any sort of processed food these days – moreover, whilst you complain about “meat-like junk food full of palm-oil”, over 40% of global palm oil production is for use as a cooking oil in India, China and Indonesia, so that “meat like junk food” you complain about is a comparatively small issue. If anything, in the Western world the larger issue is the use of palm oil for the cosmetics and industrial sector, which is where about 30% of global production ends up in.

      As for the Singapore concept, right now that really only exists as a proof of concept in practice. Whilst Singapore has technically licenced the sale of cultured meat, it is nowhere near affordable for the vast majority of people – we’re still talking about several hundreds of dollars for enough meat to make a small meal for one person, and it is very much being sold at a premium price that cashes in on the novelty factor.

  10. Here we go again, another ‘0-0’ so lets change something. Actually it could’ve been a half decent race but it was essentially a dead rubber as soon as Perez retired, though that ‘fight for 3rd’ is a typical piece of Sky hyperbole.
    The Mercedes drivers couldn’t because Bottas is just well Bottas really, never grasps or even attempts to grasp an opportunity and Lewis was definitely under the weather.

  11. With EA buying Codemasters I think the next F1 games will have overpaid cash grab games, too many microtransactions and extremely negative user reviews.

  12. Crikey! That 2005 Red Bull is one ugly beast.

    1. looks weigh (sic) better than the lego land yachts we see now. Made a bit of noise as well

      1. That’s being very unkind to both land yachts and Lego…

  13. As I pointed out before: Better to wait until the next change in the technical regulations before considering any changes to track configurations in general as the tracks themselves aren’t the #1 problem, but the car aero.
    Lance should shave that thing off, though. Hideous, LOL.

  14. You could make changes to Abu Dhabi to make overtaking a bit easier & it would still be the worst circuit on the calender because the relative lack of overtaking isn’t that circuits main problem.

    It’s main problem is that it simply isn’t a particularly interesting, Challenging or fun circuit to watch card drive around. Doing something that would increase overtaking opportunities would look good when you look at the stats but it wouldn’t change the fact it’s still an awful circuit.

    I mean that last year at Valencia featured a lot of overtaking & was a pretty decent race but would anyone really argue that it was a good circuit & that F1 should go back there?

  15. Like Russia, Yas Marina is a legacy of Bernie’s cash over quality MO. Boring and cookie cutter, but let’s pretend we’re cool to the rest of the world, when really it’s just a fluorescent light with a nice cover.

  16. My biggest problems with the circuit are the 5-6 chicane, which was probably an emergency solution to the lack of run-off at turn 7 and was never fixed, and the high number of off-cambered corners. Every time we went onboard with a driver who was chasing another (Esteban Ocon vs Lance Stroll late on springs to mind), they would always lose a lot of time exiting corners which had a lot of off-camber, such as turns 9, 13, and 14. Here is how I’d alter the Abu Dhabi circuit to make at least a little more interesting (Hopefully this link works for everyone) – https://imgur.com/a/tEUT8C1

    It’s not a coincidence that Abu Dhabi and Sochi are the two race which are universally unpopular among the F1 community, as the circuits were designed around the facilities rather than the other way round.

    1. You wouldn’t have the run-off unfortunately, even using asphalt. Bear in mind, this is after a fast, long straight, too.

  17. A relatively easy quick fix would be to use a shorter track configuration! Keep the cars closer together. Less corners = better racing.

  18. I’m really saddened to hear about Electronic Arts takeover over of Codemasters. With one or two notable flops aside (PCars 3 in particular), Codies have been responsible for some fantastic titles and many happy gaming memories for me, taking the F1 game series above and beyond what anyone expected from the genre and reintroducing a new to the rally racing genre with the masterpieces that were Dirt Rally (1 and 2.0).
    EA are noted for sucking the passion and fun out of any gaming series, replaced by their often extortionate pay-to-play models. One thinks back in horror to the Star Wars game loot box controversies, and the abhorrent use of in game purchases (sometimes £90+ to unlock a single car!) as in Real Racing 3, another promising racing franchise EA purchased and milked for all it was worth, resulting in complete stagnation over 7 years after its original release. One also looks to EA’s FIFA series as an example of under-developed, over priced year on year updates, the like of which we are likely to see F1 titles become under EA’s rule. Farewell codies (as we know it), it’s been a blast!

    1. I’m starting to think that the next F1 games will be overpaid cash grab games with extremely negative reviews…
      …but on the other side, a possible “Team Rebuild”?

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