2021 Abudhabian GP

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Raikkonen's final race, and a special livery:

[darwin dali]

LOL - that was such a great line back then

[Stephen]

LOL - that was such a great line back then

He will be missed.

[darwin dali]

Yes.
If it's any consolation, I could be your favorite driver from next year on and promise to ride you real hard

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Who will be the Abu Dhabi GP driver of the day?

Raikkonen or Giovinazzi?

[Stephen]

Yes.
If it's any consolation, I could be your favorite driver from next year on and promise to ride you real hard

You always break your promises!

[darwin dali]

Ok, I’m a softie - but you like me anyway

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Mercedes have that car but Red Bull has Verstappen.

Max takes a crucial pole.

[darwin dali]

It was all about teamwork with Checo playing his part perfectly. Still puzzled why Merc didn’t try the same on their second run…

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Words from Lewis and Toto on the topic. They say because of teamwork they don't do such things like doing a slipstream:

"Lewis Hamilton qualified second on the grid, three-tenths of a second behind his championship rival, without using a slipstream from Valtteri Bottas in the other Mercedes.

“For us, I’d like Valtteri to focus on getting his [lap time],” said Hamilton. “We work as a team in terms of Valtteri needs to get the best job done for himself so that we can have both of us as high up as possible. So it’s never something that we discuss or we work on.”

Wolff explained why Mercedes have steered clear of similar tactics to Red Bull in the past. “We have generally the belief that the slipstreaming what you gain on the straight you lose in the corners because it’s simply too close and it’s very difficult to orchestrate.”

In qualifying today Perez initially gave Verstappen a tow until turn nine, covering several long acceleration zones, then backed off to allow his team mate an unhindered run through the remaining corners, where following another car closely would be disadvantageous.

“I think the Red Bulls did it flawlessly today and really credit to them how they did it and that gave them an advantage,” Wolff admitted. “But that is not the reason why we are behind.

“We simply had not enough pace. Perez and Verstappen later on I believe were not slipstreaming and still fast, if I remember right. So a lesson to learn, is that something we should consider in the future? But today it’s basically one-zero for them.”"

https://www.racefans.net/2021/12/11/mer ... w-tactics/

[myownalias]

One thing is for sure, it should be a cracker of a race, with Verstappen on soft tires and Hamilton on the medium tires, Max needs to make maximum use of the soft tires to stay ahead, and then build a decent gap to Lewis. Red Bull pulled off a masterstroke in qualifying, can they find a strategy to stay ahead of Hamilton in the race?

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