An epidemic of problems in F1 qualifying: Norris made a mistake, Hamilton complains, Sainz fails
Evgeny Kustov November 25, 2023, 18:22 Moscow time
And it is Pérez’s mistake that did not fit into our headline. Well, Verstappen takes pole again in Abu Dhabi.
The falls of Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg in the second free practice on Friday of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix prevented drivers and teams from working correctly on the settings, so everyone entered Saturday’s classification in Yas Marina without any certainty of whether whether they had been able to prepare correctly or not… Will there be any surprises?
Q1: Sainz’s second failure in two days
And the first surprise came from the initial qualifying section. Carlos Sainz got caught in traffic in the second sector (not to say that he was directly blocked, but still), and one failed segment of the track was enough for the Spaniard to find himself alone in 16th place on the leaderboard. Yes, Carlos lost only three tenths to Charles Leclerc, but in Q1 there was incredible density: 18 drivers fit within six tenths. So Sainz was eliminated, dealing a serious blow to Ferrari’s chances of overtaking Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship.
Otherwise, there were no big surprises. Kevin Magnussen lost three tenths to Nico Hulkenberg and finished 17th, followed by two Alfa Romeo drivers. The rhythm of Swiss Fridays has disappeared somewhere. At the same time, Zhou, unlike Bottas, completed an average lap and lost a lot to his teammate. Well, the plate was closed by Logan Sargent, who managed to push the limits of the track on both flying laps, even though Alex Albon moved further forward with confidence.
Q2: Hamilton’s failure
The first attempts of the second segment indicated the advantage of the representatives of Red Bull and McLaren, who occupied the first four positions. And, in fact, only they could feel safe: George Russell, fifth, was more than seven tenths behind Max Verstappen and only four tenths ahead of the relegation zone; this happens sometimes. Of the powerful group of pursuers, only Hulkenberg stood out, who crossed the limits of the track for the second time in the classification.
As a result, Hamilton turned out to be the main loser of the segment. Lewis did not complete a lap and found himself only in eleventh position, one tenth of the top ten. The seven-time champion noticed on the radio that something was wrong with the car, but we noted that Hamilton lost four tenths to Russell.
Furthermore, Ocon (unlike Gasly), Stroll (unlike Alonso), Albon (no doubt here) and Ricciardo advanced no further, a quarter of a second behind Tsunoda, and Yuki won their qualifying battle 4-3 . And Russell, by the way, caught up with Hamilton, there at the end of the season 11:11.
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P3: Norris’ new mistake
The first attempt of the third segment ended with the dominance of Max Verstappen: the Dutchman was three and a half tenths ahead of Norris, Piastri was five tenths behind and the rest seven or more. However, the Dutchman was the only one who saved a set of new tires, which left hope: what if someone shoots after changing to new tires? This especially worried Leclerc, who after the first attempt and sliding until the last corner was only ninth.
And Charles did not disappoint: on the second fastest lap, the Monegasque shot up to second position and lost only a small tenth to Verstappen. Max himself, by the way, failed to improve on the second attempt, but the first was enough to get pole position. Third place went to Oscar Piastri. Where’s Norris? After two good sectors, the Briton made a big mistake in the third, the McLaren went sideways and, as a result, Lando did not improve his previous result and will start fifth behind Russell.
On the third line, along with Norris, will be Yuki Tsunoda, a great qualification. The Japanese was tenths ahead of Alonso, who in turn was only 24 thousandths ahead of Hulkenberg’s result. On Saturdays, Haas is still fast… Overall, this trio should have been one line lower, but Perez had a lap canceled for violating track limits; as a result, another failure and only ninth place. Sergio was only ahead of Gasly, who made a slow final lap.
The last race of the Formula 1 season begins on Sunday, November 26 at 16:00 Moscow time. We will find out if Red Bull will set a record for winning percentage in a season and who will finish second in the Constructors’ Championship, while Mercedes are four points ahead of Ferrari, and qualifying has brought successes and failures for both drivers. .
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