2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The #F1 Build-Up Report — 25th November 2023
We’ve reached the end of a long 2023 season at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island for round 23. The battle for 2nd in the constructors championship is still raging between Mercedes, currently in 2nd and Ferrari in 3rd, with only 4 points separating the two! The position must be decided at this weekend's chequered flag.
Circuit Statistics
We’ve travelled 8000 miles east from the Las Vegas strip circuit to the Yas Marina circuit at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island. The circuit is 5.281 km long and presents 2 DRS zones for overtaking opportunities across 16 corners, 6 to the left and 10 to the right. It’s a high-speed circuit where drivers will reach top speeds of 334.3 km/h and spend 64.2% of their lap time at full throttle. Max Verstappen returns the fastest lap record from 2021 at 1:22.109.
The race will be at night, and 4,700 lights will light up the track as the sun goes down.
Nothing can go wrong for them in Abu Dhabi
Team Analysis
Aston Martin’s reset to the old setup has helped stabilise and arrest further falling back the grid. It was a great call. They lost their positions in the constructors and their way in the car. Now in 5th and tied with McLaren at 200 pts apiece, the battle for 4th in the constructors is equally raging and will be down to the wire, decided at this weekend's chequered flag.
W14 seems similar to W13. Mercedes understands it at some races and not at others. Arguably, the W14 might be worse than the W13, given it has not won a race, while Russell’s W13 won 1 at the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Redbull broke Mercedes's single-season record of 19 wins at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Nothing can go wrong for them in Abu Dhabi, having left nothing on the table in the constructors and driver championships. Put differently, they don’t need the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. They even swapped out race engineers during free practice sessions.
Who will be brave enough to pull off a 1-pit-stop strategy?
Race Strategy
Weather conditions promise to be fair, with 28 Degrees Celsius as the predicted maximum atmospheric temperature. Tyre degradation will come down to management and track surface condition with an evening race. Tyre allocation, as usual for the Middle-East, will be the softest tyre compound of the Pirelli range, being the C5 (Softest-Fastest), C4 (Medium-Balanced), C3 (Hardest-Long-Lasting).
The focus will be on Ferrari vs Mercedes and McLaren vs Aston Martin. Race car performance, driver aptitude and pit strategy will influence the race outcome among these pairs. Who will be brave enough to pull off a 1-pit-stop strategy?
Main race lights out — Monday 27th Nov 12.00 am AEST (Convert to local time with Simple Timezone Convert)
Pre-Race Driver Standings (Top 10)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) — 549pts — Crowned Champion
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull) — 273pts
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) — 232pts
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) — 200pts
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) — 200pts
- Lando Norris (McLaren) — 195pts
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) — 188pts
- George Russell (Mercedes) — 160pts
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) — 89pts
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) — 73pts
Pre-Race Constructors Standings
- Red Bull — 822pts — Crowned Champions
- Mercedes-AMG — 392pts
- Ferrari — 388pts
- McLaren — 284pts
- Aston Martin — 273pts
- Alpine — 120pts
- Williams — 28pts
- Alpha Tauri — 21pts
- Alfa Romeo — 16pts
- Haas — 12pts
#Formula1 #AbuDhabiGP
