Things move really quickly at this end of the season - only three weeks separate us from the end of the season which in itself is a rather bleak fact - because on the other side of the final weekend is a bleak cold emptiness. Not entirely different to the rest of the year, but that season has intermittent bursts of racing to make things a little more tolerable. As the season is starting to run out, the driver market starts to fluctuate a little more rapidly than usual, and last race there was an idea that one of the first moves of the season was falling into place. That was the transition that Hulkenberg was making from Force India across to Sauber - which isn't too much of a progression swapping one mid-field team for another - a gain of a couple of tenths at best. But almost as soon as that rumour was thought about it seemed to fade away, something that would have settled Kobayashi's nerves slightly as it is his seat under-threat. Then in a third element in the story, as it turned out yesterday that the German has been signed for Sauber for 2013, leaving only one seat left there, which might be booked for Gutierrez from GP2. Elsewhere the Toro Rosso team have confirmed both drivers for the next season, also safe is Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus.
Another interesting development refers to the absence of the second race in the US which was removed from the calendar for next year - and is probably coated in storm debris at the moment. There was a thought, which only circulated through the limited space that is blog HQ, that Valencia might be re-instated since New Jersey booted the race out to start off with. But an interesting contender has been suggested and that is France, that is some respects is a sigh of relief as there were plans for France to alternate with the Belgian GP. This means that we get to keep the spectacle that is Spa at least for a while before anything is confirmed with Paul Ricard (which is a track not a person). But those matters are a distance away, so it is time to re-focus back on this weekend at a completely different venue.
The Track
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| Credit to the FIA for the map |
The opening sector of the lap contains the only interesting corners and the only undulation on the lap, making the rest seem a little duller by comparison. The early sweeping sequence is followed up by a slightly pointless chicane - which doesn't need to exist considering, as it only damages the run into the hairpin below the amphitheatre of fans in front of Ferrari world. Then comes the first of the long back straights and the opening DRS zone, which for some reason reduces by a lane towards before the chicane at the end of the straight. The second straight is a little curved past the second pit garages for support races, using the southern loop of the track. Up until this point the track isn't too bad, taking inspiration from the Istanbul track offering potential for overtaking through two DRS zones.
Round the remainder of the track the scenery really does take over as the priority as a design paradigm, completely overriding the needs of the layout and the track - introducing a series of generic 90 degree corners. Something we are used to on non-European street circuits, but on a permanent circuit they are out of place and boring, hence why they decided to hide one section with a massive glowing hotel. Nothing screams distraction like a multi-storey building gilded in immaculate white and then finished off with a roof made of a mesh of glass panels and colour changing lights.
But of all the tracks of the season this is one that looks a lot better in video than is does in a couple of paragraphs scrawled in the empty space of the internet. Therefore it is time to release the latest edition which took a while to film because I wanted to the building to turn yellow as I drove past, which is on a 90s cycle and took over 90 laps to synchronise, does seem like a little much effort for what the end result actually is, but here it is anyway.
At the front of the grid there is not much that can be said in terms of a running order, as there are two blue cars that might be a little quicker than everyone else unleashing domination at the last few races. This pattern doesn't show any signs of stopping any time soon, something that won't be too comforting for title rival Alonso in a car which despite his best efforts is not quick enough to defeat the Red Bull team. Between the red and blue teams there is the McLaren team who at times can keep up with the top pace but in reality are closer to the cars behind rather than the ones in front. Also dropping back from the ultimate pace, there is the Lotus team - almost relegated to being the fourth best team on the grid, placing the final nail in the coffin of Raikkonen's dwindling title effort.
In the mid-field there is an order emerging as the season closes in on the final race, where Sauber and Force India are turning into the more consistently competitive cars both taking their chances as being top of the division. Williams have had bursts of speed - more so early on in the season, scoring that win in Spain, but recently have faded slightly on average. At the back of the group is the Toro Rosso team who have scored points recently but on the whole are a little further behind the group.
At the very back everything has been returned to normal, Caterham have regained the lead, while Marussia are racing with HRT for the back row of the grid. On a longer track with a lot more corners than usual, the gap between the established cars and Caterham will be a little further behind than normal so won't be getting out of Q1 without something going wrong for the other drivers further up the grid.
Predictions
Ah, here we go the time where I demonstrate once more how little I actually know about the sport and score very little points at all - this feature probably won't survive the off-season and might go missing by 2013.
- Vettel
- Alonso
- Hamilton
- Webber
- Button
- Raikkonen
- Massa
- Hulkenberg
- Grosjean
- Kobayashi
Qualifying
- Red Bull - Vettel
- McLaren - Hamilton
- Ferrari - Alonso
- Lotus - Raikkonen
- Mercedes - Rosberg
- Sauber - Perez
- Force India - Hulkenberg
- Williams - Maldonado
- Toro Rosso - Ricciardo
- Caterham - Kovalainen
- Marussia - Glock
- HRT - De La Rosa
So there you have it all is sorted for the Abu Dhabi GP at the Yas Marina circuit in the futuristic realm of opulent buildings and under ground pit lane exits. So until Saturday this is farewell from the blog.
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