Many, many months ago 22 drivers sat on the grid in Australia as this season began. Since then we've seen controversies, political wrangling, more mad Bernie statements. Oh and a little bit of racing. But although there is only one more race left of this championship campaign - so much remains incomplete and undecided. Some pieces have started to fall into place in the days leading up to the grand finale - namely what Vettel and Alonso were doing. Sebastian, having announced he was leaving Red Bull some races ago now - didn't have a seat booked for 2015. A recent development sees the worst kept secret of recent times revealed to the unsurprised public. As we all suspected and as well all expected Vettel will be driving a Ferrari next season, alongside Kimi Raikkonen. Fernando has officially left the team and is going... well that bit isn't clear yet, like Vettel to Ferrari - the world assumes that the Spaniard will be sitting in a new Honda powered McLaren. However there are already two people in the McLaren stable, and somebody would have to be usurped for that to happen. Naturally this leaves Ron Dennis in an awkward position - who do you fire - the shaky but developing Magnussen, or the older but faster and more experienced Jenson. If I had the option, I'd keep Jenson and give FP1 sessions to Kevin - where that puts there rising development driver Vandoorne who knows. But this is why we need smaller teams on the grid to place rookie drivers, do you hear me Bernie...
Speaking of the smaller teams that had been absent from the past two events. Well, both of them had planned/hoped to be able to make it for the final event of the season. Marussia, despite closing the factory had all the workers on standby in case a deal was brokered allowing them to compete in the finale. Sadly this deal never appeared and Marussia won't be making it to Abu Dhabi. On a more positive note, this week we heard that Jules Bianchi is in a stable enough condition to be transported home to France to continue his ongoing recovery. Caterham on the other hand, asked the fans for help - well the proportion of the fans with lots of money that is - by selling off various things to raise funds. This crowd-funding campaign was organised and operated by the administrators in control of the company - so it did seem a little dodgy. But if you had thousands of pounds you could have bought parts from previous Caterham/Lotus (when they were Lotus) cars and driver clothing. This strategy aimed to raise 2.3 million from the supporters, and didn't complete that target, yet somehow the campaign was declared a success.
So Caterham will be in Abu-Dhabi... which caused a second problem, Marcus Ericsson had terminated his contract with the team with immediate effect. Meaning he won't be in the car for the finale, effectively moving straight over to Sauber where he'll be driving in 2015. So Caterham needed another driver, Roberto Mehri is supposed to be their reserve driver, and Caterham have already shown they would rather use someone else when they sold Kamui's seat to Lotterer in Spa. Similar to when Lotus refused to allow Valsecchi to take over when Kimi went AWOL, so does Mehri get the nod this time... no. His name was mentioned in the list of potential replacements, a list which oddly also contained Alice Powell - that came out of nowhere. Mehri claimed he had a contract, or at least thought he did - but the drive has been handed to another Caterham junior driver (not that it usually means to much any more) Will Stevens - even though Will did sign up to be Marussia's test driver mid season. On balance Stevens isn't a bad selection, probably similar on pace to Mehri and faster than Alice Powell or a second effort for Lotterer.
The Venue
From the simple and effective brilliance of Interlagos we arrive back in the middle-east for the final act of 2014. The Yas Marina circuit is neither simple nor effective - it is merely a device to show off the disproportionate wealth of this part of the world. Wealth that I suspect that paid for the privilege of being the final race and for the double points mess as well. From the air and the track side images it does genuinely look very impressive, especially as the light fades in the second half of the race. It is a colossal achievement of design, engineering and architecture with spectacular facilities on a staggering scale. From the colour changing hotel and underground pit exit it looks like it has fallen out of an arcade video game set in the near future. But does all this make it a good race track... well frankly no...
All the fancy LED bells and whistles can't cover up a layout that is lacking in many respects - there are some redeeming features but they are mired in too much repetition. The first sector isn't too bad - even though turn one is one of the many general purpose 90 degree corners shoehorned into this lap. The first one is reasonably wide and can be taken with some degree of speed, leading into a faster section of road. Turns 2-4 follow the only real element of elevation change on what is an universally flat piece of land. A section which saw Alonso and Vergne had all kinds of fun running out wide and bouncing over the kerbs without lifting... That's about it for the good stuff, for now, the chicane at turns five and six is both needless and pointless - one of the many examples of using many corners when one would do. However it still is less of a pain than the abomination stapled to the end of the Circuit de Calalunya... All it does is slow down the entry for the hairpin of turn 7, surrounded by towering amphitheatre of spectators.
Sector two is composed of long straights - because Mr Tilke likes having some overly long straights in his designs - and to promote overtaking... before DRS swept in and made it a formality. For some reason - the first of these long straights shifts over to the left by a lane towards the end, before braking for the turn 8-9 chicane. This chicane I can live with - because you needed something to bring the straight to an end and offer an overtaking spot. It probably could have been a little more open, and there could be some grass to prevent corner cutting - but you can't have everything. The chicane exits onto the second long slightly curved straight - cue more DRS based overtaking before a corner comes up. At the end it seems someone got a little trigger happy with the corner painting tool in the track design software, sticking three corners at the end of the straight. There is no need for the 12-13 chicane, it doesn't add anything to the track and only causes more problems with track limits abuse... something I doubt we'll be spared this weekend.
The final phase of the lap is all about appeasing the sponsors and corporate guests hanging out in the marina section. The first part of which isn't too bad - the two medium speed corners at 15 and 16 make lining up the braking zone for 17 more complicated. But all this does is position the road so that it goes underneath the hotel via two generic 90 degree bends. These corners give the track a nice talking point in form of a nice glowing building but are not really an interesting or worthwhile addition to the lap. After passing under another immaculate white, glass lined bridge the track approaches the final pair of corners. Following the same principle of the section of track from 15-17, a faster first corner leading into a slower second. The first part - turn 20 - will catch some people out as it seems faster than it actually is, while turn 21 ends the lap usually with a track limits violation. It is slightly odd that after the cancelling out of lap times in Austria and Silverstone, the track limit's onslaught has gone a little quiet of late. Even though Sochi and Austin have plenty of opportunities to cheat and the system wasn't brought into play then.
The Championship Duel
Well, two drivers are left in contention in both championships - the far more presigious bonus points championship and some other FIA world drivers championship... like that one matters. One of the main talking points coming into this weekend was the influence that the rather silly double points rule would have on deciding the title. In the end all it does do, is improve the odds that Rosberg has of stealing the championship from Hamilton. If the German wins, Lewis has to finish second to become champion - no cars can finish between the two Mercedes'. However on a day when no intervening circumstances have taken place - the silver cars have scored a 1-2 finish. So you'd have to think that only a mechanical difficulty or an accident would deny Lewis the trophy. Since rain is very unlikely, track conditions won't be the source of any intervening circumstances. A Nico Rosberg championship would require a very bizarre and exciting race... and would be a nice way to round out the season. I don't personally care too much who wins, but the most unlikely outcome is often derived from the most enthralling of weekends.
Is there anyone who could get involved with the Mercedes fight on raw pace... well I severely doubt it - Williams will most likely be closest, but still only 3rd and 4th. McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull should occupy the next set of positions. There are some rumours that McLaren are bringing a heavily developed version of their car to Abu Dhabi - at least for Friday practice. Potentially a legacy of the brief shakedown of the Honda engines in the break between Brazil and this weekend. That might place them immediately behind Williams, and clear of Ferrari and co, but that remains to be seen.
Caterham's return this time out means that Sauber and Lotus will no longer be fighting over last place. They still won't be on the pace of Force India and Toro Rosso ahead of them, but it is some consolation to be ahead of someone. I don't really know what Caterham are here to prove this weekend, other than their clear desire to compete which is most commendable, since their rivals Marussia can't attend. How this affects the constructors rankings is interesting, because although Marussia aren't in attendance they are ahead in points. Because if I remember correctly (which is a rarity) a comment from Ted Kravitz suggested that the prize money from securing 9th place with Bianchi's Monaco result will not be passed down to Sauber if Marussia cease to exist. I suppose then by that logic, Caterham can't move up to 10th place by completing the final race. I suppose we shall just have to see how this one works out...
The Abu Dhabi GP isn't the most inspiring track in the world, but has managed to put on a show from time to time - 2012 being a prime example. We saw the perils of lapped cars as Rosberg launched over the back of Narain Karthekeyan's HRT after the Indian driver suffered an engine failure in the final corner. We may have fewer cars from small teams this season, but a complete rookie in the form of Will Stevens in the Caterham will be making his debut on the biggest stage. Tensions between the front two will be at their highest since Spa and while we probably won't be treated to a season finale on the scale of 2012 or 2008 but here's hoping this season concludes with something memorable.
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