So far, it hasn’t been the weekend. The chess Mercedes of its rivals – won all three practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, had a better pace and it seemed that nothing would take away their victory in qualifying. Team boss Christian Horner and the drivers were to focus on fine-tuning the strategy and getting everything out of the car in the race.
But it wasn’t also that Red Bull had completely given up. Shortly before qualifying began, Sergio Perez’s cars were pulled down and the team worked on the details. It probably paid off. nobody at the Yas Marina circuit was expecting it.
Verstappen “swept”! One lap was enough. But what!
This was the first of many clashes at the Abu Dhabi GP that could be talked about: perhaps decisive. Q3. The last part of the qualification, two runs of the rivals in the fight for the championship title: and Max Verstappen. The Dutchman rides first. And basically nothing needs to happen later.
1: 22,109 – this is the time Verstappen “swept”. After the first stint, Hamilton lost 0.5 seconds, and in the second he reduced it to less than 0.4 seconds. It is an incredible shock! The Briton himself must have been surprised – how did Red Bull find the pace and opportunities for such a cosmic lap after such a lazy and calm start to the weekend?
Even Hamilton congratulated the Red Bull driver. “It was impossible to compete”
The Red Bula driver drove perfectly, in an impossible way! However, in the first run, Hamilton blocked the tire in one of the corners, and the second one did not look “clean” either. It didn’t matter, however, which is evident even from what he said. – I have to congratulate Max. It was an amazing lap, it was impossible to compete with this time – said Hamilton, paying tribute to his rival.
“An unbelievable feeling,” Verstappen described his lap. – It was different set-up this weekend, but we managed to tweak them and it was a great result. Tomorrow is the most important day of the whole year – he added. When asked how he felt before qualifying, he replied that there was no pressure in his head for the title fight. – I was very relaxed. I knew I had to do my best – he explained.
Strategy as an opportunity for Mercedes? In the beginning, Red Bull will still have the advantage
The only downside and the chance he can look for before the race is a matter of strategy. Red Bull – for both Perez and Verstappen – opted for soft tires for the compound that will start on Sunday. Mercedes decided otherwise: they take the intermediate mix.
What does it mean? Red Bull must count on a good start and profit from what happens at the beginning of the race, because their tires will wear out quickly. They will give them a chance to drive away, but they will not have the option of such strategic maneuvers as Mercedes with more durable tires.
– I felt good on both mixtures. The start must be successful. We want to go our own – announced Verstappen. It seems that the disposition in the first laps in both teams fighting for the drivers ‘and constructors’ world championships will be crucial. They will not foresee the further scenario of the rivalry for the time being. Red Bull and Verstappen are ideally placed at this point. They won their chance before Sunday, they did everything to have even a small advantage over the Mercedes. Psychologically, Saturday pushes them forward, now it is necessary to ask if this will be enough and will they be able to maintain it. The race starts at 2:00 p.m. Polish time. Live coverage on Sport.pl and in the Sport.pl LIVE application.
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Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
