Abu Dhabi Tag

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas set the pace in the second free practice session for this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in a session that was red-flagged when Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo caught fire. The opening phase of the 90-minute session was devoted to running on a prototype Pirelli C4 compound tires with drivers completing a mandatory eight laps on the development rubber. But all three leading drivers failed to set their best times on the soft compound tire as a Turn 1 off, track limits and encountering slowerRead More

By FIA Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set the fastest lap of the opening practice for the final round of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as Lewis Hamilton finished fifth on the timesheet as he returned to the cockpit for Mercedes following his recovery from COVID-19.  Hamilton completed his 10-day quarantine in Bahrain and after returning a number of negative tests was free to travel to Abu Dhabi following confirmation from the authorities that he could do so. Mercedes confirmed he returned aRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Formula 2 driver Louis Deletraz of Switzerland will get the opportunity of a lifetime, test driving for the Haas F1 Team in a two-day Pirelli Tire Test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi Nov. 27-28. Supported by the ADSS Group, the test will be held two days after the Formula One World Championship finale, and will also serve as a Haas F1’s sponsor that weekend. In order to get used to the team personnel and operations, the son of three-time F1 race starter Jean-DenisRead More

Lewis Hamilton took top spot in second practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, edging out Sebastian Vettel by just under fifteen hundredths of a second. Daniel Ricciardo finished was third, separated from Vettel by almost the same margin. As with the early afternoon session at the Yas Marina Circuit, it was Mercedes driver Hamilton who set the early pace, holding P1 with a time 0.8s clear of Ricciardo. The session’s qualifying simulations came early on however, with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas embarking on his performance run before the half hourRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Pirelli’s final tire test of 2016 wrapped up at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi today. It was the first time the modified 2015 chasis from Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari appeared together on track, and it was Pirelli’s last chance to evaluate potential tire compounds for 2017’s bigger, wider tires. Lewis Hamilton turned laps for Mercedes before withdrawing from the test due to illness. Pascal Wehrlein completed the test for Mercedes. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen ran for Red Bull, while Kimi RaikkonenRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor McLaren-Honda protege Stoffel Vandoorne topped the time sheets today from Yas Marina in Pirelli’s 12 hour endurance test of its new ultra soft tire compounds. All ten teams tested several unmarked varieties of tire that may or may not become Pirelli’s go to pick for next years most agressive tire compound. The so called ultra softs will be used mainly on street circuits in a bid to decrease lap times, increase the number of pit stops and spice up the on track action. “Whether this willRead More