The 2021 World Champion is…
This weekend both the Formula 1 and Formula 2 drivers championship will be decided in Abu Dhabi for the final race of the season.
In F2 there are three drivers in with a chance of winning the title: Oscar Piastri- the Australian rookie; Robert Shwartzman- the Russian in his second season, and Guanyu Zhou- the Chinese driver in his third season of F2 and 2022 Alfa Romeo driver. For most of the season, it has been Piastri vs Zhou for the top spot in the championship but an incident in the first sprint race in Saudi Arabia caused Zhou to drop to P3 in the standings and promoted Piastri’s Prema teammate, Shwartzman, to P2.
The F2 champion could be decided in the first sprint race of the weekend, if Piastri wins because he is currently 51 points ahead of Shwartzman and a sprint race win is worth 15 points. Of course there are a number of other factors that would affect if Piastri was going to win during the first sprint race such as qualifying points, fastest lap points, and the results of his closest competitors. The maximum amount of points that can be scored in one F2 race weekend is 65.
If Piastri wins the championship this weekend, he will become the first ever Australian driver to win the F2 drivers championship (including its predecessor competition, GP2). He is also the second driver to ever reach 4 pole positions in a row in F2; the only other driver to achieve this was Charles Leclerc. It is also worth mentioning that Piastri is only a rookie in the series, so to be in the position he is in is extraordinary.
In F1, the young lion, Max Verstappen, and 7-time World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, will be fighting for their spots in history this weekend. Hamilton is trying to set a new World Drivers Championship record of 8 championships, while Max is trying to become the first ever Dutch F1 champion.
The two drivers go into this weekend equal on points following Hamilton’s third win in a row in Saudi Arabia. This is the first time that two drivers go into the final race of the season on equal points for the win since 1974.
There are a few scenarios that could happen this weekend:
If both drivers finish in the points, whoever finishes in front of the other will win the championship.
If one driver scores points and the other doesn’t, the driver who scored will become the champion.
If neither driver finishes in the points, both drivers DNS or both drivers DNF, Verstappen will win the championship because he has won more races this season.
The constructors championship will also be decided this weekend. Mercedes are currently 28 points ahead of Red Bull, so while it is possible for Red Bull to win it wouldn’t be unfair of me to suggest that it is unlikely. The same thing goes for McLaren in their battle for third place with Ferrari, as they are 38.5 points behind. Down at the bottom of the standings is Haas who remain pointless. Unless they score this weekend, this will be their first ever scoreless season.
This weekend is also the last F1 race for two drivers: 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen and the man likened to Jesus, Antonio Giovinazzi. Giovinazzi will be competing in Formula E next year with Dragon/Penske Autosport. F2 driver, Guanyu Zhou will replace Giovinazzi next year. It has been reported that Kimi has no plans to race in 2022, opting to spend time with his family instead. Raikkonen has spent the last 20 years racing in Formula 1 and rallies. He has 21 wins, 103 podiums, 18 pole positions, 46 fastest laps and a total of 1873 career F1 points. His most notable achievement though, was his 2007 World Drivers Championship, which he got in his first year with Ferrari after fending off rookie Lewis Hamilton for the whole season. Raikkonen has had a long and illustrious Formula 1 career and will be dearly missed by fans. Current Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas, takes over Raikkonen’s seat next season. This weekend, Alfa Romeo have messages dedicated to both their drivers on the sides of the cars in their final races for the team.
The only other changes to next year's lineup is George Russell moving to Mercedes. This weekend is his last race as a Williams driver. He has spent the last three years developing his race craft and is finally getting his chance to be towards the front of the grid consistently. Former Red Bull driver, Alex Albon will be taking his seat at Williams.
Last Time at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix…
The last Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was held in 2020, the final race of the year. Verstappen started on pole with Bottas for company on the first row, and Hamilton just behind him in third. The rest of the starting grid went as follows: Norris, Albon, Sainz, Kvyat, Stroll, Gasly, Ocon, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Vettel, Giovinazzi, Raikkonen, Russell, Fittipaldi (who was in as a replacement for Grosjean who had his accident the weekend prior), Latifi, Perez, then Magnussen.
There was a significant lack of action, as had been the case in previous years as well. There was minimal overtaking and only one retirement (Perez, due to a technical failure). The title had already been won as well so there wasn’t even any excitement about who may win the championship. The podium finishers were Verstappen, Bottas and Hamilton; the same order that they started the race.
The consistently underwhelming race brought more criticism from the press and the drivers. In 2019, at the post race press conference, Hamilton and Verstappen both suggested that changes need to be made to the circuit to increase the on track action and make it easier to race. Some changes that were suggested by the drivers and spectators were fewer off-camber corners (off-camber corners are any corner where the outside edge is lower than the inside edge), more high speed corners, and a better layout for overtaking. It seems as though their advice has been taken on this year, and changes have been made to the track.
The Finer Details…
Yas Marina Circuit plays host to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and has done since the first instalment in 2009. Sebastian Vettel was the first winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in his Red Bull car. The following year, Vettel would win the race again and steal the World Drivers Championship away from Alonso. In 2014, double points were awarded for the race to spice things up a bit. The race was won by Lewis Hamilton, who secured his second Drivers Championship. Another notable race from Abu Dhabi was the 2016 Grand Prix. Hamilton won the race but Nico Rosberg came second and subsequently secured his one and only drivers championship. The most recent Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was won by Max Verstappen; this was his first win in Abu Dhabi after being on the podium for the two years prior.
The layout of the track had remained the same between 2009 and 2020. This year, changes were made to multiple sections of the circuit. The old layout was 21 turns but those adjustments have reduced that to 16. The chicane at turns 5 and 6 has been removed, the previous Turn 7 (now Turn 5) hairpin has been widened. The old turns 11-14 have been replaced with one banked turn, and is now Turn 9 of the track. The sweep of the previous turns 17-20 (current 12-15) has been widened to allow for cars to carry more speed through those corners.
The new circuit is 5.281km long, nearly 300m shorter than the previous layout. The shortening of the circuit means that the number of laps has been increased from 55 to 58 in order to reach the race distance of 306.183km. The anti-clockwise track has 16 corners; 9 to the left and 7 to the right. The location of the DRS zones has not changed, they’re still along the longest straights of the circuit. The first is between turns 5 and 6, the second is between turns 8 and 9.
On Thursday, it was announced that Formula 1 have extended their contract with the organisers of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix until 2030.
Quick Facts:
Lewis Hamilton held the lap record on the previous track layout (1:39.283 set in 2019).
Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver at Abu Dhabi with 5 wins. Sebastian Vettel is the only other driver to have multiple wins at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix; he has 3.
The team with the most wins in Abu Dhabi is Mercedes with 6. Red Bull have 4 wins.
There have only been drivers of four different nationalities to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. German (Vettel and Rosberg), Finnish (Raikkonen and Bottas), English (Hamilton), and Dutch (Verstappen).
When To Watch:
*all times indicated are in Gulf Standard Time*
Formula 1:
(FRIDAY) FP1 commences the weekend at 13:30 - 14:30 local time (09:30 - 10:30 BST).
(FRIDAY) FP2 will follow at 17:00 - 18:00 local time (13:00 - 14:00 BST).
(SATURDAY) The final practice session of the season is at 14:00 - 15:00 local time (10:00 - 11:00 BST).
(SATURDAY) A crucial qualifying session will commence at 17:00 - 18:00 local time (13:00 - 14:00 BST).
(SUNDAY) The race which will decide the 2021 championship kicks off at 17:00 local time (13:00 BST).
Formula 2:
(FRIDAY) The only practice session starts at 12:05 - 12:50 local time (08:05 - 08:50 BST).
(FRIDAY) Qualifying begins at 18:30 - 19:00 local time (14:30 - 15:00 BST).
(SATURDAY) Sprint race 1 is at 12:20 - 13:05 local time (08:20 - 09:95 BST).
(SATURDAY) The second sprint race follows at 18:45 - 19:30 local time (14:45 - 15:30 BST).
(SUNDAY) The feature race will conclude the season at 13:00 - 14:00 local time (09:00 - 10:00 BST).
(All times collected and calculated from the official Formula 1 website)
(Information for this post uses previous race data collected from the internet and official sources. No copyright intended)
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