And so the Grand Finale of the 2017 season approaches, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, run at the Yas Marina circuit. Once that’s out of the way, it will be time to pack our bags one last time and head for home, but we still have one more exciting race weekend to get through before then.
“Wow, what a way to end a year… Abu Dhabi will mark the end of a very busy and surreal few months for me,” commented Brendon Hartley! “This will be my fourth Formula 1 Grand Prix of my career and I have to say that I’ve been feeling more and more comfortable in the Toro Rosso F1 car if I compare it to the first time I drove it.
“I now feel right at home within the team too, which is always a nice feeling to have. Abu Dhabi is a track I have raced and tested on in other categories and I remain optimistic that I can score my first F1 point!”
The United Arab Emirates has hosted a Formula 1 Grand Prix since 2009, meaning that this weekend’s race at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit is the ninth edition of the race. The track, built on the man-made Yas Island, is surrounded by theme parks, golf courses and super-luxury hotels. It was designed by Hermann Tilke who can take the credit for several venues on the F1 calendar.
There are 21 corners and five and a half kilometres for Pierre and Brendon to tackle, dealing with several changes of direction in between the straights and a lot of accelerating and braking. Given the demands of the track, our engineers will be veering towards a compromise in terms of car set-up, looking for good traction out of the corners, while running in high downforce configuration to deal with the slow corners. However, the car will need to be efficient to reach the high top speeds required down the straights. Before we can sign off on the season with a smile, there’s the small matter of 55 laps, for a total distance of 305.3 kilometres. Overtaking? Despite the fact it’s quite tricky at this circuit, we hope to see plenty of passing moves and the most likely places for dealing with the competition are at one of the three chicanes.
“I’m really excited and looking forward to the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi,” said Pierre Gasly! “It’s a track I really like, especially because I have some really good memories from racing there last year, where I won the GP2 Series title. It’s a place that therefore means a lot to me, also because I was on pole position there for the last two GP2 seasons! It’s also a race that starts in day light but ends at nighttime under the floodlights, so it’s a bit different to usual and makes it even more special.
“The fireworks at the end of the race are also quite spectacular and I like it because they always try to create an amazing atmosphere… and they really manage!! I will give my very best; we need to really push and keep our sixth position in the Constructors’ Championship – it’s really important for the team and us drivers, as we want to make sure the team can develop the car as much as we’d like for next year. I will do my best and hopefully finish the season on a high in order to start with a strong baseline for 2018.”
The race gets underway in daylight, but the chequered flag is waved under the glare of spotlights. The race starts at 17h00 local time, which means that track temperature actually drops over the course of the event. As for the weather, well it hardly ever rains in Abu Dhabi and this weekend, the average temperature should be around 25 Celsius. We will be using the Soft, Supersoft and Ultrasoft tyres on the STR12 and with Yas Marina’s smooth surface, wear and degradation will be less of a problem than usual.
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