Abu Dhabi, December 10, 2010 : .The 2021 Formula 1 Championships will be close.Competitors in Constructors and Drivers Championships are tied at 369.5 points with Vax Verstappen from Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton respectively.Red Bull leads Mercedes by only 28 points in constructors’.
After 21 Grands Prix races, it all comes down to Saturd’y’s top-10 shootout and Sund’y’s season-ending Abu Dhabi race.
With Hamilton topping the second free practice, Red Bu’l’s championship contender Max Verstappen — and Team Principal Christian Horner – have admitted that they have their work cut out to catch Mercedes following Friday’s running at Yas Marina.
Defending champion Hamilton set the pace in second free practice after finishing third to teammate Valtteri Bottas and leader Verstappen in first practice, while Verstappen took fourth in the second session.
That result led the Dutchman to say that things ‘idn’t go quite to plan at Yas Marina Circuit on Friday.
He said, “It’s still learning and understanding some things.But clearly, the short run didn’t go according to plan–lacking a little pace–but the longer runs were quite competitive so that’s also important.”
Team boss Horner added that Mercedes have the edge on this circuit, as they are outpacing Red Bull in Sectors 1 and 2, said a report on the Formula1 website “They [Mercedes] look very competitive here, certainly in the first two sectors.I think Sector 3 we come back at them, but the damage is done in the first two sectors.We’ve still got 24 hours or 23 hours [before qualifying] to try and find a better set-up and a bit more pace.
“We’ve got plenty of data, we’ve got some areas of the car we need to tidy up “vernight,” added Horner.”It’s going to be a long evening certainly here, back in Milton Keynes, trying to tidy up the car.I think the long-run pace looked sensible; we just need to tidy up the pace for the short runs.”
The Team Principal said that the changes made to the circuit at Turn 5 and Turn 9 have potentially changed the race into a one-stopper.This may be something Red Bull might have expected, as Verstappen was using soft tyres in his race simulation.
“I think it’s on the cusp [of being a two-stop race],” he said.”I think now with the change to the circuit layout here, I think tire wear is going to be a real factor, particularly the long left-hander [Turn 9] puts a lot of energy into t’e tyres.So it’s sort of 50/50 when you look at it.So, it’s going to be fascinating to see which strategy prevails.”
As for their second driver Sergio Perez, he reiterated that Red Bull will have to work har” and choo”e the “best bits” from a day that saw them trail Merce’es.
We have some work ahead of us overnight, I think.The Mexican said that they tried many different setups on the cars.
Red Bull have a 28-point deficit to Mercedes in the constructors’ championship, which on Friday Horner”admitted “ould be a “long shot” for them to clinch this weekend — but Verstappen and Hamilton are equal on points at Yas Marina.
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