RA
RAC E A NA LYS I S
F ree Pract i ce | Q u al i fy i ng | Results
03
FREE PRACTICE
Sebastian Vettel topped the final practice session of the
2016 season.
The German driver set a best time of 1m40.775s on new
ultrasoft tyres late in the running to outpace Verstappen
by 0.137s seconds.
Raikkonen was third in the second Ferrari as
championship contenders Hamilton and Rosberg finished
down in fourth and fifth after setting their best times earlier
than their main rivals, who all improved late in the session.
Ricciardo was sixth in the second Red Bull, ahead of Force
India duo Perez and Hulkenberg.
Bottas in the Williams and Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez
completed the Top 10.
Lewis Hamilton was
in stunning form
during qualifying.
Mercedes AMG
Free Practice &
Qualifying
01
FREE PRACTICE
Lewis Hamilton outpaced championship rival Nico Rosberg
in FP1 for the Abu Dhabi GP.
Hamilton posted a best time of 1m42.869s on soft tyres
to beat his Mercedes teammate by nearly four tenths of
a second.
The Mercedes drivers used the ultrasoft tyres for their
first runs, but only Rosberg set his fastest time with them.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished
in third and fourth as they appeared to be Mercedes’s
closest challenger once more.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, who spent a significant
part of the session running with the Halo on, rounded
out the Top 5, albeit over a second off Hamilton’s pace.
Teammate Kimi Raikkonen was seventh quickest, the
Ferrari drivers split by the Force India of Sergio Perez.
02
FREE PRACTICE
Lewis Hamilton maintained his advantage over R osberg in
second practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but the gap
between them was much smaller than in FP1.
Hamilton lapped the Yas Marina track in 1m40.861s on
ultrasoft rubber, just 0.079s quicker than Rosberg.
Vettel was best of the rest, a quarter of a second off the
Mercedes pace, but ahead of Verstappen and Raikkonen in the
second Ferrari.
But Vettel’s fine performance was ruined by what he reported
as “gearbox failure” with 10 minutes left in the session.
Apart from Rosberg, only Vettel was within half a second
of Hamilton’s time.
As in the first session, Daniil Kvyat suffered a left-rear
puncture on his Toro Rosso, but this time at the high-speed
Turn 16, causing him to spin wildly off the circuit.
8 | G P G AZE TTE
Q
QUALIFYING
Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand
Prix, after lapping three tenths clear of Rosberg in qualifying.
Hamilton lapped the Yas Marina circuit in 1m38.755s,
and set two Q3 laps that were good enough for pole. It was
Hamilton’s fourth consecutive F1 pole.
Rosberg was 0.303s slower, with Ricciardo snatching third
from Raikkonen on his final run.
The second Ferrari of Vettel qualified fifth, ahead of
Verstappen, who went off the track on his final run at Turn 11.
Both Red Bulls opted to start the race on the supersoft
Pirelli tyres, unlike everyone else in the Top 10 who set their
best times in Q2 on ultrasofts.
Hamilton set a 1m39.013s on his opening lap of Q3,
compared to Rosberg’s 1m39.359s – a gap of 0.346s between
them. Raikkonen was third fastest, six tenths down, just
ahead of Ricciardo. Verstappen and Vettel were next up.
On their second runs, Rosberg set the fastest first sector
of the weekend, but Hamilton was quicker through sector
two and completed his lap in 1m38.755s. Rosberg’s response
was 1m39.058s, 0.303s down.
Ricciardo worked down to a 1m39.589s, which was enough
to beat Raikkonen to third.
Vettel will start fifth, helped by Verstappen’s off at Turn 11
that forced him to abort his final run.
Hulkenberg was the best of the rest for Force India, 0.02s
quicker than teammate Perez. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso
beat Felipe Massa to ninth.
01
02
CL DRIVER
CHASSIS
ENGINE
LAPS
TIME
CL DRIVER
CHASSIS
ENGINE
LAPS
TIME
1
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
Mercedes
27
1'42.869
1
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
Mercedes
36
1'40.861
2
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
Mercedes
31
1'43.243
0.374
3
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
TAG
26
1'43.297
0.428
0.374
2
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
Mercedes
38
0.054
3
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
Ferrari
31
4
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
TAG
26
1'43.362
0.493
0.065
4
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
TAG
5
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
Ferrari
27
6
Sergio Perez
Force India
Mercedes
22
1'44.005
1.136
0.643
5
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
1'44.155
1.286
0.150
6
Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari
7
Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari
Ferrari
8
Carlos Sainz Jr.
Toro Rosso
Ferrari
26
1'44.556
1.687
0.401
7
Valtteri Bottas
21
1'44.685
1.816
0.129
8
Sergio Perez
9
Felipe Massa
Williams
10
Marcus Ericsson
Sauber
Mercedes
27
1'45.039
2.170
0.354
9
Ferrari
20
1'45.168
2.299
0.129
10
11
Alfonso Celis Jr.
12
Romain Grosjean
Force India
Mercedes
26
1'45.476
2.607
0.308
Haas
Ferrari
13
1'45.600
2.731
0.124
13
Felipe Nasr
14
Esteban Gutierrez Haas
Sauber
Ferrari
17
1'45.778
2.909
Ferrari
20
1'45.925
3.056
15
Valtteri Bottas
16
Jolyon Palmer
Williams
Mercedes
31
1'45.940
Renault
Renault
32
1'46.219
17
Kevin Magnussen Renault
Renault
20
18
Fernando Alonso
McLaren
Honda
19
Pascal Wehrlein
Manor
Mercedes
20 Jenson Button
McLaren
21
Manor
Toro Rosso
Jordan King
22 Daniil Kvyat
GAP
INTERVAL
GAP
INTERVAL
1'40.940
0.079
0.079
1'41.130
0.269
0.190
24
1'41.389
0.528
0.259
TAG
33
1'41.390
0.529
0.001
Ferrari
34
1'41.464
0.603
0.074
Williams
Mercedes
35
1'41.959
1.098
0.495
Force India
Mercedes
35
1'42.041
1.180
0.082
Nico Hulkenberg
Force India
Mercedes
36
1'42.264
1.403
0.223
Felipe Massa
Williams
Mercedes
36
1'42.268
1.407
0.004
11
Fernando Alonso
McLaren
Honda
33
1'42.366
1.505
0.098
12
Jenson Button
McLaren
Honda
24
1'42.823
1.962
0.457
0.178
13
Esteban Gutierrez Haas
Ferrari
35
1'43.012
2.151
0.189
0.147
14
Romain Grosjean
Haas
Ferrari
17
1'43.108
2.247
0.096
3.071
0.015
15
Jolyon Palmer
Renault
Renault
33
1'43.272
2.411
0.164
3.350
0.279
16
Esteban Ocon
Manor
Mercedes
35
1'43.600
2.739
0.328
1'46.372
3.503
0.153
17
Pascal Wehrlein
Manor
Mercedes
33
1'43.754
2.893
0.154
21
1'46.379
3.510
0.007
18
Felipe Nasr
Sauber
Ferrari
36
1'43.903
3.042
0.149
29
1'46.458
3.589
0.079
19
Marcus Ericsson
Sauber
Ferrari
34
1'44.045
3.184
0.142
Honda
10
1'47.127
4.258
0.669
20 Kevin Magnussen Renault
Renault
25
1'44.117
3.256
0.072
Mercedes
26
1'47.558
4.689
0.431
21
Toro Rosso
Ferrari
5
1'44.478
3.617
0.361
Ferrari
4
2'01.989
19.120
14.431
22 Daniil Kvyat
Toro Rosso
Ferrari
4
1'45.948
5.087
1.470
03
Carlos Sainz Jr.
Q
CL DRIVER
CHASSIS
ENGINE
LAPS
TIME
GAP
INTERVAL
CL DRIVER
CHASSIS
ENGINE
TIME
GAP
INTERVAL
1
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
Ferrari
16
1'40.775
2
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
TAG
21
1'40.912
0.137
0.137
1
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
Mercedes
1'38.755
2
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
Mercedes
1'39.058
0.303
0.102
3
Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari
Ferrari
4
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
Mercedes
14
1'40.999
0.224
15
1'41.065
0.290
0.087
3
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
0.066
4
Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari
TAG
1'39.589
0.834
0.566
Ferrari
1'39.604
0.849
0.081
5
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
6
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
Mercedes
19
1'41.168
TAG
20
1'41.831
0.393
0.103
5
Sebastian Vettel
1.056
0.663
Ferrari
Ferrari
1'39.661
0.906
0.010
7
Sergio Perez
Force India
Mercedes
19
6
1'41.885
1.110
0.054
7
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
TAG
1'39.818
1.063
0.045
Nico Hulkenberg
Force India
Mercedes
1'40.501
1.746
0.397
8
9
Nico Hulkenberg
Force India
Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas
Williams
Mercedes
13
1'42.067
1.292
0.182
19
1'42.076
1.301
0.009
8
Sergio Perez
Force India
Mercedes
1'40.519
1.764
0.167
9
Fernando Alonso
McLaren
Honda
1'41.106
2.351
0.061
10
11
Esteban Gutierrez Haas
Fernando Alonso
McLaren
Ferrari
15
1'42.354
1.579
Honda
14
1'42.585
1.810
0.278
10
Felipe Massa
Williams
Mercedes
1'41.213
2.458
0.101
0.231
11
Valtteri Bottas
Williams
Mercedes
1'41.084
2.329
0.060
12
Jolyon Palmer
13
Jenson Button
Renault
Renault
17
1'42.616
McLaren
Honda
15
1'42.664
1.841
0.031
12
Jenson Button
McLaren
Honda
1'41.272
2.517
0.011
1.889
0.048
14
Felipe Massa
Williams
Mercedes
20
13
Esteban Gutierrez
Haas
Ferrari
1'41.480
2.725
0.090
1'42.683
1.908
0.019
14
Romain Grosjean
Haas
Ferrari
1'41.564
2.809
15
Romain Grosjean
Haas
Ferrari
0.205
17
1'42.805
2.030
0.122
16
Kevin Magnussen Renault
15
Jolyon Palmer
Renault
Renault
1'41.820
3.065
0.194
Renault
17
1'43.057
2.282
0.252
16
Pascal Wehrlein
Manor
Mercedes
1'41.995
3.240
17
Pascal Wehrlein
0.338
Manor
Mercedes
17
1'43.145
2.370
0.088
18
17
Daniil Kvyat
Toro Rosso
Ferrari
1'42.003
3.248
0.017
Carlos Sainz Jr.
Toro Rosso
Ferrari
10
1'43.301
2.526
0.156
18
Kevin Magnussen
Renault
Renault
1'42.142
3.387
0.134
19
Felipe Nasr
Felipe Nasr
Sauber
Ferrari
21
1'43.417
2.642
0.116
19
Sauber
Ferrari
1'42.247
3.492
0.017
20 Esteban Ocon
Manor
Mercedes
15
1'43.733
2.958
0.316
20 Esteban Ocon
Manor
Mercedes
1'42.286
3.531
0.005
21
Toro Rosso
Ferrari
13
1'44.105
3.330
0.372
21
Toro Rosso
Ferrari
1'42.393
3.638
0.191
Sauber
Ferrari
20
1'44.238
3.463
0.133
22 Marcus Ericsson
Sauber
Ferrari
1'42.637
3.882
0.058
Daniil Kvyat
22 Marcus Ericsson
Carlos Sainz Jr.
GPG AZET T E |
9