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Smaller title fights and drivers saying goodbye to teams or Formula 1 itself make the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix interesting.
Some made sure they could head into winter with a smile on their face, while others showed why they’re so glad the season is over.
winner
Charles Leclerc
You always want to take a break, whether it’s mid-season or off-season, on a high. As a fan of the football club that interrupted its previous three-game losing streak at the World Cup, I just know it all too well.
And Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, for all their misery in 2022, ended the weekend with a proper climax in the “opposite” way of their seasons.
They didn’t look like they were going anywhere on Friday but combined improved pace and brilliant execution on Sunday to take the consolation prizes of second at the Grand Prix and World Championship.
A second or third in 2022 won’t define Leclerc’s F1 legacy, but he sounded genuinely relieved and seemed to end the weekend with more confidence in his team’s operations (or, at least, his existing Confidence is bolstered rather than shaken again).
It’s important for Ferrari, too, as Leclerc’s drive demonstrates once again why keeping him sweet is crucial to Ferrari’s ambitions. – Valentin Corenghi
Lando Norris
Fastest lap, best of the rest, 30 points ahead of one Alpine and 41 points ahead of the other. Even surpassed George Russell at the outset.
Even against the backdrop of Daniel Ricciardo’s above-average performance at McLaren at the weekend, Lando Norris delivered another “look at me, I’m captain now” performance.
Let’s not take this as an opportunity to doubt his long-term McLaren deal again, but just to say, right now, he’s too good for the team’s position. If McLaren gets where it wants to be in terms of facilities and design prowess, Norris looks set to keep his word. – VK
Max Verstappen
The same game winners, but very different levels of calm. For Max Verstappen, Abu Dhabi 2022 is very different from Abu Dhabi 2021. Perhaps the most low-key of his record-breaking 15 grand prix victories this year, but the most powerful in sending the message that you guys really need to do better in 2023 to stop me from scoring a hat-trick .
He left the entertainment and tension of the game behind from the very beginning, making the one-stop strategy emphasized by others look very straightforward and unassailable. – Matt Beer
Daniel Ricardo
Getting into Q3 is a solid result for Daniel Ricciardo, who has not done so since September’s Italian Grand Prix.
But with the three-place penalty at the Brazilian GP, ​​you’d be forgiven for wondering if he’d get lost in midfield again and exit the F1 race seat (for now) with another anonymous drive.
There were signs of that early in the race, too: he lost a spot in front of Lance Stroll and passed Mick Schumacher for 13th, but was quickly swallowed by the leader, who ran 100 before his first stint. farther.
This didn’t appear to have any clear advantage, as Ricciardo ended up in the timing no-man’s-land between the two stops and Sebastian Vettel’s longer first stint.
But he made it work to good effect, ensuring he was strong enough to pass Yuki Tsunoda’s two-stop AlphaTauri, while keeping his tires good enough to keep Vettel at bay in the closing laps despite a six-lap deflection. shift.
He doesn’t have Norris’ pace, but the same can be said for almost every other grand prix in 2022 – so finishing with two points at the end of McLaren’s sobering two-year run is certainly a win. – Jack Cozens
loser
Sergio Perez
You might wonder whether Max Verstappen should have let Sergio Perez pass in his second stint, or backed Leclerc in Perez’s third – whether second place in the standings was worth it.
But Perez should be the master of his own destiny. There may be some potential explanations that we haven’t heard yet, but ultimately it seems like he just got overexcited trying to keep up with his teammates on the first pit stop, got himself into a sub-optimal early pit stop, and then went on the first stint. Hamilton’s key move could not be fully completed at the time of the first inquiry.
Having said that, overall it was a quality weekend’s work – he did look quicker than Verstappen over the long stretches of the game. This is of course the basis for 2023, but it would be better to do the so-called “building” as vice-champion. – VK
Fernando Alonso
Is there any end to Fernando Alonso’s 2022 season in the Alps and his time with the team that better sums up his campaign than his retirement less than halfway through the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix?
At the end of a season, Alonso often refers to the problems with the “No. 14 car” and the number of points he has lost due to reliability (he is right to do so, although Occasionally massage that figure), here’s another race where points have been begging — this time for a suspected leak.
It was no old-fashioned performance from Alonso, who started begging for fifth in Brazil, but instead of adding a few more points to his standings, he failed to finish for the fifth time this season (if you count six words) the Mexican Grand Prix, where he was classified despite an engine failure eight laps from the finish).
Still, there’s a bright side: at least it means he’s free to Drive a “green car” That earlier. –JC
lewis hamilton
A podium finish – albeit achieved through a strategy he really dislikes – would be a pretty decent way to end an often miserable season in which Hamilton was both winless and behind in the championship for the first time since 2016. teammate. .
A fourth-place loss to Ferrari at the last breath might actually be appropriate, as Mercedes’ eight years in the lead during a frustrating year was a bit of a sideshow.
Didn’t even finish the race at all due to a late hydraulic failure, although it looked like the charging Ferrari would have overtaken anyway… Well, that’s just a huge metaphor for Hamilton and Mercedes falling out of favor, isn’t it? – MB
Pierre Gasly
While team-mate Tsunoda was a points threat in Abu Dhabi, Gasly was never at that level in his final race as a member of the Red Bull family – which perhaps best sums up his post-race opening remarks at AlphaTauri Press release: “I don’t have much to say about this game.”
The longest time on the hard track was as notable as Gasly’s lap time into lap 14 – only because of the decision to start the race on the soft track, a choice no one else had made.
It did no good, as Gasly only briefly ran up to 15th before his first pit stop. There was another bright spot – Kevin Magnussen’s interesting roll of the dice from round 5 to round 9 – but overall, the performance was far from a fitting end for him in Red Bull’s second team Either side of the team has had success with a brief stint in the main team. –JC
aston martin
On lap 13 of lap 58, when Lance Stroll made his first pit stop, he was three seconds behind teammate Sebastian Vettel. He ended up finishing with a seven-second lead over the two.
In a race without a virtual safety car or other interruption, where Alonso pulled out to add to the points, the conclusion seemed inevitable and the points would have been bigger had Vettel followed the same strategy as Stroll.
How big it is depends on the situation. Easy in hindsight. But Aston Martin needed just a little more in Sunday’s race to overtake Alfa Romeo in the constructors’ ranks to tie its rival on 55 points for sixth and lose out on the countdown. .
Obviously, no matter how you slice it, you get a little extra. – VK
Mick Schumacher
Teammate Kevin Magnussen, who was outstanding this weekend, was a good way for Mick Schumacher to emphasize his “maybe you were wrong to fire me” message.
A brush with Nicholas Latifi in a clumsy collision this season was a good reminder to Haas – if it needed to – that Schumacher still has plenty of rough edges and has Going into 2023 with confidence, will be fine with lower damage bills.
Even with a spin in the Latifi contact and a penalty for it, Schumacher nonetheless managed to beat last week’s pole hero Magnussen as a teammate in the final race. – MB
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