2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Second practice session

2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - First practice session

2015 Abu Dhabi GP - Drivers Press Conference (video)

The drivers press conference was today. If you didn't see it then check out this video! The picture above was taken by me at Yas Marina Circuit.

FIA press conference schedule - Abu Dhabi

Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen - who between them have accounted for half of all F1 victories in Abu Dhabi - will be amongst the drivers facing the press at the Yas Marina circuit on Thursday. On Friday it is the turn of senior team personnel, including Red Bull's Christian Horner and Renault's Cyril Abiteboul, to answer questions from the media. The line-ups in full...


Thursday, November 26, 1500 hours (1100 GMT)
Fernando Alonso (McLaren), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Romain Grosjean (Lotus), Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull), Roberto Merhi (Marussia), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

Friday, November 27, 1900 hours (1500 GMT)
Cyril Abiteboul (Renault), Maurizio Arrivabene (Ferrari), Federico Gastaldi (Lotus), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Claire Williams (Williams), Toto Wolff (Mercedes)

The qualifying and post-race conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

(source: f1.com)

Get your tickets to Abu Dhabi!

Get your tickets to the last race in Abu Dhabi!

http://www.bookf1.com/f1-abu-dhabi/tickets.htm?afid=815

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - did you know?

I took this picture from the grandstand in 2013.

Since Abu Dhabi joined the F1 calendar in 2009, did you know that there has only been one occasion on which a driver has converted pole into victory? Or that Mercedes could rewrite the record books this weekend if events go their way at Yas Marina? We look at the key facts, stats and trivia ahead of this weekend's 2015 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix...

The Yas Marina track has been a permanent fixture on the F1 schedule since 2009, with all six Abu Dhabi Grands Prix to date held on the visually spectacular circuit. It is by no means the newest circuit in F1 however: in fact four other venues have been newly introduced to F1, and two revamped circuits have returned, since F1 travelled to Abu Dhabi for the first time.


Lewis Hamilton set the early pace in the inaugural race in 2009, going fastest in FP1 and then securing pole by over half a second. In the race, however, his McLaren suffered brake problems, forcing the Briton to retire - and helping Sebastian Vettel to claim what was his fifth career win.


Vettel triumphed again in 2010 and '13, and also took a podium with third in 2012. No other driver can match those figures - or indeed the 134 total laps Vettel has led in Abu Dhabi. Those aren't the only records the four-time world champion holds either: Vettel's 2010 triumph remains the only time a driver has converted pole into victory in Abu Dhabi.


Hamilton is not far behind Vettel, though, with two wins and three podiums in Abu Dhabi. The Briton, of course, prevailed in last year's double-points season finale, allowing him to clinch a second world championship crown.
It was the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg that captured pole last year, however. Should the German repeat the feat this weekend, he would move onto six consecutive pole positions. Only four drivers in history have ever eclipsed that. Ayrton Senna managed it twice (his longest run was eight poles between Spain in 1988 and the USA in 1989), while Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and Hamilton have each managed seven.


Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, set the best lap during last year's race - the first time the Australian had posted a fastest lap in F1. Perhaps surprisingly, the Red Bull driver has achieved the feat three further times this season, despite his team struggling for front-running pace.


Ricciardo's charge carried him from 20th on the grid to fourth at the flag last year - a remarkable 16-place improvement. That isn't the record at Yas Marina, however - in 2012 Vettel made up an astonishing 21 places en route from 24th on the grid to third at the chequered flag.


Vettel's charge is also the only occasion on which a driver has been able to claim a podium when starting from lower than fifth (Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso picked up podiums from the third row in 2009 and 2011 respectively).


On a similar note, while it is true the polesitter has only gone on to triumph once in six races, there has only been one occasion on which the victor didn't start on the front row. Kimi Raikkonen holds that particular record - he started fourth when he won in 2012, a race made infamous by his clipped radio correspondence with his Lotus engineers.
In terms of manufacturers, Red Bull are the most successful marque in Abu Dhabi. The team have claimed three wins (McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes each have one) and six podiums (McLaren are next up with four). Red Bull also lead the way in terms of pole positions, claiming P1 on the grid on three occasions (McLaren have two).


Mercedes might not be able to eclipse that record this weekend, but they can set another: a one-two finish would be their 12th of the season, an unprecedented feat in F1 history. The team have already matched their 2014 benchmark of 11, which also equals McLaren's then-record of 11 from 1988.


Hamilton also stands on the brink of his own landmark. Pole in Abu Dhabi would be his 50th in F1 - which would be only the third time in history a driver has reached that tally. Michael Schumacher (68) and Ayrton Senna (65) have the most, with Hamilton third on 49.


Fittingly, the $40-billion, 600-acre Yas Island development is a natural home for speed: Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, home of the world's fastest rollercoaster, is located nextdoor to the circuit.

(source: f1.com)

2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix preview

Wow! The season's last race is almost here. A little while ago we were all waiting for the season to start and now it's almost over! Time flies when we are having fun. That means when we are watching F1 every other weekend.

I was supposed to go to Abu Dhabi again this year but didn't have the time or the money. It would have been nice to visit Dubai as well. I love that city!

Not much to say about Abu Dhabi so I will talk about the same things as last year:

The Yas Marina track has hosted the Abu Dhabi GP 6 times in it's history so it's quite new. The facilities are one of the best in the world at least for me as a spectator. It is the only GP that has daylight and darkness in the same race.

In 2010 Sebastian Vettel won his first world championship when Alonso couldn't get pass Vitaly Petrov. It was one of the most moving moments of Vettel's career when he cried on the podium.

After winning his first championship in 2010.

In 2011 he had already won the championship when the Formula One circus returned to Abu Dhabi. That race he retired right after the start and the whole crowd in Abu Dhabi cheered. The sound was quite loud, trust me, I was there.

In 2012 Sebastian started from the back of the grid but managed to get 3rd place. Alonso was second and Kimi Räikkönen took the maiden victory for the new Team Lotus. Everybody remembers the classic radio conversations between Kimi and Alan Permane(?)

Here is a video with the radio conversations:

They made t-shirts of Kimi's comments.

In 2013 Sebastian Vettel had already secured his championship before Abu Dhabi. Last year the story was different. It was between two friends, teammates and almost brothers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton when they were younger.

This year they are not that much friends or brothers anymore but they are teammates. Hamilton has secured the championship already but Rosberg has been beating him in the past five qualifyings and the past two races. We shall see if Rosberg has it in him to beat Hamilton one more time this season. I am not so sure about that because Hamilton has been good in Abu Dhabi so many times.

Now let's see my predictions:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Surprise: Kimi Räikkönen. Leave him alone he knows what he's doing!

Post your own predictions to our F1-4-LIFE PREDICTORS LEAGUE!

The rules:

POINTS:  1st - 3  2nd - 5  3rd - 10 

HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. If you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points same if you get 1 correct. eg. 2nd you get 5 points. If a driver wins the race and you said he would come 2nd or 3rd no points would be awarded. Same if he came in another position, and you predicted that wrong. A table will be posted up every race weekend. The point scoring system will change once the cars become more competitive. Everyone will say a merc 1,2 so it won't be close or fun. 

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick! like the Mercedes. 

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW, MH & JI. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway. We may also come up with some other prize if it helps. 

That's it for today and if you want to send me feedback then email me: f14lifeblog@gmail.com