More pictures from Abu Dhabi (qualifying)

I promised some more pictures today from the qualifying. Tomorrow I shall continue with pictures from Sunday, the race and the drivers parade. So tomorrow you will see pictures with faces as well and not just the cars driving around the circuit.

And remember if you want to use these pictures just let me know. It wont cost you anything.

I will write again some short captions below the pictures.

This was a tunnel going under the track from F1 village to the West Grandstand.

The tower has a great view of the track and that's why the tickets aren't very cheap.

The lights are on which means that the sun is about to set.

The view from my seat with the lights on.

First man on the track. It's the Iceman with his Lotus.

Yas Hotel with a Caterham and a Marussia driving by.

Mark Webber, Red Bull

I also saw from my seat when drivers went into the pits.

The McLarens

The former McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton with his Mercedes.

The screen let's you know what is going on.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas, Williams

Nico Hülkenberg, Sauber

Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso

I took a picture with my fisheye lens.

Now it's really starting to get dark.

The Main Grandstand from behind.

Yas Hotel after sunset.

The Main Grandstand.

Felipe Massa, Ferrari

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes

Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus

Pictures I took in Abu Dhabi before Qualifying

I promised some Abu Dhabi pictures today for you guys. Here is the first batch!

Tomorrow I will post from the qualifying and on Sunday I will post the rest from the GP and drivers parade.

If you wish to use my pictures on your own page or anywhere else please notify me. I don't want any money I just want to know.

I will write texts under the pictures so you will know what is going on. If you want to see the pictures in bigger scale just click on them.

There was a lot of small shops where you could buy your team merchandise. I just bought a pair of ear muffs when I realized that the F1 cars were louder than in 2011. Back then I just had ear plugs but now my ears needed more.

There was a contest going on. If you won, you got to take this car on the Yas Marina Circuit for a spin.

Here it was possible to buy some fast food.

If you wanted to eat and follow what was going on at the track you could sit here and look.

This was the view from the tables. The GP2 race had just started.

They had these all over the place.

When the helicopters started to fly around you knew that something was about to begin --> Third practice session.

The view from my seat.

The view on the right.

The view on the right side of the seats.

Ferrari World was not far away.

Romain Grosjean, Lotus

Max Chilton, Marussia and Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber

Jules Bianchi, Marussia

Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso

Valtteri Bottas, Williams

Felipe Massa, Ferrari

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

Jenson Button, McLaren

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes

Paul Di Resta, Force India

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Mark Webber, Red Bull

Adrian Sutil, Force India

Charles Pic, Caterham

Giedo van der Garde, Caterham

Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus

Nico Hülkenberg, Sauber

Sergio Perez, McLaren

Pastor Maldonado, Williams

After the practice session I went to the "F1 Village"

A car made of tires.

A small stage for bands.

Check out the Ferraris on this parking lot!

The sun is slowly going down. It is time to go and see the qualifying!

Tooned 50: Mika Häkkinen

Mika Häkkinen is the biggest hero in Finnish motor racing history. He's mentors were James Hunt and Keke Rosberg. 

Mika was Ayrton Senna's younger teammate at McLaren and he was quicker than Senna at his first qualifying. He was also Michael Schumacher's worst enemy on the track.

Click on the YouTube-logo.

Tooned 50: Ayrton Senna

Another episode from Tooned50 and this time it's Ayrton Senna. Click on the YouTube-logo to see it in full screen on YouTube.

The 2013 Abu Dhabi GP review

I had waited for this GP for a long time because I knew that I was going to be at the Yas Marina Circuit to see it.

Everything was very nice and fun in Abu Dhabi but the race itself was boring. I could count the most entertaining moments with one hand so I'll list five things below in no particular order.

1. Sebastian Vettel's donuts and radio message after finishing - funny and amusing
2. Mark Webber's overtaking maneuvers - at least somebody looked like a real racing driver at the boring race.
3. Fernando Alonso four wheels outside of the track - in my opinion he did nothing wrong. He had no choice.
4. Niko Hulkenberg's unsafe release from the pits and penalty - stupid mistake from the team.
5. Kimi Räikkönen's accident at the start - a big disapointment. I am sure that he would have made some pretty nice overtakings through the race.

After the race there was nice fireworks and a consert as usual but I can't count them in the race as entertaining moments.

Vettel won his 11th victory this year and showed everybody how undefeatable the Red Bull is. He has a chance to match Michael Schumacher's record of most wins in a season which is 13 if he wins the two remaining GP's. It was also his 7th victory in a row so he has a chance to match Alberto Ascari's record of most consecutive wins as well.

Sebastian Vettel is breaking records just like Schumacher used to do. There is just one thing that separates them. Schumi won 7 world titles with two different teams. Vettel has won 4 titles with one team. Even Alain Prost and Juan Manuel Fangio who also won 4 titles or more won them with more than one team. It shows that you can win with different cars and not only with one kind.

And now my guesses and actual results:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG

Race results:

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull - CORRECT
2. Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus - RETIRED ON THE FIRST LAP
3. Romain Grosjean, Lotus - He was 4th so this was very close!

Surprise: Valtteri Bottas - No surprises there. I'll shut up about him now even though I still believe in his talent.

Fastest lap: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull – WRONG

The actual results:

Pole position: Mark Webber, Red Bull

Race results:

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2. Mark Webber, Red Bull
3. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes

Fastest lap: Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

I am sorry that I don't have anything else to say about this GP. Like I said it was boring.

But anyways I got some pretty nice pictures from the Abu Dhabi weekend so I'll post them this week when it's possible to do so.