F1 | TOWARDS THE ABU DHABI GP WITH GIAN CARLO MINARDI “ABU DHABI HAS ACCUSTOMED US TO UPSETS. WATCH OUT FOR THE GRAINING”

We have come to the final act of this very long season made up of twenty-four rounds that was able to keeps us in suspense on many occasions. Abu Dhabi has already accustomed us to major upsets and this year, we are again faced with multiple scenarios involving both the battle at the top between McLaren and Ferrari, and in the middle of the table between Alpine, Haas and Racing Bulls for sixth place.

We already have a novelty precisely on this point: Alpine will bring in Jack Doohan to make his debut in place of Ocon, “freed” to give him the chance of already driving with Haas in the post-race tests. Currently, the team led by Oliver Oakes is six points ahead of its direct rivals. An unhoped-for result until a few weeks ago.

The other challenge, for the title of vice-champion, is between Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc currently separated by eight points in favour of the British driver. Despite being twenty-one-points behind, Ferrari will try everything to bring the world title back to Maranello. A title that has been missing since 2008. To find McLaren’s last win, we must go all the way back to 1998.

On the tyre front, Pirelli has brought the softer trio of compounds, made up of C3 as the Hard, C4 as the Medium, and C5 as the Soft. Given the scarcity of fast bends, the stress on the tyres is medium-low, and the strategy should be to aim at two stops. They will have to watch out for graining.

There is no lack of ingredients to also follow even the last round with great attention, which will then introduce us to 2025 with a day of collective tests. The grand prix will start on Sunday afternoon at 2.00pm, with the drivers committed to racing 58 laps of the 5.281km of the Yas Matina track.

Gian Carlo Minardi