Max verstappen It was the fastest of the last free practice sessions of the 2021 Formula 1 season. The Dutchman beat the two Mercedes, who will be his final enemies in this season finale in which the title is played. They were not particularly fast times, around 1:25, which is a good example of the relative calm with which they faced this contact with the Abu Dhabi track.
Although the tension in the atmosphere was remarkable from the first moment, the calm before the foreseeable storm was evident in this start of the last weekend of the 2021 season. With some details such as the presence of ‘El Plan’ on the spoiler rear of the Alpine, the homage helmets of Nikita mazepin his first year in F1 or Antonio Giovinazzi to his partner Kimi raikkonen Due to his retirement, the session focused on getting to know the news about the Abudabi circuit and trying to adapt to the new asphalt, which is predictably less aggressive.
At this last point, there was great wear on the left front tires of the cars, with some affected by ‘graining’ even.
That does not imply that it was a session without scares. The new pianos, similar to those seen in Qatar, have already made it clear that they may come into play if controversial track limits are again a factor to be taken into account during the race or qualifying.
The track exits, such as one by Raikkonen himself, or some unexpected excursion led to some cold sweat on the wall, but nothing that was out of schedule. The accident was even touched, with a final spin of Sebastian Vettel that almost knocks him against the walls.
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For the Spanish pilots it was a session within schedule. Fernando Alonso he got between the two AlphaTauri, like practically the whole season, and showed that Alpine arrives at this last appointment in more than reasonable conditions so that there is no scare and they lose fifth place in the Constructors’ World Championship.
For Carlos SainzHowever, it was a more complicated session. Balance problems and some of his own mistakes, especially, prevented him from getting into the upper zone of the ‘top 10’, which is his natural position, and he had to settle for the 9th time lap of the batch.