Circuit | Yas Marina Circuit |
Date | 25.11.2018 |
Laps | 55 |
Distance | 305,355 km / 189,779 miles |
No | Driver | Ferrari | S/N | Team | Result |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | SF71H | – | Scuderia Ferrari | 2. |
7 | Kimi Raikkonen | SF71H | – | Scuderia Ferrari | retired / electrical problem |
Maurizio Arrivabene. Today’s result, a second place for Sebastian, along with the work of the entire team, means we have been able to finish the world championship with our drivers in second and third places. Kimi deserved a better result from today’s race, but the send off he was given by the guys, as he drove out of the garage was a lovely moment. As from Tuesday, we take part in the tyre test, which is the first step for next season and the entire team, both at the track and back in Maranello, will be giving their utmost once again in 2019. My heartfelt thanks goes to all of them, to our sponsors, our fans and customers, who have always supported us.
Sebastian Vettel. I think today’s race sums up the year pretty well: a few ups and downs and in the end just being close, but not close enough. Today, I really tried to hang on as long as I could, but it was tough being behind Valtteri. I believe I was a little bit quicker, but it was very difficult to get close, especially in the last sector, until he had some issues and I managed to get past. We were strong in the straights and we had speed, but we were struggling in the last sector to keep up, especially in the last two corners. At one point, I had hopes of winning the race, so I was pushing as hard as I could, but in the end it was not enough. It has been a very intense year and I think we have to look at ourselves, as there are many things that we can do better and the potential this team has is still huge.
Kimi Raikkonen. Obviously I’m a bit disappointed. It’s not the way we wanted this last race together to finish. We wanted to do well and I think we would have had a pretty good car for the job. Unfortunately we had an electrical issue; in the back straight, I felt I was lacking power and then everything shut down. It’s a pity but that’s how racing goes sometimes. It’s been a pretty decent season, but the four retirements were not in our plans and obviously did not help; we wanted more for sure. I want to thank all the Ferrari fans who always gave me a lot of support. We went through good and bad times together, and this makes it all the more interesting. Of course we wanted a better finish, but that’s part of the sport. We will always have the memories of winning the Drivers’ Championship and two Constructors Championship together.
Vettel on the podium, but disappointment for Raikkonen who still finished third in the championship
Yas Marina – “We tried our very best and I’m looking forward to staying with you for the coming years. Thanks also to the team, here and in Maranello. Next year we’ll try again.” That was Seb Vettel’s immediate radio comment from the cockpit, after finishing second in the Abu Dhabi GP. He made up one place from where he qualified and drove an impeccable race. The day could have ended on a better note, but for the fact that Kimi Raikkonen had to retire the car with an electrical problem, in his final race for the Scuderia. However, partly helped by Seb’s second place, Kimi still finished third in the championship, his best position since returning to the Scuderia in 2014.
The twilight race start is always a beautiful sight. From the second row, “wearing” the Ultrasoft tyres, the middle compound on offer here, the two Ferraris got away well, with Seb trying to attack Bottas. But there was drama immediately, as Hulkenberg’s Renault tipped over at turn 9. The Safety Car came out, which is not a common occurrence in Abu Dhabi. The race was neutralised for four laps. Once underway again, Kimi was glued to his team-mate. But almost immediately his SF71H crawled to a halt on the start-finish line. The pit wall told him to try and restart it (using the electric MGU-K motor) but unfortunately there was nothing to be done. The Iceman’s final race in red ended in disappointment. Then Hamilton pitted and Seb found himself in second place.
After 15 laps, Vettel was called in for his tyre change, shedding the Ultras and fitting the Supersofts, the hardest compound, to run all the way to the finish. A bit of time was lost with the front right wheel at the pit stop and, as he came out of pit lane, Seb had to attack to get past Ocon. That meant he was unable to pull off the “undercut” on Bottas who pitted after him.
Incredible but true, a few drops of rain began to fall, the craziest strategy variable one might encounter in the Emirati desert. At this point, Seb was running at a very strong pace and in fact the rain didn’t actually dampen the track. Bottas was struggling and Seb got by with 20 laps remaining, at the end of the second sector. With Ricciardo having pitted, Sebastian was now second, 7.3 seconds off Hamilton.
Seb kept pushing and the gap went under 6 seconds, but he also had to keep an eye on Verstappen who was coming up behind, with Ricciardo in tow. The final laps: the gap to the leader got smaller, while Max dropped back. That’s how it ended, with the Scuderia repeating its best result at this track that has never suited it too well. A somewhat sad farewell to Kimi therefore, as his team-mate paid tribute by setting the race fastest lap.
Seb and Kimi lock out second row of the grid: right tyre choice, just a bit shy of speed in T3
SEB (P3, best lap time 1’35”125 on Hypersofts, will start the race on Ultrasofts):
“I think that today we correctly worked out the direction to take in terms of tyre strategy and we were able to follow the trend. Yesterday we had tried everything, but the Hypersoft tyres didn’t last for long, so we were quite confident they weren’t the tyres we wanted to start the race on. Today I knew in my second run I had some lap time to gain and I wanted to start on the Ultrasofts, so that’s why I was happy to take the risk and do my second run in Q2 on the same compound.
In general, I’ve been happy with our session. For tomorrow I would have liked to start from the front row, but our main rivals probably had saved some performance cushion for the last run in Q3. As I told the guys in the garage, in the race we will fight as much as we can; then anything might happen. Today we had good speed on the straights, but I guess we were lacking a little bit of downforce in the last sector, so let’s see what we can do. For sure, it is going to be a long race”.
KIMI (P4, best lap time 1’35”365 on Hypersofts, will start the race on Ultrasofts):
It was a solid qualifying session and I think there was nothing wrong with the car today, nothing to complain about. In fact, it worked pretty well, we were only lacking a bit of speed especially in Sector 3; that’s where we were losing the most and it has been like that for all the week end. Our competitors were probably playing around a bit in the first part of the session, then in the end the margin was bigger. As for tomorrow, I can only say that we are going to do our best. We will start the race on the Ultrasoft tyres, which hs the choice all the top teams have made. We hadn’t tested that kind of compound before today, and in terms of race pace, we have some figures from Friday’s long runs, but practice is another story from the race itself and usually, on Sunday, the gaps close up a little bit.
Seb, Kimi looking for extra pace after P2 improvement
SEB (P8 in Session 1, best 1’40”453 on Hypersofts, P6 in Session 2, best 1’37”569 on Hypersofts)
“I think today has been ok; obviously we are not quick enough yet, but we did improve between the two sessions, track conditions came towards us and hopefully tomorrow we will be better placed and we’ll try to do our best. I think on Sunday a lot will depend on the tyres. We tried to work a bit on the car today and we still have some margin in terms of performance, but we need to find another extra bit of pace. However, I think we should be able to improve for the race. I was surprised by the fact that the tyres allow you a second attempt on a fast lap today. This is the last race of the season and I remain focused on this year. There’s still a few months to the beginning of a new Championship, so I think we can still learn something from the car we have now”.
KIMI (P7 in Session 1, best 1’40”417 on Hypersofts; P5 in Session 2, best 1’37”461 on Hypersofts)
“Today, the first session of free practice was a bit tricky in the hotter conditions. However, in the second session after sunset, we were able to improve our pace and the feeling with the car was pretty OK. Twilight conditions do not affect driving at all, only the tyres get a little bit cooler. If you look at the time sheet, you will see that everybody is pretty close, with six drivers within three tenths of a second, so we see where we can end up tomorrow”
Ahead of Kimi’s last race with the Scuderia, both he and Seb sum up the season
KIMI: “This is my last race with Ferrari, I’m excited and will try to have a good weekend. At the moment, though, I don’t feel any different to any other end of season race. I’m leaving the team, but we have a very close relationship in many ways. Last night the team organized a party for me, it was a really nice surprise, it was great to have all the team together. It’s so nice to see how much they all appreciate my efforts and I wanted to thank all of them. I don’t see any reason why I should be sad; we’ve had a great time together in two different periods of time, with some difficult days, but that’s all part of the game and I think it makes it even nicer. We won the Drivers’ Championship and two Constructors’ Championships together, I couldn’t ask for more; I’m glad that we managed to do that, it’s great what we achieved. It’s going to be special memories, in the future we are all going to be friends and that’s also important. We’ve come a long way since I returned to Ferrari in 2014; we made a huge step forward and today, everything is definitively going in the right direction. Some things still need to be improved, but it’s the same with everything, the work never ends and we always try to do better”.
SEB: “Overall, I think this has been a good year, but not as good as we wanted, which is clear if you finish second in both Championships. We had a season of highs and lows, so naturally you would like to finish the year on a high. Then we’ll have to focus on how we can do our best for the next one, but first of all, I want to do well here this weekend. I hope the car will be strong and hopefully we can have a good race here in Abu Dhabi. I haven’t thought about the future yet, but the most important thing for me will be to start the new season happily. I think we’ll need a stronger package, as sometimes this year we lacked a bit of speed, but we are working hard to make that step forward and make the difference. All the people working at Ferrari are passionate about their job and feel privileged to be part of this team!”
The final race of the year also brings the curtain down on Kimi’s days in red
The final round of this very long season will come to an end on Sunday night, in the picturesque setting of Yas Marina. However, 2018 Formula 1 track action won’t quite be over by then, because on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, the Abu Dhabi circuit will host the final test session of the year, given over to evaluation and development of next year’s Pirelli tyres. Scuderia Ferrari will be represented by what is in fact its 2019 line-up of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc.
The Grand Prix in the Emirates will also be Kimi Raikkonen’s swansong wearing red, after eight seasons with the Prancing Horse team. The first stint, during which he won the world championship, went from 2007 to 2009, while the second started in 2014. As of today, Kimi is fifth in the list of most GP participations and with at least a further two years of racing ahead of him, the signs are that he could end up at number one!
The Scuderia’s trip to this race began when the advance party left on Saturday and those involved in the test session won’t return until Thursday 29th. Apart from the possibility of a couple of drops of rain over the next two days, the Abu Dhabi forecast has no surprises in store for when cars are on track, with temperatures in the 30s for practice and the race. As always here, the night time running adds that something extra to the weekend.