Who was fastest in each Sector? 🧐

🟥 Sector 1 (Full-throttle except for the fast corner 1): 🟠 McL fastest

🟦 Sector 2 (Long straights, 2 slow corners):
🔵 PER fastest, then 🔴 LEC

🟨 Sector 3 (Slower corners):
🔵 VER fastest, but others are close!

What's your Quali Prediction? 🤔

Top Speeds - FP2

🔴 The low-load wing gave a further top-speed edge to the already efficient SF23. It will be mighty in qualifying, but will tyre wear be good?

🔵 RB: surprisingly low drag for that wing.

Merc, Aston, McL have troublesome drag.🚨

Rear wing photos by: Albert Fabrega.

Minisectors:

🔴 Ferrari's unmatched drag (+3km/h top speed over the next fastest car) made LEC quickest in the full-throttle turn 2-3-4, on the long straight and before the t9 braking point.

🟠 McL: eccellent cornering.

🔵 RB was well-rounded but rarely the fastest.

Sector times: Russell was incredibly quick in Sector 3, but Norris was quick too despite the slide.

🟢Russell vs 🟠Norris - Fight for P1 in FP3⚔️

McL gained around 0.1s on each straight over Mercedes! Not only was the top speed better (326km/h vs 324), but Lando had a better exit out of most corners, too!

Russell gained under braking and got ahead in Sector 3.

🗒Notes on Abu Dhabi GP Quali!

🔵VER gets pole! Behind him, 🔴LEC saves his quali through a mega lap!

🟠McL was oversteery but quickest in turn1

⚫️RUS kicks HAM out of Q2, who didn’t reach Q1 for the second time in a row

🔵TSU P6: the up-trend continues

What’s YOUR take? 🤔

Leclerc's lap was quicker than Alonso's thanks to:

-Less loaded wing➡️3km/h higher top speed
-A 6km/h higher min. speed in the fastest corner (turn 9) despite that!
-Much higher min. speed in the slowest corner (turn 6): ALO lost 0.2s

Original photos by Giuly Duchessa:
https://twitter.com/GiulyDuchessa

Which comparison next? 😏

📊Minisectors

McL was consistently quick in turn 1, but 🔵VER beat 🟠PIA there in his last attempt.

RB had the best top speed (329km/h, +1 vs Ferrari and +3km/h vs McL): fastest towards straight-end.

🔴Leclerc did his magic in the chicane (turns 6-7) and turn 14.

I’ve created 24 analyses on the qualifying session, and I’ve also written a ‘race-preview’ article that includes the few long runs we’ve had in FP2/FP3.💡

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📊Best Sectors

🟠NOR quickest in Sector 1 (the turn 1 exit is crucial). All drivers within 0.32s!

🔵VER quickest in S2 (containing two long straights)

🟢RUS quickest in S3

🔴LEC got P2 despite not being fastest in any sector, and being just 9th fastest in S1!

Car performance explained 💡

⬆️Up: better top speed
➡️Right: better overall performance

🔵RB/🔴Ferrari↗️: Very efficient (low drag despite the good downforce)
🟢Aston⬇️: too draggy for their downforce
🟢Merc↘️: excellent grip, as the car was quick despite the high drag!

Race Pace!

5 drivers and 4 teams within 0.32s: season-end convergence after RB stopped developing the RB19?⚖️

Perez had the 2nd best pace but only got P4 due to starting from the back + 5s penalty💥

Russell was on fire!🔥
Tsunoda was the quickest one-stopper👌

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FASTEST SECTORS at Abu Dhabi GP:

-RB, McL quickest in Sector 1 (where the exit speed from the fast turn 1 is crucial)

-ALB was quickest in S2! The low drag helped on the two straights

-RIC was competitive in the twisty S3

LEC was more consistent than all-out fast

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Gap to Verstappen⏱

🔴Leclerc kept up with 🔵Max in the first stint: the gap was just 2s after 15 laps!

Red Bull became clearly superior Once both pitted for Hards. The RB19 is quick on all compounds and at different fuel levels👌

Perez was flying at the end!🚀

Average overtakes per GP

🥇🇺🇸Las Vegas GP has the highest number of overtakes on average by far! (99)
Future races should bring that number down, but it's a great start!

🥈🇳🇱Netherland 69
🥉🇨🇳China 60

Lowest:
🇲🇨Monaco 12
🇱🇺Luxemburg 8

Made via JMP Software:
https://twitter.com/JMP_software

All races since 1984 are counted.

Did you know that the two Luxemburg GPs (1997-1998) that took place since then were held in Germany at the Nurburgring-GP track?

Verstappen dominated this season like no driver before

19 Wins (Previous record: 15 - VER 2022)
86.3% Win Rate (Previous: 75% - Ascari 1952)
575 points (Previous: 454 - VER 2022)

He could have missed the last 10 races and still won the championship!

(Stats by @racefansdotnet)

Link to the article:
https://www.racefans.net/2023/11/27/verstappen-could-have-missed-the-last-10-races-and-still-won-the-noscript/