Abu Dhabi: pre-qualifying 2021

And so we head into the final race of the season, with defending champion Hamilton and title rival Verstappen equal on points. If they stay that way, Verstappen takes the title by virtue of more wins.

It’s been exciting, very tight, and sometimes ill-tempered. I’ll be quite surprised if the race doesn’t feature at least one highly controversial move on track, or other shenanigans.

In first practice Verstappen was fastest, two-tenths ahead of Bottas, who was almost that far ahead of Hamilton, with Perez following the Mercedes. Tsunoda, Alonso, and Gasly followed, with Leclerc, Sainz, and Vettel rounding out the top 10.

Hamilton topped the times in second practice, a third of a second ahead of Ocon, who was half a tenth up on Bottas. Verstappen was a couple of tenths further back, then came Perez, Alonso, Tsunoda, Leclerc, Sainz, and Gasly.

Third practice once more saw the Briton on top, two-tenths ahead of his title rival. Bottas was half a second down the road, two-hundredths ahead of Perez. Norris, Tsunoda, and Gasly followed, with Sainz, Ricciardo, and Leclerc rounding out the top 10.

Once again, it’s looking like a competition between two great drivers with the rest trailing a long way behind.

Hamilton is 1.4 for pole, with Verstappen 3.25. Neither too appealing, as I reckon this should be Hamilton’s but there’s always a chance of crashing.

Qualifying is at 1pm UK time.

Morris Dancer

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