Marsa corner, turn nine, Yas Marina Circuit, 2021

Revised Yas Marina track ‘very different and much faster’ – Tsunoda

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda expects his past experience of Yas Marina will be valuable this weekend despite extensive changes to the venue.

In brief

Yas Marina “much faster” – Tsunoda

Analysis: How fans’ designs inspired the team behind Yas Marina’s dramatic new layout
The AlphaTauri driver says “there will be new things to learn this year for everyone” following the revision to the circuit which will hold this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “They have made quite big changes to the track layout to try and make overtaking easier,” noted Tsunoda.

“My first impression is that it’s now a much faster and more flowing layout and so it will be interesting to see what effect that has on tyre wear for example, as that used to be a consideration in the past.

“Even if the track will be very different, I still feel as though I know what it is like from my past experience there.”

Hughes returns to F2 in place of Sargeant

Jake Hughes will rejoin HWA for their final Formula 2 event this weekend, replacing Logan Sargeant who made his debut at the last round.

Charouz has not indicated whether it will field a replacement for the injured Enzo Fittipaldi, while Theo Pourchaire hoped to return following the mammoth crash the pair were involved in at the start of Sunday’s feature race in Jeddah.

Camps Torras joins Ferrari Driver Academy

Ferrari has added a second female member to its Driver Acamdey, Laura Camps Torras, who won the FIA’s Girls on Track – Rising Stars. The 16-year-old is the second winner of the initiative which aims to promote women in motorsport.

Rasmussen joins Andretti Indy Lightssquad

Indy Pro 2000 champion Christian Rasmussen has been confirmed as part of Andretti’s Indy Lights team for 2022. Rasmussen, who joins Sting Ray Robb and Hunter McElrea in the squad, will aim to continue his run of titles having won the USF2000 championship last year.

“The King’s Man” branding for Williams

Williams The King's Man promotion
Williams presented their “The King’s Man” promotion in London

Williams will carry new branding promoting the forthcoming film “The King’s Man” on the nose, sides and Halo of its cars at this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. A show car featuring the branding was presented at the world premiere of the film in London on Monday, and will be displayed at the US premiere in New York next week.

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Comment of the day

Are the safety standards at Jeddah Corniche Circuit not up to acceptable levels for F1?

I do find it incredible, after the years of pushing for safety since Bianchi and having seen the massive benefits of the halo, that we find ourselves in a situation where a brand new custom built track made specifically for F1 flies in the face of so many of the learnings we’ve earned over the decades.

This site itself has asked questions of what could and should be changed at Spa since the fatal crash there in F2. This new track, which could have had any configuration they wanted, is packed with high speed blind corners that it feels inevitable will see huge crashes that injure drivers. I just don’t get it.

I don’t tend to believe the people who think everything is a conspiracy by Liberty to get more drama, no matter how that happens, but with the Jeddah track it does start to feel that way. “Imagine if we can have a Grosjean level crash every season!”
@Davidhunter13

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On this day in motorsport

  • Born today in 1955: Paul Crooks, an F1 designer who arrived in the sport with Toleman and later worked for Ligier, Simtek, Jordan, BAR and Minardi

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42 comments on “Revised Yas Marina track ‘very different and much faster’ – Tsunoda”

  1. Jack (@jackisthestig)
    8th December 2021, 0:43

    I’m not sure the fastest lap point is so irrelevant. It’s not entirely unlikely that Max and Lewis may collide and both retire with Hamilton having set fastest lap. At that point Lewis would be in championship winning position but were Perez or anyone else set a faster laptime the Championship would swing back to Verstappen.

    1. Jack (@jackisthestig)
      8th December 2021, 0:56

      Ignore that, you have to be classified in the top 10 to get the point don’t you.

      1. Ouch!

      2. @jackisthestig

        Even if that wasn’t true, the advantage of low fuel is so big that someone else would get the fastest lap anyway, unless they crash extremely close to the end of the race.

  2. Nell (@imabouttogoham)
    8th December 2021, 1:22

    Wow, look at all that run-off for Verstappen to brake late into

    1. Give him a break, verstappen just struggles to make corners when hamilton is around despite trying his very best

    2. Wow, look at the track changes to aid straight line speed cars

      1. Yes, that’s what they did. They spend millions to change the track to favor a team that they have no affiliation with. Great discovery, Jos.

      2. F1’s all about going faster.

        1. that’s drag racing.

      3. Oh, I completely misread it. I thought they did away with a few corners as Max has so much trouble going through them cleanly.
        So when did Horner start throwing Renault; err sorry I mean Honda, under the bus for their speed? Just after Mercedes started beating them?

        1. This is a joke, it was very clear in the last few races hamilton is faster on the straights and verstappen in corners.

  3. Ha ha. I realised yesterday all the recent pics of Verstappen and Hamilton together show Verstappen either off track or wheels pointing to go way off track. Yet he’s hard done by!

    1. Good observation. Millions of pictures to chose from yet the UK media tends to take those. I wonder why? Could we perhaps be played?

      1. Why give the UK media the ammunition then, stay within the bounds of the track and race cleanly.
        If it was a one off instance I would understand. Right now it is the only way he stays in front of Hamilton.

        1. Right now it is the only way he stays in front of Hamilton

          I agree. That car has been dominant the entire V6 Hybrid era bar for some races in which talent got more out of the car (Vettel sometimes, Max sometimes, Ricciardo maybe but all just marginally, never a real danger)

      2. Mayrton, please stop the constant xenophobia and paranoid conspiracy theories about “the UK media” – it’s the sort of “fake news” tactics that suggest your preferred approach when any point is raised that doesn’t align with your outlook is to claim it is illegitimate and to dismiss it without thought.

        1. @anon

          Yes, the completely ridiculous conspiracy theory that British media may favor a British driver.

          It’s pretty ironic/insane that you accuse someone who criticizes nationalism of being xenophobic. Peak foolishness? Then again, I guess there is no limit on that.

  4. I still can’t actually believe we live in a world that were there is a racing driver called Sting Ray Robb. :)

    Also, re Hamilton’s house sale, is this news? He’s loaded, so he’s hardly likely to be selling 3 bed semi’s in Coventry is he.

  5. Interestingly, the two protagonists go into the last race equal on points only because of the fastest lap point.

    However, I don’t understand people who get upset about the ‘flappoint’ after the much bigger impact the Red Flag has had this season (not just Imola).

    1. If you remove all of the additional points shenanigans, Hamilton would be ahead by 3 points

      1. I think they would all be at zero.

  6. Certainly faster & more flowing, although overtaking/racing-friendly aspect is something we’ll find out later.

    I don’t give him a break because of how low his driving standards have been in recent events.
    The last race especially shows this side.

    COTD has a valid point & yes, some tweaks should be doable. For instance, Ocon’s suggestion:
    Straight-lining the sections between T13-16 & 17-22 shouldn’t be a definite impossibility.

    1. @jerejj

      I don’t give him a break because of how low his driving standards have been in recent events.

      That’s the crux of it. Verstappen has been always driving like this. Only now some are scandalized by his behavior because he is doing it to their favorite driver. Besides Hamilton is no angel either on the track, he has been a fantastic human being off the track standing by his principles, but let’s not forget that when he was the same age as Verstappen he made a career out off pushing other drivers off the track.

      Glad that Verstappen has stood against the bullies and the biased media. The fact that Fury the greatest fighter on the planet who certainly knows something about being bullied and mistreated by the media hasn’t ride the nationalistic wave of demonizing Verstappen speaks volume.

      As a boxing fan I’ve followed Tyson’s career from the early days when he was considered a joke and the biased media were hyping boxers like David Price and Robert Helenius. Then the trend continued especially with Joshua, the media favorite, no matter what Fury did he wasn’t given enough credit as Joshua.

      It only eased a bit after Tyson went against all the odds with one of the greatest comeback in the history and Joshua got exposed against Ruiz and especially Usyk. Though I have a feeling that the bullying will resume after the first defeat though I don’t believe anyone can beat Tyson Fury in a boxing ring even Usyk who is a master boxer. I also imagine the amount of crap that will come out if Verstappen loses the title despite being the better driver over the season.

      1. Actually people have been calling out Max for his driving and especially his overtaking for quite some time. ie several seasons. In fact that’s all I remember others ever saying about him. But of course, barging your way to 4th place does not make the headlines quite as much as repeatedly forcing the world champion and title rival to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

      2. Yes , you are right. The only reason Max tries to crash those in front of him out the way is that the media was horrid to him once.

  7. From a track that has little run of to a track which runoff edges the previous track

  8. With Keith’s tweet, imagine if Hamilton or Verstappen win the race and fastest lap, while the other driver has a dnf. They will finish ahead by more than one race! That would make a weird final standing.

    1. You could start the race level on points, and end the race more than one race win behind, crazy

  9. The track is now 3-4 drag strips with what looks like a very front-limited set of 90 degree bends where you are trail-braking from one corner to the next because it’s opposite side turns. That looks like trouble for RBR. They are going to have to take off all the wing because of their basic design compromises and because Mercedes floor-stalling is going to work a treat here if they can get it right.

    I think hat the Brazil oVeRsPeEd engine will be of no moment here. That ICE has been caned to an inch of its life in now 2.5 races, and in Jeddah Hamilton didn’t not exactly smoke Bottas (or Verstappen) on the straights in qualifying. And that’s really more bad news for RBR, however much people want to imagine a special Hamilton Brazil ICE being like Mehmed II’s siege cannon at Constantinople. The Mercedes package somehow just seems better right now generally.

    1. On top of that the Steward line up this weekend is also not bad at all for Mercedes…

      1. the Brazil oVeRsPeEd engine

        I think that spicy engine story is just a red herring. All it does is give Red Bull and others something to focus on when the gains could as well be somewhere else. Otherwise, why was Lewis as fast in Qatar as in Brazil with an older engine?

  10. RandomMallard (@)
    8th December 2021, 17:16

    I’ve taken the difficult decision to end the use of this account. This isn’t in response to any one person or group of people in particular, but a combination of what has turned into a long slog of a season, and the just the general abundance of toxicity throughout the F1 community (not helped by literally the two biggest team principals in the sport, nor), and not just limited to this site (this is towards the better end of the spectrum tbh). This combined with a recent change in circumstances for myself has led me to this decision. I may be back in the future, but with the current state of the sport and the fan base I feel I need to take this step.

    A few parting remarks before I delete this account though:

    The FIA needs to sort themselves out. They’ve been embarrassing on so many fronts this season, from track limits, to penalties, to their own procedures and rules. With a new technical era incoming, I really hope we can see some sporting changes made for the better as well.

    I dread the outcome of this weekend. No matter who wins (and I myself now find myself in the Lewis camp having supported Max for most of this season, as I’ve been so appalled with Max’s wheel-to-wheel conduct recently), I know it is going to be taken badly. I wish I could ask everyone to be gracious in both/either defeat or victory, but something inside me tells me that won’t happen. I just hope the F1 community will never stoop so low as to racist abuse against those involved in the sport again.

    I’ve spent all of my time as a Formula 1 fan supporting the idea of more races and longer calendars. The last few weeks have changed my mind. This season has become a long, difficult slog and the last few races have really taken the life out of my love for this sport. While I of course understand the economic benefits for Liberty of holding more races, I now feel the opposite should be implemented.

    Finally, a massive thank you. Over the last few months I’ve enjoyed some fantastic discussions with hugely passionate fans of this sport. I respect that, and those of you know who you are. At it’s best, this site is fantastic for sharing opinions and thoughts. It’s just some people have taken things too far to the extreme for me to feel comfortable participating in discussion any more. As I say, there is no one person or group of people in particular that are behind this, but the collective fan base has become more polarised than I can ever remember it before.

    And beyond that, a massive thank you to Keith, Dieter, Hazel, Will, Ben, Gabriele, RJ, Ida and everyone else who contributes to making this site a fantastic resource for us, for the Racefans. Keep up with your amazing journalism. I’ll still be reading this website and following everything it puts out, albeit it refraining from the comment section for the comment section for the foreseeable future.

    Thank you. Goodbye.

    1. RandomMallard (@)
      8th December 2021, 17:20

      This will take effect in a few hours time, as I’m not sure if this comment will be deleted before anyone can read it otherwise.

      I’d also like to apologise for some of the times this season I have overstepped the mark this season. I’ve just realised I’ve preached a lot about toxicity and polarisation without addressing some of the times that I myself have become engaged with it. Take this as a sincere apology to those I may have annoyed or offended.

      Once again, thanks for everything everyone.

      1. Shame to see someone delete the account because of the polarisation of the fans, especially cause you were one of the most neutral from what I recall, some people would surely accuse me to being part of the verstappen fanboys, but I just can’t stand the narrative some hamilton fans are spewing out, such as some people saying red bull was the fastest car in some races where even a casual fan would notice merc was fastest, such as spain or portugal.

        I don’t really like mercedes at all because of their unsportsmanlike antics, but when it comes to the performance everyone brought this season, I feel verstappen deserves the driver’s title cause he was more consistent than hamilton, made less mistakes and was more often performing to the car’s capability, and lost a lot of points through bad luck, whereas mercedes, when you consider how unlucky bottas has been, is probably ahead deservedly, for bringing the fastest car on average (slightly across whole season, more so in these last races) and having the more consistent number 2 driver.

      2. Shame to see someone delete the account because of the polarisation of the fans, especially cause you were one of the most neutral from what I recall, some people would surely accuse me to being part of the verstappen fans (I am, but I mean in a more so than reasonable way), but I just can’t stand the narrative some hamilton fans are spewing out, such as some people saying red bull was the fastest car in some races where even a casual fan would notice merc was fastest, such as spain or portugal.

        I don’t really like mercedes at all because of their unsportsmanlike antics, but when it comes to the performance everyone brought this season, I feel verstappen deserves the driver’s title cause he was more consistent than hamilton, made less mistakes and was more often performing to the car’s capability, and lost a lot of points through bad luck, whereas mercedes, when you consider how unlucky bottas has been, is probably ahead deservedly, for bringing the fastest car on average (slightly across whole season, more so in these last races) and having the more consistent number 2 driver.

        1. RandomMallard (@)
          8th December 2021, 21:55

          @esploratore1 I think it’s a stretch to say I was neutral. I was supporting Verstappen, but did feel like I was closer to the centre of the spectrum than many Verstappen fans, and I did criticise him at points throughout the season. Brazil and Italy I believe was his fault, Silverstone I was eventually convinced was probably a racing incident, and while he has had some bad luck, he’s made some moves, especially recently, that I feel are unforgivable, which is now why I feel Lewis should win. It’s also the main reason I’m so worried for this coming weekend. I don’t want it to end in a crash or a courtroom.

      3. @randommallard sorry you feel this way, I’ve also noted the toxicity increasing but if you look carefully it tends to be the same few posters always trying to get a rise from others. I just make a mental note to ignore those posters as they’ll spout the same nonsense constantly. Debating with others on here can be fun, just pick the users that aren’t mental to have those debates!

        1. RandomMallard (@)
          8th December 2021, 23:09

          @slowmo I completely agree with the fact that it’s only a small minority, and that debating here can be a very enjoyable experience (I’m luck enough to have had some great discusssions), but the toxicity has been going through the roof to the point where I can hardly say anything without backlash from one side or another. This, coupled with the changing circumstances in the rest of my life (and almost a desire to be one step back from whatever erupts after Abu Dhabi) makes me think this is the right decision at this moment for me. I may be back, I may. In all likelihood, I’ll still occasionally make a comment without an account, but for now I just need to take a step back over the off season and consider things.

  11. Classic! Almost everyone crying about Hamilton or Verstappen no matter the article

    1. RandomMallard (@)
      8th December 2021, 21:51

      @moshambles This is precisely one of the reasons I’ve decided to delete my account (with effect in a few hours time). The debate has become too polarising for me to feel comfortable commenting here.

  12. VINICIUS BEVILAQUA NEVES
    9th December 2021, 9:32

    Is there anybody really curious to know what Tsunoda thinks?

Comments are closed.