F1 Quals: Abu Dhabi 2016

With tomorrow's race deciding all the marbles, its down to just two... Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.  Rosberg has the points advantage, and knows that as long as he's on the podium, he wins no matter what Hamilton does.  What does Hamilton have going for him?  Here's the provisional grid for the 2016 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi:

Pos	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:39.487	1:39.382	1:38.755
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:40.511	1:39.490	1:39.058
3	Smiley Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:41.002	1:40.429	1:39.589
4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:40.338	1:39.629	1:39.604
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:40.341	1:40.034	1:39.661
6	Embryo Verstappen	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:40.424	1:39.903	1:39.818
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes	1:41.000	1:40.709	1:40.501
8	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	1:40.864	1:40.743	1:40.519
9	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:41.616	1:41.044	1:41.106
10	Felipe Retiring Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:41.157	1:40.858	1:41.213
11	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Mercedes	1:41.192	1:41.084
12	JensonRetiring  Button	McLaren Honda	1:41.158	1:41.272
13	Esteban!	Haas Ferrari	1:41.639	1:41.480
14	Lettuce Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:41.467	1:41.564
15	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:41.775	1:41.820
16	Pascal's Wehrlein	MRT Mercedes	1:41.886	1:41.995
17	Kid Kvyat	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:42.003
18	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:42.142
19	Felipe Not Massa Nasr	Sauber Ferrari	1:42.247
20	False Esteban Ocon	MRT Mercedes	1:42.286
21	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:42.393
22	Sony Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:42.637

Right, he's got pole.  That's not an insubstantial thing around a track that's relatively difficult to pass upon.  But in many ways, it doesn't matter what Hamilton does.  He could win by 95 seconds over the next closest driver, and as long as Rosberg is third he wins the championship.

So who's the pressure on?  I'm leaning towards Rosberg.  He knows his destiny is in his own hands.  If he screws it up, it's all on him.  I almost wonder if he'll be driving nervous, and thereby making everything worse for him...

Race is tomorrow morning, we'll find out how things work out then.  See ya soon!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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