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Try the funniest moments from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, together with Shaquille O’Neal’s three phrases for Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz dressed to impress in a tuxedo!
Try the funniest moments from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, together with Shaquille O’Neal’s three phrases for Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz dressed to impress in a tuxedo!
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is hopeful the group could have tempo to return to the rostrum at this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi GP, as they intention to carry off Ferrari for second place within the Constructors’ Championship.
Mercedes’ benefit over their Italian rivals has come down to only 4 factors – the identical because it was after 2023’s season-opening race in Bahrain again in March – after a Las Vegas GP race day which didn’t go their method regardless of the W14 exhibiting much-improved tempo in comparison with the race earlier than in Brazil.
Lewis Hamilton, who completed seventh, twice misplaced floor in unlucky collisions whereas George Russell noticed fourth place was eighth by a five-second penalty for colliding with Max Verstappen.
Ferrari completed second with Charles Leclerc and sixth with Carlos Sainz, which means they outscored Mercedes by 16 factors to carry themselves into hanging distance within the standings for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi finale.
“Unhappy to say one more time that we had tempo however simply no end result,” Wolff advised Sky Sports activities F1 about Mercedes’ Las Vegas GP.
“George after the incident with Verstappen, the place he bought the penalty, that was just about sport over. [The car had] tempo for the entrance. Possibly not [to challenge] Max, however behind. It’s what it’s.”
On Abu Dhabi, Wolff added: “We now have seen pace-ish at present. I believe we hopefully can get well and rating strong podiums.”
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George Russell and Max Verstappen collide and particles goes in every single place, ultimately resulting in a security automotive
Two years on from the controversial conclusion to the 2021 drivers’ title race in Abu Dhabi, when Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton began stage on factors, Wolff, in a thinly veiled swipe at former race director Michael Masi, added to the written media: “We’re going there just about on equal factors – with a correct race director, in order that needs to be superb – and let’s race.
“It is all all the way down to the final weekend. They’re very fast, they’ve achieved an excellent job. I believe we may have been on par [in the Las Vegas race] however the end result exhibits one thing completely different. So let’s race.
“To be trustworthy, it is good to have P2 as a optimistic to complete the season, however P2, P3 for me, that it does not make it higher for me.”
Mercedes vs Ferrari in F1 2023
| Mercedes | Ferrari | |
| Factors | 392 | 388 |
| Wins | 0 | 1 |
| Podiums | 7 | 8 |
| Poles | 1 | 7 |
| Two-car factors finishes | 14 | 13 |
| Laps led | 19 | 117 |
| DNF/DNS/DSQ | 5/0/1 | 4/2/1 |
What is the significance of second in F1? | Ferrari’s Vasseur: ‘Momentum is for us’
With Purple Bull completely dominant this season, Mercedes and Ferrari – the winners of 24 constructors’ titles between them – have needed to revise their pre-season targets downwards and every try to no less than safe the following finest place on provide, even when, as Wolff alludes, ending second will in the end not be trigger for explicit celebration.
However along with sporting delight, there are helpful prize cash issues too – the distinction between second and third within the Constructors’ Championship is considered within the area of $10m.
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One of the best of the motion from an eventful Las Vegas Grand Prix
Since overtaking fast-starting Aston Martin for second within the groups’ standings at June’s Spanish GP, Mercedes have seen their benefit over third place fluctuate amid the season’s unpredictable race-to-race pecking order behind Purple Bull.
Ferrari had been a season-high 56 factors behind Mercedes after July’s Hungarian GP however have whittled that hole down to only 4 within the 10 races since.
After a problematic begin to the yr, group boss Frederic Vasseur says the best way the factors hole has come down exhibits Ferrari are on a “good path”. However he additionally made clear, that whereas Vegas went properly for them, “Abu Dhabi might be one other story”.
“4 factors is nothing or so much,” added Vasseur.
“We have been capable of carry out in Monza, in Singapore, in Austin, in Mexico, throughout this weekend on completely different tracks with completely different race situations, completely different [tyre] compounds, and we may be greater than motivated earlier than Abu Dhabi.
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Charles Leclerc blames the security automotive for his second-place end on the Las Vegas Grand Prix and says that ‘at present ought to have been our day’
“The momentum is for us and let’s have a look at what occurs.”
The struggle is a job reversal of final yr when it was Ferrari who have been defending second from Mercedes going into the Abu Dhabi finale, albeit holding a bigger 19-point lead. Nonetheless, the Scuderia outscored their rivals at Yas Marina to verify the runner-up Purple Bull.
Which automotive will Abu Dhabi go well with?
Ferrari’s superior straight-line velocity might be vital once more at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit, so they are going to be very fast within the first half of the lap which additionally options the Flip 5 hairpin, the place Max Verstappen overtook Hamilton within the controversial 2021 Grand Prix, and the Flip Six-Seven chicane.
One in every of Ferrari’s greatest strengths is traction out of the gradual corners, so they’ll even be a risk to Purple Bull as soon as once more right here.
It is the second half of the lap which options extra flowing, medium-speed turns which ought to carry Mercedes again into play. Nonetheless, the corners have been opened up forward of the 2021 race, so the ultimate sector will not be that technical anymore.
General, Ferrari are going to have the outright tempo, notably over one lap, and it is only a case of will there be sufficient tyre put on for Mercedes to return again at Leclerc and Sainz over an extended stint.
Sky Sports activities F1’s dwell Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Thursday November 23
- 11am: Drivers’ Press Convention
Friday November 24
- 7am: F2 Follow
- 9am: Abu Dhabi GP Follow One (session begins at 9.30am)
- 10.55pm: F2 Qualifying
- 12.45pm: Abu Dhabi GP Follow Two (session begins at 1pm)
- 2.15pm: The F1 Present
Saturday November 25
- 10.15am: Abu Dhabi GP Follow Three
- 12.15pm: F2 Dash
- 1.15pm: Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying build-up
- 2pm: Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying
- 4pm: Ted’s Qualifying Pocket book
Sunday November 26
- 9.10am: F2 Characteristic Race
- 11.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday Abu Dhabi GP build-up
- 1pm: The ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
- 3pm: Chequered Flag: Abu Dhabi GP response
- 4pm: Ted’s Pocket book
After the thrills of Las Vegas, Method 1 heads to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit for the 2023 season finale and one other beautiful spectacle underneath the lights. Watch the Abu Dhabi weekend dwell on Sky Sports activities F1, with lights out on Sunday at 1pm. Stream F1 on Sky Sports activities with NOW
