Why did Ocon ignore the Alpine team’s orders?
Esteban Ocon impressed with a solid fourth place finish in Las Vegas. However, this was overshadowed by the fact that in one situation he overtook teammate Pierre Gasly, even though the team had banned overtaking.
Ocon was instructed by radio to maintain his position behind Gasly, but still passed. Opposite Darling He justifies the action after the race by saying he simply didn’t understand the instructions.
“Hold position,” the team demanded over the radio, but Ocon stated, “I only heard ‘position.'” The Frenchman also makes it clear: “If the team had asked me to give him his job back, of course I would have done so immediately.”
However, that did not happen because while Gasly had tire problems and fell out of the points, Ocon finished fourth. In the end there were seven places between the two Alpine drivers.
Schwarzman tests for Ferrari
We already talked about Friday’s drivers in Abu Dhabi and now, as expected, Ferrari has also confirmed that Robert Schwarzman will replace Charles Leclerc there in FT1. The complete list looks like this:
Red Bull: Jake Dennis and Isack Hadjar
Ferrari: Robert Schwarzman
Mercedes: Frederik Vesti
Alpine: Jack Doohan
McLaren: Patricio O’Ward
Alfa Romeo: Theo Pourchaire
Aston Martin: Felipe Drugovich
Haas: Oliver Bearman
Williams: Zak O’Sullivan
You can find the full description of all Friday drivers in 2023 here!
Pirelli cancels the C0 again for 2024
This year Pirelli had six tire compounds to choose from (C0 to C5). However, because the C0 mixture was not used in a single race, it will now be canceled again for 2024.
Mario Isola reveals: “The FIA recently announced that the compounds for 2024 will be the same as this year. The only change is that there will now be five compounds available instead of six.”
The background is that “the C0 mixture, which this year was never used on a race weekend, was abolished,” Isola said. The C0 mixture was the harshest and was only intended for emergencies anyway.
But such a situation never occurred in 2023.
2012: An Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for the ages
While we’re at it: In this context, I would also like to recommend our great report on the Abu Dhabi race in 2012. Räikkönen’s victory back then is remembered today mainly for his legendary radio messages!
2012: An Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for the ages
Abu Dhabi firmly in the hands of Mercedes and Red Bull
In 2012, Kimi Raikkonen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Lotus. Why is this so special? Because to this day he is the last driver who did not win in Abu Dhabi with Red Bull or Mercedes!
Sebastian Vettel won there with the Bulls in 2013, after which Mercedes came out on top six times in a row between 2014 and 2019. And since 2020, Max Verstappen has won three times in a row for Red Bull.
By the way, the record winner is Lewis Hamilton with five victories in Abu Dhabi, the first in 2011 with McLaren.
There are more interesting statistics in our large database!
Pérez: The return is my personal “highlight”
In the real World Cup, the Mexican has been runner-up since the weekend, for the first time in his career. Therefore, he remembers the 2023 season with mixed feelings.
“It was a really difficult year. It started very well, we were fighting for the championship. But then in Barcelona we had such a dominant car, but I couldn’t set it up correctly,” he explains.
After that, he went into a negative spiral and lost confidence in himself. Therefore, his personal “highlight” this year was fighting his way out of this crisis.
He highlighted that he managed to “constantly fight at the top at the end of the year.” Although there may be differences of opinion, because Las Vegas was his first podium finish since Monza…
Pérez is world champion!
At least in our alternative World Cup, in which Max Verstappen does not participate 😉 The decision was made over the weekend in Las Vegas! Just take a look at our photo gallery:
Photo series: Alternative Formula 1: This is what the 2023 season would be like without Max Verstappen!
1. Bahrain: Red Bull would still win the first match in Bahrain, with Sergio Pérez, who would of course also take the lead in the World Cup. Fernando Alonso occupies second place and Carlos Sainz can accompany him on the podium. Standing: 1. Pérez (25), 2. Alonso (18), 3. Sainz (15), 4. Hamilton (12), 5. Paseo (10).
Photo series
Leclerc: Las Vegas is not representative
Speaking of Ferrari: Charles Leclerc does not want to exaggerate the good performance of the weekend, as he points out that in Las Vegas there were conditions that do not exist “anywhere else.”
“It’s very, very cold and I think overheating [der Reifen] It’s not a big problem here. It was more about granulating and maintaining tire temperature, and we’re pretty good at that,” he emphasizes.
“But when it’s hotter, we have to fight harder. That doesn’t exactly give me confidence for the future, because Abu Dhabi will be completely different from here,” predicts the Monegasque.
Because it will be much hotter there than at night in Las Vegas…
Leclerc deprived of a certain victory in the safety car race!
With the 53rd victory of his career in Las Vegas, Max Verstappen has tied Sebastian Vettel on the list of all-time winners in Formula 1. But given Ferrari’s strong performance, he had to work hard to achieve it!
Should the Scuderia have called Charles Leclerc to the pits under the second safety car? Data expert Kevin Hermann assessed this in our new video using PACETEQ’s OneTiming strategy tool.
Leclerc deprived of a certain victory in the safety car race!
With the 53rd victory of his career in Las Vegas, Max Verstappen has tied Sebastian Vettel on the list of all-time Formula 1 winners.
More Formula 1 videos