Motorsport Week
  • Formula 1
    • 2025 Formula 1 Calendar
    • 2025 Formula 1 Standings
  • Formula E
    • 2025 Formula E Calendar
    • 2025 Formula E Standings
  • IndyCar
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WRC
    • 2025 WRC Standings
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
  • MotoGP
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
  • WEC
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • IMSA
    • 2025 IMSA Calendar
  • World SBK
  • More
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
    • Technical Insight
    • Galleries
    • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
  • Formula 1
    • 2025 Formula 1 Calendar
    • 2025 Formula 1 Standings
  • Formula E
    • 2025 Formula E Calendar
    • 2025 Formula E Standings
  • IndyCar
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WRC
    • 2025 WRC Standings
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
  • MotoGP
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
  • WEC
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • IMSA
    • 2025 IMSA Calendar
  • World SBK
  • More
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
    • Technical Insight
    • Galleries
    • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
Motorsport Week
Home Single Seater Formula 1

Mercedes: Abu Dhabi 2020 no guide for 2021 finale

by Phillip Horton
4 years ago
A A
1
Mercedes: Abu Dhabi 2020 no guide for 2021 finale

The podium (L to R): Paul Monaghan (GBR) Red Bull Racing Chief Engineer; Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Mercedes AMG F1, second; Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing, race winner; Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1, third.. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sunday 13th December 2020. Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE. FIA Pool Image for Editorial Use Only

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Mercedes says last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix cannot be used as a benchmark heading into this weekend’s Formula 1 title showdown.

Max Verstappen ended Mercedes’ six-year stranglehold in Abu Dhabi with a comfortable pole/win double in 2020’s season finale.

But Mercedes believes it underdelivered at last year’s event, having focused its resources elsewhere, while Lewis Hamilton was off-form following his swift return from Covid-19.

Yas Marina Circuit has also been partially reprofiled since, with the old Turns 5/6 and Turns 11-14 complex amended, and most of the third sector opened up.

RelatedPosts

Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing RB21. 05.07.2025. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 12, British Grand Prix, Silverstone, England, Qualifying Day

Why McLaren denies Max Verstappen’s rear wing choice will compromise F1 British GP

11 minutes ago
Oliver Bearman rued a crash in FP3 costing him eighth on the grid at Silverstone

Oliver Bearman explains FP3 blunder that denied him highest F1 start at British GP

12 hours ago

“It’s a faster lap now so it’s going to be considerably quicker and lead to a faster overall race,” explained Mercedes’ trackside engineering chief Andrew Shovlin.

“You’re also going to have a bit of a patchwork quilt of tarmac which changes the balance a bit corner to corner.

“In terms of who holds the advantage, well last year Lewis was [competing] a few days after a bout of Covid, and there’s no way he was performing at his best, it’s not an easy thing to get over.

“Our analysis after that event indicated that we just put the set-up in the wrong place, we had development tyres there, we did work there focusing on those, ironically we’d won the championship and we decided to try and understand the tyres rather than focus on the weekend.

“We ended up going into the race underprepared and with a car that wasn’t well-balanced.”

Shovlin nonetheless cautioned that Mercedes cannot enter the weekend expecting to have the advantage over Red Bull.

“We’ve had a lot of good races in Abu Dhabi but going in there we’re worried about the unknowns – there’s lots of new areas of the track, we’ve seen performance swings, tracks we thought we’d be competitive at we weren’t good at all, like Austin,” he said.

“[In Saudi Arabia] we’ve seen Red Bull show us a clean pair of heels on a single lap so there’s plenty for us to worry about, and you’ve got the softest tyres, and those can be really tricky on occasion.

“We’re treating it like a new circuit, we know what we need to do, we need to go there and win.”

Tags: AbuDhabiGPF1Mercedes
Share199Tweet125Share

Related Posts

Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing RB21. 05.07.2025. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 12, British Grand Prix, Silverstone, England, Qualifying Day
Formula 1

Why McLaren denies Max Verstappen’s rear wing choice will compromise F1 British GP

11 minutes ago
Palou navigated the sweeping corners faster than anyone to earn pole. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
IndyCar

Alex Palou smokes the field to secure IndyCar pole at Mid-Ohio

11 hours ago
Oliver Bearman rued a crash in FP3 costing him eighth on the grid at Silverstone
Formula 1

Oliver Bearman explains FP3 blunder that denied him highest F1 start at British GP

12 hours ago
Load More

Comments 1

  1. Meldra says:
    1 week ago

    Their digital interface was inspired by blueprints seen in lucid dreams by multiple unrelated quantum software engineers.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Upcoming Races

#EventDate
11Austrian GP27-29 June
12British GP04-06 July
13Belgian GP25-27 July
14Hungarian GP01-03 August
15Dutch GP29-31 August

Click here for the full 2025 F1 calendar

Drivers’  Standings

#DriverPts
Oscar Piastri216
Lando Norris201
Max Verstappen155
George Russell146
Charles Leclerc120
Lewis Hamilton91
Andrea Kimi Antonelli63
Alexander Albon42
Isack Hadjar28
Esteban Ocon23

Click here for full Drivers’ Standings

Latest Articles

Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing RB21. 05.07.2025. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 12, British Grand Prix, Silverstone, England, Qualifying Day
Formula 1

Why McLaren denies Max Verstappen’s rear wing choice will compromise F1 British GP

July 6, 2025
Oliver Bearman rued a crash in FP3 costing him eighth on the grid at Silverstone
Formula 1

Oliver Bearman explains FP3 blunder that denied him highest F1 start at British GP

July 5, 2025
Charles Leclerc qualified in sixth place for the 2025 Formula 1 British Grand Prix
Formula 1

Charles Leclerc hints at ‘weird’ issue limiting Ferrari’s one-lap pace in F1 2025

July 5, 2025

Follow Motorsport Week

Join our daily motorsport newsletter

* indicates required

Motorsport Week

© 2024 Motorsport Media Services Ltd

Other Links

  • About & Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Motorsport Monday

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Home
  • Formula 1
    • Latest News
    • 2025 F1 Calendar
    • 2025 F1 Championship Standings
  • Formula E
    • Latest News
    • 2025 FE Calendar
    • 2025 FE Championship Standings
  • MotoGP
    • Latest News
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
  • WRC
    • Latest News
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
    • 2025 WRC Standings
  • IndyCar
    • Latest News
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WEC
    • Latest News
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • Live Updates
  • Other
    • IMSA
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
  • Galleries
  • About/Contact
  • Privacy Policy

© 2024 Motorsport Media Services Ltd