ABU DHABI 22 November 2018: The year 2018 is, of course, Abu Dhabi’s 10th race and so far we have seen 5 winners – Vettel (3), Hamilton (3), Rosberg, Räikkönen, Bottas… Hamilton is the 1 driver to have won here for 2 teams (McLaren, Mercedes).
This weekend brings Daniel Ricciardo’s 150th Grand Prix: the Aussie began in 2011 with the short-lived HRT team, went to Toro Rosso and then graduated to the main Red Bull outfit in 2014 when compatriot Mark Webber retired from F1. Danny Ric has 7 wins, 2 this year, all for Red Bull.
Sergio Pérez (Racing Point Force India) and Nico Hülkenberg (Renault) have also passed the 150-race milestone this season.
Fernando Alonso
But that’s nowhere near Fernando Alonso: Abu Dhabi 2018 is his 312th – and last – Grand Prix, the second-highest total by any driver. Fernando is the 4th member of the 300+ club along with Rubens Barrichello (323), Michael Schumacher (307), and Jenson Button (306). Next candidate to join the club is Kimi Räikkönen, now about to take part in his 292nd race.
Although his F1 career has ended on a low note, Alonso has every right to be considered one of the all-time greats with 32 wins (6th on the all-time winners’ list), 22 poles (12th), 23 fastest laps (10th), and 2 world titles in 2005 and 2006.
This race will be Esteban Ocon’s 50th Grand Prix – and probably his last for the foreseeable future. The French driver’s F1 career began in Belgium in 2016 with Manor Mercedes.
Question: which important component of the race weekend made its first appearance here last year – and makes its last this year? Answer: Pirelli’s Pink-walled Hypersoft tyre, which is gone for next year along with the Purple-walled Ultrasoft. In 2019 Pirelli will simplify fans and commentators’ lives by reducing the permanent range to just 3 : White/Yellow/Red.
For the 4th time this season Pirelli are bringing the 3 softest compounds in their dry-weather tyre range: Red (Supersoft), Purple (Ultrasoft) and Pink (Hypersoft). The other circuits where this combination was offered were Monaco, Canada and Mexico.
Mercedes have won the Constructors’ Championship for the 5th consecutive time: they are only the 2nd team to achieve this after Ferrari (2000-2004); their 2018 season includes their 100th pole position in F1® (Hamilton, Brazil).
Hamilton is only the 3rd man to win the Drivers’ World Championship 5 times; the others are Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher, who won 7.
997th Race
Abu Dhabi’s 10th race is also the 997th race in F1 history. The 100th was in Germany in 1961; the 200th in Monaco in 1971; the 300th in South Africa in 1978; the 400th in Austria in 1984; the 500th in Australia in 1990; the 600th in Argentina in 1997; the 700th in Brazil in 2003; the 800th in Singapore at its first race in 2008; and the 900th in Bahrain in 2014. If the draft calendar stays the same, China next year is scheduled to stage the 1000th.
Of the 997 by the end of this season, Ferrari will have contested 970, missing 27 over 60 years. The 1st one they missed was the very 1st World Championship race in Britain in 1950! Ferrari also missed 10 of the 11 Indianapolis 500 races which counted towards the World Championship from 1950-1960; otherwise they have missed a maximum of 3 races in one season (1962), 2 races in each of three seasons (1966, 1973, 1982) and 1 race in each of eight seasons.
There are 7 Grand Prix winners in the 20-man field; among them they have accounted for 192 victories from the 996 World Championship races so far.