F1 gets warmer weather for final race in longest-ever season · RaceFans

At the end of a marathon season, the longest-ever in the history of Formula 1, drivers will at least have a fairly straight forward weekend in Abu Dhabi to finish off.

No sprint races, no street circuits and no rain – not that anyone in the paddock would have expected to use the wet weather tyres over the weekend at the Yas Marina circuit.

After two consecutive weekends of the triple header where conditions were either cool or plain cold, there will be fewer coats and hats visible along the pit wall this weekend in the United Arab Emirates. With bright sunshine expected across the three days of the weekend, temperatures in the day time will almost reach 30C throughout.

That will mean warm conditions for Friday’s first practice session and Saturday’s third practice session, but neither are fully representative as their early afternoon start times do not match the late afternoon slots for qualifying and the race itself. Another reason why this weekend is a good candidate for teams to fulfil their practice driver obligations.

Qualifying will take place at 6pm on Saturday, where temperatures will be starting to fall along with the sun, reaching around 24C by the scheduled end of Q3. The grand prix on Sunday will start an hour earlier than qualifying at 5pm, meaning slightly warmer ambient and track temperatures when the race begins, dropping around five degrees between lights out in the day time and the chequered flag under the floodlights.

After a windy weekend in Losail, just 300km across the Persian Gulf from Yas Marina, drivers will have calmer winds to enjoy this weekend. Although gusts of around 18kph are expected on Friday and Saturday, winds should be calmer during the race, peaking at around 11kph.

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