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F1 Abu Dhabi post-season test - driver line-up.

Red Bull: TBC and Liam Lawson
Ferrari: Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and Robert Shwartzman
Mercedes: TBC and Frederik Vesti
Alpine: Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan
McLaren: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas and Theo Pourchaire
Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso/Lance Stroll and Felipe Drugovich
Haas: Nico Hulkenberg and Pietro Fittipaldi
AlphaTauri: Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries
Williams: Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant

(1) What Was The Best Innovation Of 2022? F1 TV Tech Talk | Crypto.com - YouTube    (15.25s)

F1 TV Tech Talk.

Craig Scarborough joins Sam Collins to reflect on some of the best technical innovations of the 2022 season.

So we arrive at the final race of the year. As with all years in life they seem to get quicker and quicker as you age and boy have I aged this year. Sadly not in a good way like a fine wine or cheese but more like the old man I am

Despite my fanhood and passion for certain drivers and teams I have enjoyed the racing this year. It is neither what I expected or wanted to see. My passionate and fiery hatred for pretty much all things Red Bull is still burning bright in fact brighter than ever. That said even though there will be question marks over Red Bull budget that really applies to 2021 (and man it just restoked my fire and passion for the way that ended, even more than ever I feel my guy was totally cheated out of what was rightfully his) there can be no doubt some of those benefits went into the 2022 car. How much I have no idea but some for sure.

That said and with two caveats that A) They benefitted from cheating in 2021 and B) Red Bull did not cheat on their budget again this year Verstappen is a deserved winner.  He was so far ahead of the others its unbelievable.  The old Car vs Driver argument I am sure will be raised as it seems to be every year but the combination was pretty much unstoppable this season.

So what can we look out for in this last race:

1. Can Mercedes catch Ferrari for second place. Yes they can but they will need to outscore them by 24 points. Its doable but also unlikely.

2. Can Aston Martin catch Alfa Romeo for 6th place. They are 5 points behind right now. It would be cool to see Seb Vettel score well in his final race and lift Aston Martin above Alfa. To do so would probably require at least one or two of the top teams dropping out of the race as it will require a 7th place finish by a Aston car or two top ten finishes by both Astons scoring 6 points total and no top ten finish for Alfa. Again unlikely to happen.

3. Can Alpha Tauri catch Haas for 8th place.  Haas currently hold a 2 point lead in that battle so that would require an 8th place finish by an Alpha car and no top 10 finish by a Haas car. That is probably the more achievable of the three scenarios. Can Gasly leave Alpha with a flourish. Again unlikely but less so.

4. Who will get second place in the Drivers Championship Leclerc or Perez? My money would be on.... don't know its a toss up I guess. Not a fan of either of them begging to be let through for points in the Brazil GP but as for Verstappen's refusal to follow team orders. Despicable.

For me personally I want to see if Brazil was a Mercedes fluke. Are they really catching up. Its been such a bad year for them it makes me think in a negative way that it was fluke. I still think Red Bull is the faster car overall. At the risk of ridicule and being accused of bias I still think Hamilton is head and shoulders the best driver in F1. Verstappen second but with both Brits Norris and Russell right behind him add to that Leclerc with Sainz maybe 6th.

As for the regulation changes I and others have said it before they have failed to deliver what was projected. The racing is not closer. Despite listening to that irritating idiot Croft go on and on all season long about how it was great to see that cars could follow so much closer it made little to no difference when it came to the thing that really matters. Overtaking.

I enjoy Abu Dhabi yes I know its a not a favourite here but I do not care I like it!!!!!  I like the atmosphere of the final race, I like the scenery and the show it puts on as a night race. DRS is too strong here especially the back to back straights. So who do I think will win. Well here is a shocking observation from yours truly. Wait for it *Drum Roll* Verstappen I still think its the best car and driver combination for this season.

I expect to be around for P2, Quali and of course the race, be nice to see as many Banterers as possible in chat for the last time before all the boozy year end festivities all you drunkards enjoy

F1 has dismissed fears the Brazilian Grand Prix will face a late cancellation due to political unrest in the country following Sunday's national elections.

The South American country elected a new president in Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on a narrow majority on Sunday from current incumbent Jair Bolsonaro who has yet to concede defeat.

As a result, there have been demonstrations and riots taking place in many areas of the country, with roadblocks also put in place, including around São Paulo.

This has led to concerns the race may be called off at the 11th hour but F1 has delivered assurances it will go ahead.

GPFans understands that in advance of every race in São Paulo there are security personnel on the ground delivering intelligence as to the situation in the city, and who work through any issues with the promoter and the local authorities.

Whilst the unrest has been volatile on occasions, it is believed F1 is comfortable with the improving position over the last few days and there is no threat to the race or the management of the event.

So Fernando taking his latest shot at Lewis Hamilton saying his titles are devalued because he only had to beat his team mate. Well as well as being inaccurate I guess he is a supporter of cheating.  2021 the FIA and Red Bull conspire to win a Championship for Max Verstappen not only breaking rules and giving Verstappen license to drive like an asshole but also the team cheated.  2022 carry over form the cheating years and who knows what devious crap Red Bull have been up to this year.  Maybe this year Verstappen deserves his win but who truly knows.

Correct me if I am wrong but I don't recall Mercedes being caught cheating during Hamilton's domination. I don't recall people saying how easy Michael Schumacher had it when he was winning especially in his Ferrari days when he basically lapped the field and usually 2nd in the championship was his team mate. I don't get why so many people have a go at this guy. WTF has he ever done to anyone. Geez Schumacher got into fights, cheated and dominated (no denying his brilliance) but did he come in for this much grief and disrespect. I mean I do not know I was not following F1 as closely in those days.

I rate Alonso as a driver but I guess even after all this time he is butt hurt because a rookie beat him and basically ousted him from the team. Its all I got.

Max Verstappen is boycotting Sky Sports F1 and its German and Italian affiliates at the Mexico City Grand Prix, GPFans can confirm.

The Dutchman won his maiden world championship under controversial circumstances when then-FIA race director Michael Masi allowed a last-lap shootout with Lewis Hamilton by calling in the safety car a lap early and only allowing a number of lapped cars to be permitted to overtake, using the 'let them race' principle as his reasoning.

The FIA later acknowledged that "human error" was behind the mistake, removing Masi from post and implementing a raft of procedural changes and a tidy-up of F1's regulatory wording.

Speaking on his notebook feature in the United States, where Hamilton was overcome by a Verstappen fightback to be denied his first win of the season, Sky Sports reporter Ted Kravitz said: "[Hamilton] doesn't win a race all year, and then finally comes back at a track where he could win the first race all year, battling the same guy who won the race he was robbed in the previous year, and manages to finish ahead of him.

"What a script and a story that would have been. But that's not the way the script turned out today, was it?"

But the terminology used by Kravitz, specifically the term "robbed" is what GPFans understands to be the straw that broke the camel's back for Verstappen.

Kravitz had also quipped in the US that Verstappen was 'unable to win the title normally' after confusion over the points system at the preceding Japanese Grand Prix.

The now two-time world champion has not addressed Sky interviewers from the UK, Italy or Germany in the media pen in Mexico, although GPFans understands there is a possibility the boycott could be ended post-race.


Truth hurts lol  

De Vries to replace Russell in Mexico FP1.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confirmed, "Nyck will be replacing George in FP1 this weekend as part of the young driver session allocation. We're excited to see him back in W13 and seeing how he performs."

But the 27-year-old is not the only replacement driver that will be in action on Friday, with Liam Lawson making his second appearance for AlphaTauri.

On this occasion, Yuki Tsunoda will be the driver making way.

Mexico City Grand Prix weather forecast

Friday

Under predominantly sunny skies, the opening sessions of the weekend will see temperatures in the low to mid-20s, peaking at 25 Celsius.

The wind will steadily pick up throughout the day but will remain below 10mph. But managing the changing directions of the gusts will provide a real challenge, with a near-180-degree swing during the afternoon.

Saturday

There is a possibility that rain will fall on Friday night and create a green track for Saturday, but there is a small chance of precipitation during qualifying.

It does, however, appear more likely that the rain will land after the chequered flag falls.

Temperatures are set to be a few degrees down on Friday with highs of 23 Celsius. Again, the wind direction will change throughout the day with gusts matching the opening sessions.

Sunday

The forecast indicates a near-mirror image of the conditions expected on Friday but with slightly stronger gusts of up to 10mph.

The chance of rain is negligible at 13 per cent and temperatures will be stable between 23 and 24 Celsius during the race.

Hass call a special press conference ahead of next weekend's American GP.

The American team are yet to announce their second driver for the 2023 season, with incumbent Mick Schumacher fighting to retain his seat in F1 for next season – the German driver is being evaluated as a prospect against veteran racer Nico Hulkenberg as Haas weigh up their options.

While the conference could be linked to a driver announcement, another possibility could be a sponsorship deal – given that the race at COTA is a home race for the American squad, a commercial link-up is a very valid possibility.

Japanese Grand Prix weather forecast.

Friday

Practice threatens to be very wet indeed as rain is forecast for both sessions that are scheduled to take place at noon and 3pm local time [4am and 7am BST].

Although temperatures are set for around 19 degrees Celsius, due to the rain, the feels-like temperature will be a cool 16 degrees, posing a problem for those teams that struggle to get heat into their tyres, such as Mercedes.

Wind speeds will be very light, just a couple of miles per hour, so that's something.

Saturday

Qualifying [3pm local, 7am BST] should be dry as the sun is set to shine, sprinkled with some cloud cover.

Temperatures will be far more pleasant, rising to the low 20s so it will be an intriguing one-lap showdown between the top teams, albeit Suzuka is a circuit that should favour Red Bull and Verstappen, in particular.

Wind speeds will increase, but only slightly, rising to four or five miles per hour.

Sunday

The race, starting at 2pm local [6am BST], should be a captivating one if the forecast follows through to Sunday as there is a mix of sunshine and showers, potentially leading to tricky calls for the teams.

Temperatures will be on the cusp to aid tyre warm-up, currently, only 20 degrees Celsius, with wind speeds again a non-factor in the low single digits.

To this day people complain that there's not enough noise in an F1 car and I keep seeing articles calling for the reintroduction of V8's or how wonderful the screaming V10's were.   We even had Alonso drive one of his old Renault car's last year at one of the tracks which I think was a V10 and I do remember it making an impression with the amount of noise it made.

I just don't get it though.  When Alonso drove that Renault around the track it just seemed out of place to me.  The thing was screaming it's arse off and frankly looked like it was going nowhere.  It's akin to watching kids drive by in a 1.2 Corsa which has an exhaust the size of a drainpipe waking the neighborhood doing 2 miles and hour.  There's a lot of show but absolutely no go.  

I was quite pleased when the hybrids came in and frankly I enjoyed hearing the tyres complaining as it brought an interesting dimension to the spectacle.....one which we had never heard before due to the noise of the V8's.

I know that a lot of petrolheads like noise and I can agree to a point.  However to me noise should only be there when it's demonstrating the performance of the vehicle.  If they are doing 60 - 80 in the pit lane and you can't hear yourself think what is the point? 

In person this noise or rather the frequency generated by the noise is part of the visceral experience you have/want when attending an F1 event.  So I do understand we need some noise.  As they have started to "manufacture" more noise back into the hybrids I'm finding I am missing the tyres squealing when they make mistakes.

At the moment I think I'm happy with the sound of F1,  I don't miss V8's or V10's and would not be happy to see or rather hear those noise levels return.

So how to you guys feel about what F1 should sound like?