Abu Dhabi – Race 1: Pierre Gasly wins and takes the championship lead

Pierre Gasly had set his sights on victory by achieving the fastest qualifying time, which gave him an additional four points. The Frenchman started with a small three-point deficit to his teammate and title rival, who was only sixth on the grid.

The two Prema drivers decided to adopt the same strategy, which was to use the super soft tires at the start of the race. With only four drivers taking this option, the title rivals hoped to take off with higher-performing tires at the beginning of the race, before gaining the lead when the other drivers switched to this range of tires in turn.

The strategy worked perfectly for the Frenchman as he was able to maintain the lead at the first corner and even at the end of the first lap, despite an attempt by the Russian Sergey Sirotkin, who started on the same strategy. The Frenchman was helped in his strategy by the fact that Nobuharu Matsushita, despite being on medium tires, managed to overtake Artem Markelov, who was on super softs, before pressuring his teammate at ART Grand Prix and eventually finding an opportunity to pass.

The first three drivers on super softs dove into the pit lane as soon as the regulatory window for tire changes was allowed, specifically on the sixth lap. But it was at this moment that it became clear that adopting the same strategy for both teammates proved penalizing for the one behind. Indeed, Antonio Giovinazzi was forced to cover an additional lap to prevent Prema from making two consecutive stops.

From then on, it was a matter of the Frenchman not making mistakes and managing his gap with Nobuharu Matsushita, the first of those on medium tires. The Red Bull protégé perfectly fulfilled his task and had no trouble reclaiming his position when the Japanese driver stopped five laps from the end to make his own tire changes. Although the Honda protégé returned to the track in third place, it took him only one lap to reclaim second place from Artem Markelov, thanks to his fresh super-soft tires.

However, there was a moment of fright in the pits when one of Luca Ghiotto’s mechanics lost a tire and ran into the pit lane to retrieve it just as Raffaele Marciello was arriving. Fortunately, there was no collision between the two parties. The young Italian finished in an anonymous tenth place, which ended his last small hopes of a title.

If Antonio Giovinazzi crossed the line in sixth position, he gained a place thanks to a penalty imposed on Norman Nato for speeding in the pit lane. This means that Pierre Gasly was able to take the lead in the championship, with a twelve-point advantage before the last race of the year.

Alex Lynn will start tomorrow in pole position, thanks to his eighth place finish today.