Motorsport: Showdown in the desert
The international racing season comes to an end with a highlight this weekend in Abu Dhabi. In the shadow of the world championship title battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, the aim for Sauber in Formula 1, Louis Delétraz in GP2 and Kevin Jörg in GP3 is to bring the season to a motivating close for 2017. Felipe Nasr's ninth place [...]
Felipe Nasr's ninth-place finish at the Brazilian GP brought redemption for the Sauber team in the form of its first two championship points of 2016 after an almost 13-month drought. On Sunday, the Sauber drivers will therefore have to turn their focus backwards to prevent Manor-Mercedes from knocking them out of tenth place in the championship.
For Marcus Ericsson, it's also the last opportunity not to end his second GP season with Sauber with a zero. It would be the nicest way to thank the Hinwil-based team for extending his contract by a year. Primarily, probably, because of his dowry, but also because of the loyalty of the Swede, who never bad-mouthed the team in tough times. Team boss Monisha Kaltenborn obviously appreciates this: "He's not only a good race driver, but also an important team player who knows how to work with a team and motivate everyone with his positive attitude."
Geneva's Louis Delétraz makes his GP2 debut
The United Arab Emirates GP is a special race in two respects. For the first time in the history of Formula 1, a 21st Grand Prix will be held in one season - and it will end under floodlights at night. The start of the showdown between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will be at 5 p.m. local time, which is 2 p.m. Swiss time as usual. Rosberg only has to chase his Mercedes teammate to become world champion for the first time. However, he may leave at most one competitor in between if Hamilton wins.
In the preliminary program, the GP2 and GP3 also start their final races. In the second highest formula class, Louis Delétraz makes his debut. The 19-year-old from Geneva is the current runner-up in Formula V8 3.5, while Raffaele Marciello, a native of Switzerland but who feels and pretends to be Italian, still has theoretical title chances in GP2. For Kevin Jörg, as for Jenzer Motorsport in GP3, the aim is to finish the season with a countable result.
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Photos: Archive
