Yas Marina (United Arab Emirates) (AFP)
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will take the wheel to end the F1 season in Abu Dhabi: the announcement was made Thursday evening, ten days after a positive Covid-19 test which caused him to miss the Sakhir Grand Prix .
"Lewis' state of health is improving but we will only know closer (to the GP) if he will be driving," Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff wrote on Wednesday.
After 24 hours of additional suspense, the FIA confirmed the good news, in a joint statement with Mercedes: “Lewis Hamilton has been tested several times negative for COVID-19. He has completed his ten-day quarantine in Bahrain and could therefore freely leave the country, according to the country's health regulations ".
"Lewis arrived in Abu Dhabi and he tested negative again," the statement added, stressing that "the FIA's COVID-19 protocols remain clear and have not changed" with a negative test being "necessary for access the Formula 1 paddock, according to the International Sporting Code ".
Silent since the announcement of his contamination, the 35-year-old pilot gave his news Tuesday in a video posted on Instagram, explaining that he had spent "a week among the hardest (...) for a long time" but woke up fit and have resumed training.
Free practice starts Friday at 1:00 p.m. local (10:00 a.m. French) but the rules theoretically allow you not to get behind the wheel before qualifying on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m.).
At dusk, like the Sunday race.
- Mick Schumacher in free practice -
Many were hoping to see George Russell, 22, Hamilton's replacement in Sakhir, again in a Black Arrow, so impressive was he last week.
Without a failed pit stop and then a puncture which relegated him to ninth place in the final, he could have won!
"I was heartbroken, he says. But with hindsight, I come out with my head held high," he said Thursday at a press conference.
He will therefore find his place at Williams (his stable in normal times), occupied last weekend by his compatriot Jack Aitken, 25 years old.
At Haas, the Brazilian Pietro Fittipaldi, 24, will play his second GP, after finishing 17th for his first.
He replaces Romain Grosjean, returned to Switzerland to treat his burns after his accident almost two weeks ago.
Still in the ranks of the American team, we will also see the German Mick Schumacher, son of Michael, participate in free practice 1 with his team next year.
For Grosjean, the Abu Dhabi round was to be the last in F1.
It will also be for his Danish teammate Kevin Magnussen, whom Haas has not renewed in 2021 and who will be reconverted into the American endurance championship.
- Goodbye -
For three other drivers, this race could be a farewell, if not a farewell, to the premier class.
Thailand's Alexander Albon and Mexican Sergio Pérez, who won his first race last Sunday after ten years in F1, are competing for a place at Red Bull.
Russian Daniil Kvyat is threatened at AlphaTauri by Japanese Formula 2 driver Yuki Tsunoda.
As for the German Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr (McLaren) and the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Renault), they play one last GP before joining Aston Martin, Ferrari and McLaren respectively.
Also to be remembered, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), responsible for a collision at the start of the GP in Sakhir last week, will have three penalty places on the grid on Sunday.
Finally, after Portugal and Bahrain, the teams will test in free practice 2 other Pirelli tires developed for next season.
The pilots have so far been very critical of the first version offered, criticizing the new Italian compounds for their lack of grip and general efficiency.
Like most GPs this season, pandemic obliges, this one is played behind closed doors.
On the other hand, the health protocol imposed by Abu Dhabi differs.
Since Monday, the paddock has been confined to an area of just over a kilometer around the circuit called the "biosphere", where everyone (drivers, teams, media ...) works, eats and sleeps, and no one is only allowed out before the end of the week.
© 2020 AFP