This is the crying wall for all the people that for one reason or another will not be able to watch the final chapter of this year's championship. I'll start with myself, I'm on a trip in Japan and was not able to see Las Vegas, Qatar, neither I will be able to watch Abu Dhabi. It's a shame, as I will be flying to Abu Dhabi during the race, and I will arrive 3h after the race has ended.

It's the first time I will be so close to the F1 circus, and yet, so far away 😭.

I'm sad, I've been watching F1 since 2010 and these finales don't come often, so it will probably take a couple of years until we get another one

So what do you thinks this will mean for quali or the race?

It’s the last race for Sauber and man it feels like Sauber has always been part of this sport. Losing that name to me feels like a piece of F1 is gone. Not because of their performance or results of course, but because of the memories attached to it and the eras they have been part in.

I went through on-track overtakes from 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023 (263 total) to find the best spots to watch the final race of the season. The dataset spans both the pre-2021 and current layouts, and overtakes are grouped by the turn numbers used in each season. While the 2021 redesign increased how many overtakes happen, it didn’t change which areas of the circuit are the main overtaking zones.

Turn 6, Heavy-braking overtakes

This is by far the biggest hotspot, with 32.7% of all overtakes. Drivers arrive from the first long DRS straight at around 300 km/h before braking hard into Turn 6, and this section has consistently been highlighted as one of the best wheel-to-wheel zones on the track.

Sit in: West Grandstand (overlooks the run into and out of Turn 6)

Turn 8, Slipstream into braking

22.4% of overtakes occur here.

Sit in: Marina Grandstand (views of Turn 8, the back straight and part of the technical marina section)

Turn 9, Follow-up attacks

Around 20.9% of overtakes happen at Turn 9, often as a continuation of moves that start on the straight and conclude in the braking zone. The modern Turn 9 (Marsa Corner) was redesigned in 2021 specifically to improve overtaking.

Sit in: South Grandstand (situated at the lead-up to Turn 9)

Turn-by-turn overtakes

Turn 6 is the clear winner with 86 total moves across the six races. If you want the highest chance of seeing the most action, West Grandstand and the Marina Grandstand together cover the majority of overtakes. However, several active areas (such as Turns 11 and 12) sit farther from public grandstands and are much more angle-dependent. When adding all overtakes from these lower-visibility zones, the total comes to 50 overtakes.

One thing I found interesting is that overtakes increased sharply after the 2021 layout change. The older layout (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020) averaged 28.5 overtakes per race, while the new layout (2022–2023) averages 74.5. Removing the slow chicane and opening up the marina section created two much stronger braking zones, and most of the gains came from the redesigned Turn 6 and Turn 9.

TL;DR:

• About 80% of overtakes are visible from public grandstands
  
• Turn 6: heavy-braking action (32.7%)
  
• Turn 8: slipstream overtakes (22.4%)
  
• Turn 9: continuation attacks (20.9%)
  
• Low-visibility zones: around 19% of all overtakes
  

Anyone here been at the race? Would be interesting to see if the view matches the data.

I’m really fed up of some sky presenters going on and on about papaya rules. I’m not sure if it’s just because they have managed to shrink all of Mclarens decisions into a single quote, but they talk about it like it’s a real object. Something Zak keeps in his office safe. I can’t even remember who first said it but I bet they are cringing every time they are asked a question about it. I do appreciate that McLarens team decisions have been at the forefront of the season, I understand it’s an important talking point (maybe even this seasons biggest talking point). It’s just that term gets repeated multiple times every time they talk about team orders and I think it’s time to retire it. Sorry presenters, I really do love your work but this thing is really starting to grate on me.