ABU DHABI GP: RIAN THE ALIEN CONQUERS YAS MARINA AND ENDS VISA RB STRANGLEHOLD

Rian delivered Alpine’s first win of the season by beating Jordan and AA_Mejg on the floodlit straights of Yas Marina, denying VisaRB another one-two for the first time this year. The Irishman, who started from twelfth, joined Jordan and AA_Mejg on the podium after two Safety Cars and a split in tire strategies turned the final stint into a high-pressure shootout. It also marks the first time this season that the Racing Bulls haven’t stamped their authority over the front of the field.


From a risky qualifying gamble to a reverse-strategy hard-hard approach, Rian played the long game while the VisaRB duo tripped over each other. Jordan attacked relentlessly after the final restart, but could never fully break free, while AA_Mejg once again slipped behind his teammate, solidifying his rather uncomfortable reputation as the second driver of the team despite being the reigning champion...

Rian: “Haha well to be honest it wasn’t that eventful 😂. Qualifying I just had no pace but still took a risk trying to get through to Q3 on used tires which wasn’t a good idea resulting in a p12 start, lap 1 was chaos and I somehow survived and managed to find myself up to p7 in 1 lap, settled in for the next 4-5 laps and noticed the 3 cars ahead where fighting a lot and wasting a lot of battery so I decided to save, lap 6 the 3 guys ahead had all below 10% battery while I had 50%+ and I tucked up close and got a good exit out of t7 and overtook all 3 on the straight, I was about 7-8 seconds behind the RBs ahead and the gaps closed and opened as we pushed it saved, seeing Jordan pit off the hard tire onto the mediums and I wanted to do the opposite so I pit off the hard back onto a new hard 3 laps later, 2 laps after my stop we get a safety car which helped me as I was on pretty much brand new tires and with the RBs having to double stack I gained a position, again after the safety car restart it was just a bit of a stalemate of position swapping, pushing, saving etc until a 2nd safety car came out with 15 laps to go, the RBs had no new mediums while I still had a fresh set, a strong push from Jordan from the safety car restart nearly broke the gap to drs but I had a small bit more ers saved just allowing me to stay in drs. After building back up my battery I knew I had a battery and tire advantage on Jordan, eventually I overtook and fighting behind gave me a safety net to just bring it home.”

Behind the podium, SV5-3787 drove a clean race in the Mercedes but spent too long trapped in the midfield chaos to mount a meaningful challenge late on. Williams banked another strong result with NaeDangerDavid in fifth, a quiet but efficient performance that keeps them relevant in the tight constructors’ battle behind the top three.

Selecta in the other Mercedes was one of the standout stories, climbing from a back-row start after a qualifying ban to finish sixth, beating Rollie’s Aston Martin in seventh. Rollie, meanwhile, found himself the target of an unusually high number of spectacular moves at Turn 9, to the point where it looked like the pack had collectively agreed on him as their personal braking marker...

SCR_FTronc steered the Red Bull to eighth, while Ferrari completed the top ten with Gordini ninth and Tvoje_mamkacz tenth. Tvoje, who showed strong one-lap pace, simply didn’t have the legs over a full stint and ended up being passed by grandpa Rollie with little resistance.

In eleventh was Dunce in the second Aston Martin, followed by Endru’s Alpine in twelfth, whose race never really recovered after getting shuffled during the early chaos. Thirteenth went to Yeshurrun in the KICK Sauber, an encouraging full-time debut that immediately lifted the team’s competitiveness, even though blue-flag etiquette from him, Sir Ibbo, and Inginne didn’t exactly impress the stewards.

McLaren had a rough night, with Scaparro fading to fourteenth after a promising qualifying and Crunchypancake in fifteenth struggling to find pace on any tire. Bards in the Williams ended up sixteenth, also victim to the strategy roulette between the two Safety Cars and some other things possibly.

Sir Ibbo finished seventeenth before, followed by Inginne and Quartiux in the Haas cars, both retiring out in the final phase as the race descended into chaos. The first retired car was Javinwain in the Red Bull, triggering the first SC after a miserable evening.

The race hinged on the two Safety Cars and the second splitting the field between hards, mediums, and brave soft gamblers. Jordan’s early push after the restart nearly broke Rian’s DRS, but the Irishman’s tire advantage and battery discipline flipped the script in the final ten laps.

In the standings, Jordan retains control, but Rian’s surge brings Alpine firmly back into the chase, while the constructors’ table is still dominated by VisaRB...

Abu Dhabi didn’t just deliver a surprise result — it broke a trend. And if tonight proved anything, it’s that VisaRB can finally be beaten on merit as we are heading to Spain GP, the pick of the leader...


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