F1 Paddock Notebook - Abu Dhabi GP Friday

- It was impossible not to feel sorry for Romain Grosjean, who had finally found a positive configuration for his Haas, but now is on the back foot after crashing with Valtteri Bottas during FP2. The Finn recognized he was the only one to blame for the accident. But, as he is already starting from the back, not even Grosjean felt he deserved a penalty. Bottas even offered a new floor, but as much as Romain would love to take it, it probably wouldn't fit the car...

- The crash didn’t bring consequences only for both drivers: it happened just as the drivers were making their race simulation in the only practice session that really counts. So maybe Bottas’s late dive was the best thing that could have happened to the race, as teams will be more in the dark.

- Speaking about tyres, there is an interesting development behind the scenes: after the drivers complained a lot about the 2020 tyres in Austin, some teams want to just keep the 2019 rubber. That sounds at least interesting after they were voting to try to get rid of the same 2019 tyres in June...

- That only goes to prove that things happen really fast in F1. Last year, in Abu Dhabi, Fernando Alonso was going to a stage to receive gifts from F1 and the locals in his farewell party. This Friday, while the drivers were giving interviews about free practice, he was sitting alone at McLaren with his manager.

- George Russell didn’t do much to deny he is not feeling 100% this weekend. But also assured he is fit to race, albeit giving away few details. Maybe we will know more about it just after the race.

- After missing Thursday, Toto Wolff assured the tables back at his house, where he watched the Brazilian GP, were not broken even after seeing both of his drivers out of the podium - something that’s been rare in the past six years. He also clarified he has been misquoted about his comments that made some wonder if Mercedes is considering leaving F1 at the end of 2020. Plus, he even defined Formula E as a “Mario Kart with real drivers”. Difficult to be sure if it’s a compliment or not.

- Coming back to the track, Pierre Gasly was all smiles after “surviving” Daniel Ricciardo’s oil “spray attack” during FP1. “If I didn’t have the visor, I would have been blind now”, said the Frenchman, who liked a journalist’s joke about Toro Rosso now having quite a good sample of Renault’s fuel!

- The Vietnamese promoters are in Abu Dhabi trying to convince everything will be ready in time for next year’s race. A lot of things seen to have to be remade, which has delayed the construction. On the plus side, there’s more than five months to go!