Sharjah: Hardly have the waters on the Khalid Lagoon settled down after Friday's Sharjah Grand Prix and Team Abu Dhabi's Ahmad Al Hameli and Thani Atiq Al Qamzi are already thinking of the season ahead.
"Our team has missed out too much this year. The calendar was cut down to just seven races and I could not participate in three rounds. It has been a very disappointing season and I cannot wait to get started with the new season," Al Hameli told Gulf News.
"The new season starts in March, so there is not much time between now and then. The focus will definitely be to get off to a good start to the new season," he added.
Nicolo di San Germano, the UIM F1 promoter, has already put forward a tentative calendar for 2012, starting with the opening race in the second week of March, followed by the next eight rounds culminating with the season-ending Sharjah Grand Prix in December.
"Nine rounds is better than the seven we had this season as it gives drivers and teams a better chance of carrying forward points or trying to catch up with the rest of the pack," Al Hameli said.
"More rounds also means more racing, unlike this season, when we had two rounds in China cancelled, and I believe those two races could have changed a lot of things."
The Team Abu Dhabi driver had a horrible start to the 2011 season when he returned empty-handed from Qatar and Kazan in the first and third races, and retired during the second race in Portimao, Portugal.
But he won the Kiev Grand Prix and took second positions in Liuzhou (China) and Abu Dhabi and entered the record books for successfully defending his Sharjah Grand Prix title after starting from pole on Friday to finish the season with the maximum 20 points to end fourth in the overall standings.
"One can't really afford to think back of what was or what could have been. One can do all the work he wants to, but ultimately one needs to luck to finish off," Al Hameli insisted.
His teammate Al Qamzi was also confident of a better finish from Team Abu Dhabi for 2012. "There are some good races and some bad ones. Maybe we had more of the bad ones this season. I can assure you the new season will be better," Al Qamzi said.
"Each time we go out there, we are there to represent our team and ensure that the UAE flag is flying high."
