Abu Dhabi – Course: Synthesis of Strategies

Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) secured his first victory since returning to Formula 1 and with Pirelli. The 19th win of the Lotus F1 Team driver’s career was achieved with a one-stop strategy, on the 31st lap. Räikkönen, who started 4th on the grid, switched from the P Zero Yellow soft tires to the P Zero White mediums after taking the lead of the race on the 19th lap, following Lewis Hamilton’s (McLaren) retirement. Second-place Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) put his Lotus rival under pressure throughout the race, using the same strategy as Räikkönen but stopping three laps earlier. He thus reduced his deficit in the drivers’ world championship to 10 points behind Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), with two races remaining in the season.

The majority of the 24 drivers started the race on soft compounds, except for Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Bruno Senna (Williams), and Sebastian Vettel, who started from the pit lane after being excluded from qualifying.

Red Bull’s driver used a different strategy to propel himself from the back of the grid, after being released once the other competitors passed at turn 1. He finished the race in third place, despite sustaining damage to the slats of his front wing. Climbing to 13th position by the 7th lap, he benefited from the safety car to catch up with the pack without changing his tire strategy. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso), Paul di Resta (Force India), and Romain Grosjean (Lotus) changed tires during the safety car period. Vergne and Di Resta switched to mediums, while Grosjean kept softs after making an initial stop on the first lap following an incident at the start. Vettel also switched to softs on the 13th lap. He later benefited from the soft compound to gain speed (about half a second per lap) and moved up to second place, before stopping again on the 37th lap and rejoining in fourth position after another safety car period lasting three laps.

Alonso was the first driver in the top 6 to make a pit stop on lap 28, switching from soft to medium tires, before being followed by Jenson Button’s McLaren and Pastor Maldonado’s Williams on the next lap. The last driver making a single stop was Bruno Senna, in the other Williams, putting on the soft tires on lap 32 after starting the race on mediums. He crossed the finish line in eighth position.

The race began with track and air temperatures of around 30°C. They decreased only slightly throughout the race, minimizing tire wear. The smooth surface of the Abu Dhabi track also helped preserve the tires, with teams using their accumulated knowledge of Pirelli compounds from the season to optimize their performance. Most drivers managed to make a one-stop strategy work, while the highest-ranked driver on a two-stop strategy was Vettel, finishing in third position.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: Congratulations to Kimi for becoming the eighth different winner this season, as well as to Lotus and Eric Boullier for their first victory as Team Director, at the end of what was one of the most exciting Grand Prix of the year, featuring two safety car interventions.

The timing of the first safety car altered strategies for everyone, allowing drivers on soft tires to stay out even longer, while two drivers switched to mediums and Sebastian Vettel changed to softs for the start of a fantastic stint. A one-stop strategy was clearly the path chosen by most competitors, with the 5 laps under the safety car reducing the already low tire wear during the race. This allowed drivers who stopped early to complete nearly 30 laps on mediums and gain positions by overtaking those who stopped earlier. It was a very varied race with several strategies adopted, offering fans spectacular action to follow from start to finish.

[From the official press release published by Pirelli]

It should be noted that, in its statement, Pirelli indicates that Pastor Maldonado would have started on new Soft tires, however, the Venezuelan, having qualified in Q3, had to use the worn tires used in qualifying.

To better read this chart, you can use the FIA’s lap-by-lap synthesis by clicking here.