The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2013 was the 17th round of the 2013 F1 season, and took place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on November 3rd.
Sebastian Vettel won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Mark Webber, who originally had the pole position, and Nico Rosberg completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 41 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 5-11: 13 stops
- Laps 16-18: 4 stops
- Laps 27-34: 13 stops
The fastest pit stop was Nico Hülkenberg's, stopping the clock at 16.147 seconds during his pit stop on lap 34, while the slowest one was was Jenson Button's, who stopped the clock at 27.176 seconds, 11.029 seconds slower than Hülkenberg, during his pit stop on lap 2.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 2 stops. Only 2 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
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5Paul di Resta
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7Adrian Sutil
2 stops
-
-Jenson Button
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3Pastor Maldonado
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1Jules Bianchi
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1Sergio Pérez
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1Max Chilton
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3Lewis Hamilton
-
7Daniel Ricciardo
-
-Giedo van der Garde
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1Mark Webber
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2Romain Grosjean
-
-Charles Pic
-
-Nico Rosberg
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1Sebastian Vettel
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5Fernando Alonso
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4Jean-Éric Vergne
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1Felipe Massa
-
3Esteban Gutiérrez
-
-Valtteri Bottas
3 stops
-
9Nico Hülkenberg
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 6 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.17 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 9 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option, even if Sebastian Vettel managed to win the race making 2 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Yas Marina Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, .
Accident
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Kimi RäikkönenLap 0
Qualifying
Mark Webber managed to get the pole position by 0.118 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:39.957. Sebastian Vettel was right behind him, helping Red Bull score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Mercedes, with Nico Rosberg in third position, and Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 15 out of the 16 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 5 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.