The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2017 was the 20th round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on November 26th.

Valtteri Bottas won the race from the pole, followed by Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium.

Final results

1
-
BOT
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
1:34:14.062
Finished
2
-
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
+3.899
Finished
3
-
VET
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
+19.330
Finished
4
1
RAI
Kimi Räikkönen
Ferrari
+45.386
Finished
5
1
VER
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
+46.269
Finished
6
1
HUL
Nico Hülkenberg
Renault
+1:25.713
Finished
7
1
PER
Sergio Pérez
Force India
+1:32.062
Finished
8
1
OCO
Esteban Ocon
Force India
+1:38.911
Finished
9
2
ALO
Fernando Alonso
McLaren
+1 Lap
10
-
MAS
Felipe Massa
Williams
+1 Lap
11
5
GRO
Romain Grosjean
Haas F1 Team
+1 Lap
12
1
VAN
Stoffel Vandoorne
McLaren
+1 Lap
13
1
MAG
Kevin Magnussen
Haas F1 Team
+1 Lap
14
4
WEH
Pascal Wehrlein
Sauber
+1 Lap
15
5
HAR
Brendon Hartley
Toro Rosso
+1 Lap
16
1
GAS
Pierre Gasly
Toro Rosso
+1 Lap
17
2
ERI
Marcus Ericsson
Sauber
+1 Lap
18
3
STR
Lance Stroll
Williams
+1 Lap
19
7
SAI
Carlos Sainz
Renault
Wheel
20
16
RIC
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
Hydraulics
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
STR
12
VAN
13
14
VER
15
RAI
16
PER
17
HUL
18
19
RIC
20
VET
21
BOT
ALO
22
MAS
MAG
23
24
HAM
25
26
HAR
27
28
WEH
29
STR
30
GAS
ERI
31
OCO
SAI
32
GRO
33
34
35
STR
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55

There were a total of 22 pit stops during the race.

The most popular pit stop windows were:

  • Laps 14-17: 4 stops
  • Laps 19-22: 6 stops
  • Laps 28-32: 7 stops

The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 21.221 seconds during his pit stop on lap 20, while the slowest one was was Nico Hülkenberg's, who stopped the clock at 29.724 seconds, 8.503 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 17.

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 1 stop. Only Lance Stroll decided to try something different with a 3 stops strategy.

The race winner, Valtteri Bottas, was on a 1 stop strategy.

1 stop

  • 1
    Stoffel Vandoorne
  • 1
    Max Verstappen
  • 1
    Kimi Räikkönen
  • 1
    Sergio Pérez
  • 1
    Nico Hülkenberg
  • 16
    Daniel Ricciardo
  • -
    Sebastian Vettel
  • -
    Valtteri Bottas
  • 2
    Fernando Alonso
  • -
    Felipe Massa
  • 1
    Kevin Magnussen
  • -
    Lewis Hamilton
  • 5
    Brendon Hartley
  • 4
    Pascal Wehrlein
  • 1
    Pierre Gasly
  • 2
    Marcus Ericsson
  • 1
    Esteban Ocon
  • 7
    Carlos Sainz
  • 5
    Romain Grosjean

3 stops

  • 3
    Lance Stroll

Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.53 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 3 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.

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 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.

These included, Carlos Sainz, who had a wheel problem on lap 31, and Daniel Ricciardo, who experienced an hydraulic malfunction on lap 20.

Wheel

  • Carlos Sainz
    Lap 31

Hydraulics

  • Daniel Ricciardo
    Lap 20

Qualifying

#1
BOT
#2
HAM
#3
VET
#4
RIC
#5
RAI
#6
VER
#7
HUL
#8
PER
#9
OCO
#10
MAS
#11
ALO
#12
SAI
#13
VAN
#14
MAG
#15
STR
#16
GRO
#17
GAS
#18
WEH
#19
ERI
#20
HAR

Valtteri Bottas managed to get the pole position by 0.172 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:36.231. Lewis Hamilton was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.

Q1

  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:37.356
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:37.391
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:37.453
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:37.817
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:38.016
  • Max Verstappen
    1:38.021
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:38.601
  • Felipe Massa
    1:38.629
  • Stoffel Vandoorne
    1:38.777
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:38.781
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:38.810
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:38.820
  • Esteban Ocon
    1:38.896
  • Kevin Magnussen
    1:39.395
  • Lance Stroll
    1:39.503
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:39.516
  • Pierre Gasly
    1:39.724
  • Pascal Wehrlein
    1:39.930
  • Marcus Ericsson
    1:39.994
  • Brendon Hartley
    1:40.471

Q2

  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:36.742
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:36.822
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:37.023
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:37.302
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:37.583
  • Max Verstappen
    1:37.777
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:38.138
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:38.359
  • Esteban Ocon
    1:38.392
  • Felipe Massa
    1:38.565
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:38.636
  • Carlos Sainz
    1:38.725
  • Stoffel Vandoorne
    1:38.808
  • Kevin Magnussen
    1:39.298
  • Lance Stroll
    1:39.646

Q3

  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:36.231
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:36.403
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:36.777
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:36.959
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:36.985
  • Max Verstappen
    1:37.328
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:38.282
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:38.374
  • Esteban Ocon
    1:38.397
  • Felipe Massa
    1:38.550

Track evolution

Q1
-0.297
seconds faster
Q2
-0.242
seconds faster
Q3

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 13 out of the 15 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 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.