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
Race evolution
Pit Stops
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
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1Stoffel Vandoorne
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1Max Verstappen
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1Kimi Räikkönen
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1Sergio Pérez
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1Nico Hülkenberg
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16Daniel Ricciardo
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-Sebastian Vettel
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-Valtteri Bottas
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2Fernando Alonso
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-Felipe Massa
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1Kevin Magnussen
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-Lewis Hamilton
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5Brendon Hartley
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4Pascal Wehrlein
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1Pierre Gasly
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2Marcus Ericsson
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1Esteban Ocon
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7Carlos Sainz
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5Romain Grosjean
3 stops
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3Lance 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
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Carlos SainzLap 31
Hydraulics
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Daniel RicciardoLap 20
Qualifying
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.
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 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.