The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023 was the 22nd round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, during the weekend of the 24th to the 26th of November.
Max Verstappen won the race from the pole, followed by Charles Leclerc, and George Russell completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 37 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 12-17: 14 stops
- Laps 22-23: 4 stops
- Laps 31-37: 10 stops
- Laps 41-43: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Oscar Piastri's, stopping the clock at 21.156 seconds during his pit stop on lap 36, while the slowest one was was Lando Norris's, who stopped the clock at 24.061 seconds, 2.905 seconds slower than Piastri, during his pit stop on lap 14.
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 Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas decided to try something different with a 1 stop strategy.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
-Esteban Ocon
-
2Yuki Tsunoda
-
1Valtteri Bottas
2 stops
-
3Kevin Magnussen
-
4Daniel Ricciardo
-
-Fernando Alonso
-
7Nico Hülkenberg
-
2Guanyu Zhou
-
3Oscar Piastri
-
-Lando Norris
-
1George Russell
-
2Lewis Hamilton
-
4Logan Sargeant
-
-Max Verstappen
-
-Alexander Albon
-
5Sergio Pérez
-
3Pierre Gasly
-
-Charles Leclerc
-
3Lance Stroll
-
2Carlos Sainz
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 1 positions, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.31 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops 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 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, .
Retired
-
Carlos SainzLap 57
Qualifying
Max Verstappen dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.139 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:23.445. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Charles Leclerc.
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 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.