The final race of the season will get underway at the Yas Marina Circuit, but what are the main strategy options available to teams?
According to Pirelli, the one-stop strategy is expected to be the most popular and fastest strategy during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This strategy involves starting on the Medium tyre and switching to the Hard between laps 20 and 26. Another option is to start on the Soft tyre and switch to the Hard between laps 12 and 18. An alternate strategy would be to start on the Medium tyre, switch to the Hard between laps 12 and 18, and switch to another set of Hards between laps 33 and 39. Alternatively, drivers could go longer in the middle stint, extending the Hard tyre until lap 43, and then switch to the Soft for the final laps. Pirelli also mentioned that a two-stop race with the sequence C4/C3/C3 is not that far off in terms of overall race time and could be a valid option if there is a neutralisation in the second part of the race. However, using the C5 tyre is unlikely unless someone wants to gamble in the final stages of the race on exploiting the Soft’s grip advantage over a used Hard tyre with a lighter car.
