Scuderia Ferrari doesn’t win but secures an excellent second place in the 2023 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the 5.281-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island. Charles Leclerc’s SF-23 crosses the finish line in third position, but Perez’s penalty makes the difference. Carlos Sainz puts together a respectable race but fails to make a difference, which is why Mercedes secures the second place in the Constructors’ Championship. For the rest, we can say that the season for the red team finally ends, keeping in mind that another disappointing season is being put behind.
GP Abu Dhabi 2023: 1st stint: Ferrari SF-23 excellent on Medium, carefully studied on Saturday
The majority of drivers choose the medium tire at the start. According to simulations, the best strategy was a one-stop starting with the mediums and then switching to the hards. However, Carlos Sainz, starting from the back, chooses the hard tire with the goal of having a very strong and long first stint, clearly aiming for an overcut on the midfield pack.
In the early moments of the race, Charles Leclerc managed to challenge Max Verstappen, after which he had to focus on managing the tire to extend the stint as much as possible. Additionally, the pace of the leading group was not much faster than the slower cars, so stopping would put them behind the traffic of many cars. Around the twelfth lap, the Dutchman complained about some degradation on the front right, a tire more stressed on this circuit.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
Generally, the various drivers focused on preserving the medium tire, especially in the Hotel area. Observing the previous graph, we note that Ferrari has improved a lot in using the Medium tire, which they focused on during the last available free practice yesterday.
The Prancing Horse knew that the first stint with a full tank of fuel was with the Pirelli yellow-banded tire, so they decided to deepen their understanding of the behavior of this compound. The results showed, as Charles Leclerc remained under a tenth of the average gap to Verstappen. At this point, Norris was more than two-tenths on average behind, while Russell was a full four-tenths on average.
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GP Abu Dhabi 2023/2nd stint: Ferrari SF-23 worsens baseline pace and degrades with the Hard
The first of the front-runners to stop was Piastri, on lap 14, as he was beginning to struggle with the pace on the track, and Russell had overtaken him. His teammate stopped on the next lap to avoid being undercut by the Mercedes Brit. The latter re-entered at the same moment, and Norris’s pit stop was very slow (5.1s). For this reason, George took the position even on the other McLaren. All these drivers mounted the hard tire to try to reach the finish. However, the very early first stop, compared to expectations, forced the second pit stop.
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc continued for a few more laps, but at lap 17, Max stopped to put on the hard tire and avoid an undercut attempt by Ferrari with the Monegasque quite close. On the next lap, Charles also entered since Russell had now activated the hard compound, setting very fast times around 29.5s. The Maranello team therefore aligned with the competitors’ strategy by mounting the white-banded Pirelli.
After a good start, Carlos Sainz did not set an exceptional pace with the hard tire. On lap 24, he returned to the pits after complaining about a lack of grip. In agreement with the Spaniard, Ferrari mounted another set of hard tires. At lap 33, Charles Leclerc was 7.8 seconds behind Max Verstappen, who on the hard tire undoubtedly showed an extra gear. Behind, Russell joined Charles Leclerc at a distance of about 2 seconds, a gap that the Ferrari driver easily managed.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
As we can see from the graph above, in the second stint, the average gap per lap between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc increased, reaching 4 tenths. On the hard tire, the RB19 adapts very well, and Sergio Perez also ran on the same times as his teammate. To better understand the difference in terms of performance of the SF-23 with the yellow tire and the white tire, we observe the following graph that highlights the degradation. We note a clear difference in the trend lines of Charles Leclerc between the first and second stints.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
It is evident that in the second part of the race, the tire consumption of the Ferrari driver worsened, which, in turn, contained the “baseline pace” of Ferrari SF-23 number 16. We notice the steeper slope of Charles Leclerc’s line in the second stint. On the hard tire, Mercedes managed to find more pace from the middle of the stint onwards, as George Russell’s trend line is closer to horizontal.
GP Abu Dhabi 2023 3rd stint: Sergio Perez has to recover 6 tenths per lap against Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari SF-23
Norris was the first to change strategy, stopping and mounting another set of white tires, which performed better than the yellows. Russell reacted to Lando’s stop by stopping on the next lap, although the Mercedes driver said he still had some good tires. With more than 20 laps to go, even Leclerc stopped at lap 36 to mount a second set of hards.
Could Ferrari have waited a few more laps to mount a set of mediums? They could undoubtedly have done so only if the yellow-banded Pirelli sets were still available. At the exit, Russell gained something, managing to get under 2 seconds. Norris failed to exploit the undercut too much, coming out behind Lance Stroll but avoided by both George and Charles Leclerc. Upfront, in Red Bull, they waited a few laps before making any decisions, as they had a sufficient advantage to manage. With Perez, they probably thought of staying out and trying to reach the end, taking the second position.
It must be said that Charles Leclerc had more than a 13-second disadvantage over the Mexican at that moment, and there was not a big difference in lap times, so it was possible not to pit. With Perez, however, they decided to stop, and the driver came out in sixth place, with a hard tire 7 laps fresher and with a gap of 9 seconds from Charles Leclerc, to recover in 14 laps. This means that Perez had to recover more than 6 tenths per lap against Charles Leclerc to try to make a pass in the last laps.
In the following graph, we analyze Sergio Perez’s pace, who, just after the pit stop, managed to put in excellent lap times. The Mexican managed to have an average pace of 1:27.96, against Charles Leclerc’s 1:28.66. Exactly those 6 tenths we were talking about a few lines above. However, the penalty received for the contact with Norris nullified the comeback.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
Even with Max Verstappen, they decided to come back in, without taking any risks. For the Dutchman, a second set of hard tires, the last available. Max came out 5.7 seconds behind Charles Leclerc with a tire 9 laps fresher. Overall, Charles gained about 2 seconds after the pit stop.
Carlos Sainz then stayed out for a long time with the second set of hards. With more than 20 laps on the hard tire, the Spanish driver struggled a lot, but at Ferrari, they were waiting for an on-track event to take advantage of an SC or VSC. Indeed, there were many battles on the track, and the likelihood of an SC was quite high.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
Overall, we quantify what we saw today. No big surprises as Red Bull dominated, with Ferrari being the second force, an average of 3 tenths behind. The third force was Mercedes, with just under 3 tenths on average of a gap for each lap. The two stints on the hard tire effectively helped the Brackley team. That said, the graph then reflects the podium. McLaren is the fourth force, lacking, in fact, 1 tenth on average against the German team.
Source: Alessandro Arcari and Niccolò Arnerich for FUnoanalisitecnica
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