F1 Starting Grid 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
F1 Race Event: Abu Dhabi F1 GP
Race Track: Yas Marina Circuit
Start time: 14:10 CET | 13:10 UK | 05:10 LA | 22:10 Tokio
Max Verstappen will start from pole for the first time this season. It's also the first time he will start from pole in Abu Dhabi. The Dutchman drove a great last qualifying lap to score his 3rd pole position of his Formula 1 career.
F1 Starting Grid 2020 Abu Dhabi GP
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Lap Time | 1-gap | Tyres |
| 1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:35,246 | M (C4) | |
| 2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:35,271 | 0,025 | M (C4) |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:35,332 | 0,086 | M (C4) |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:35,497 | 0,251 | S (C5) |
| 5 | 23 | Alex Albon | Red Bull | 1:35,571 | 0,325 | S (C5) |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | 1:35,815 | 0,569 | M (C4) |
| 7 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri | 1:35,963 | 0,717 | S (C5) |
| 8 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 1:36,046 | 0,800 | S (C5) |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1:36,242 | 0,996 | S (C5) |
| 10 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1:36,359 | 1,113 | Free |
| 11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1:36,406 | 1,160 | Free |
| 12 | 16 | *Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:36,065 | 0,819 | M (C4) |
| 13 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:36,631 | 1,385 | Free |
| 14 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 1:38,248 | 3,002 | Free |
| 15 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo | 1:37,555 | 2,309 | Free |
| 16 | 63 | George Russell | Williams | 1:38,045 | 2,799 | Free |
| 17 | 51 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Haas | 1:38,173 | 2,927 | Free |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1:38,443 | 3,197 | Free |
| 19 | 11 | *Sergio Pérez | Racing Point | 0:00,000 | - | Free |
| 20 | 20 | *Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:37,863 | 2,617 | Free |
* Penalties:
- 3 place grid penalty: Car 16 - Ferrari of Charles Leclerc - Causing a collision (2020 Sakhir Grand Prix)
- Cars 20 & 11 - Required to start from the back of the starting grid - Additional power unit elements have been used.
2020 Abu Dhabi F1 GP Race Strategy
The optimal race strategy for the 55-lap Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is a one-stopper, starting on the P Zero Yellow medium for 18 laps and moving onto P Zero White hard for 37 laps (or vice-versa). It’s also possible to do a one-stopper starting on the P Zero Red soft for 14 laps and then going onto the hard for 41 laps, but this is slightly slower in terms of overall race time.
A two-stopper is slower, especially because track position is crucial at Yas Marina, with the track being hard to overtake on and a complicated pit lane exit that adds to the time loss. The way to do it would be two soft stints of 12 laps each (one at the start and the other one as last), plus one 31-lap hard stint.
2020 Abu Dhabi F1 GP Race Notes
- Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, using the P Zero Red soft in C5 compound (the softest of the range) to go fastest of all in qualifying for the first time since Brazil 2019. Less than a tenth of a second separated the top three, while Verstappen was also fastest in FP3.
- Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Renault and the McLaren of Carlos Sainz headed out on the medium tyre in Q2, with both Mercedes, plus Verstappen, Sainz and Leclerc setting their best Q2 times on that compound. They will all therefore start the race on the yellow tyre tomorrow, but Leclerc has a grid penalty that drops him out of the top 10 on the grid.
- Temperatures were reasonably cool for Abu Dhabi, with ambient temperatures of 23 degrees centigrade and track temperatures of 29 degrees centigrade at the start of qualifying, dropping by one degree over the course of the session.
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