Daniel Ricciardo regretted the decision to stick with a two-stop strategy after being leapfrogged by team mate Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi.
“I think we should have just gone long and one-stopped but in hindsight it’s always easy to say,” Ricciardo conceded.
That early pit stop forced Ricciardo to stick to a two-stop strategy which dropped him behind his team mate.
“I saw Max [Verstappen] spin in mirrors in turn turn so I thought he was out of the race,” said Ricciardo, “and then he does a one-stop and fights for the podium so he did well.”
“I just feel we hurt with the two-stop strategy as the super-soft was a good tyre today.”
2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Ultra soft (7) | Soft (21) | Soft (27) | |
| Nico Rosberg | Ultra soft (8) | Soft (21) | Soft (26) | |
| Sebastian Vettel | Ultra soft (8) | Soft (29) | Super soft (18) | |
| Max Verstappen | Super soft (21) | Soft (34) | ||
| Daniel Ricciardo | Super soft (9) | Soft (15) | Soft (31) | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Ultra soft (7) | Soft (18) | Soft (30) | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Ultra soft (8) | Soft (18) | Soft (29) | |
| Sergio Perez | Ultra soft (9) | Soft (18) | Soft (28) | |
| Felipe Massa | Ultra soft (8) | Soft (22) | Soft (25) | |
| Fernando Alonso | Ultra soft (7) | Soft (31) | Super soft (17) | |
| Romain Grosjean | Soft (20) | Soft (18) | Super soft (17) | |
| Esteban Gutierrez | Super soft (8) | Soft (20) | Soft (27) | |
| Esteban Ocon | Soft (22) | Soft (14) | Super soft (18) | |
| Pascal Wehrlein | Ultra soft (6) | Soft (18) | Soft (30) | |
| Marcus Ericsson | Soft (38) | Super soft (16) | ||
| Felipe Nasr | Super soft (7) | Soft (29) | Soft (18) | |
| Jolyon Palmer | Ultra soft (7) | Soft (14) | Soft (20) | Super soft (13) |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Super soft (6) | Soft (22) | Soft (13) | |
| Daniil Kvyat | Super soft (8) | Soft (6) | ||
| Jenson Button | Soft (12) | |||
| Valtteri Bottas | Ultra soft (6) | |||
| Kevin Magnussen | Soft (1) | Soft (4) |
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2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 21.218 | 29 | |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 21.221 | 0.003 | 21 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 21.308 | 0.090 | 9 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 21.355 | 0.137 | 28 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 21.482 | 0.264 | 26 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 21.539 | 0.321 | 30 |
| 7 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 21.711 | 0.493 | 8 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | 21.761 | 0.543 | 6 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 21.768 | 0.550 | 24 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 21.775 | 0.557 | 8 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 21.834 | 0.616 | 8 |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 21.872 | 0.654 | 37 |
| 13 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 21.896 | 0.678 | 8 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | 21.935 | 0.717 | 28 |
| 15 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 21.959 | 0.741 | 7 |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 22.012 | 0.794 | 27 |
| 17 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 22.032 | 0.814 | 8 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 22.084 | 0.866 | 9 |
| 19 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 22.087 | 0.869 | 25 |
| 20 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 22.102 | 0.884 | 28 |
| 21 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 22.145 | 0.927 | 21 |
| 22 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 22.248 | 1.030 | 38 |
| 23 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 22.428 | 1.210 | 7 |
| 24 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 22.527 | 1.309 | 38 |
| 25 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 22.588 | 1.370 | 41 |
| 26 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 22.600 | 1.382 | 7 |
| 27 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 22.838 | 1.620 | 20 |
| 28 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 22.949 | 1.731 | 24 |
| 29 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 22.991 | 1.773 | 38 |
| 30 | Esteban Ocon | Manor | 23.026 | 1.808 | 36 |
| 31 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 23.272 | 2.054 | 7 |
| 32 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 23.753 | 2.535 | 8 |
| 33 | Esteban Ocon | Manor | 24.035 | 2.817 | 22 |
| 34 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 24.781 | 3.563 | 7 |
| 35 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 27.068 | 5.850 | 1 |
| 36 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 29.933 | 8.715 | 36 |
| 37 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 33.395 | 12.177 | 6 |
jhetherton (@jhetherton)
28th November 2016, 0:18
I really don’t know why more people didn’t go Sunday SS at the end. It seemed pretty obvious from Verstappen’s stint that was the smart way to go, and the stunning pace Vettel had backed that up.
jhetherton (@jhetherton)
28th November 2016, 0:22
*Super Soft
Pietro
28th November 2016, 15:01
I agree, Super Soft have been very good at the end, especially because of the lower temperatures. Just based on Max’s 1st stint, RedBull strategy with Ricciardo has been a surprise, if they would have kept him on track for more laps we would have seen a really fun race with Hamilton pushing hard get P1 and Rosberg trying to keep the pace. I understand that the two Mercs were fighting for the title, but RBR really did nothing to try to get a win for Ricciardo, which looking at SS performance and durability (plus Max comeback) would have been possible.
Boywonder (@deltas4)
28th November 2016, 1:55
After getting through Q2 on the Super Soft as a tactical move for the race, I was very surprised to see RIC pitting only 1 lap after HAM, ROS, VET, RAI. I expected we would have seen RIC go another 10 or 15 laps to enable him to do what VET ended up doing later. Did RB not have the confidence in the SS tyre ? They were in a position to be able to split strategy with VES so nothing really lost at this race. Subsequently it was good to see VET with the bit between his teeth and his positive words for his team during the podium interview. Bring on 2017 !
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
28th November 2016, 7:41
Maybe Ricciardo couldn’t make that tyre work as long as Verstappen
Johan
28th November 2016, 11:12
Strange, Max Verstappen / RedBull did the fastest pitstop according to DHL fastest lap. https://www.formula1.com/en/championship/awards/dhl-fastest-pit-stop-2016.html