2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres

The lack of action in the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is summed up by the fact the top three drivers held their positions from lights to flag.

Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton spent the entire race in first, second and third places respectively.

It might have worked out differently had it not been for an early Safety Car period triggered by Sergio Perez’s retirement on lap nine. That deprived Mercedes of a chance to apply pressure to Verstappen, as the team’s head of trackside operations Andrew Shovlin explained.

“In a way it was sad for the race that the Safety Car came out at that stage because it forced practically everyone onto the same strategy,” he said. “Ferrari left both cars out but they didn’t really benefit from that in the end.”

Sure enough, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, who ran 12th and 13th before the interruption, rose to seventh and eighth as others pitted. But despite Ferrari subsequently splitting their strategies – bringing Leclerc in first and Vettel later – it did nothing for their races.

Daniel Ricciardo benefitted from staying out, having started on the hard tyres like Vettel, and finally pitting 16 laps from home. He produced the biggest position change of any driver over the course of the race – just four places.

For the rest it was a matter of follow-my-leader on similar rubber. “Once you have all cars on the same age tyres it kind of neutralises the racing a bit and there wasn’t a lot of opportunity therein,” said Shovlin.

Could Mercedes have put Verstappen under pressure strategically if the Safety Car hadn’t appeared? Shovlin isn’t convinced that would have secured victory for them.

“We would have probably used one car to pull Max in and let the other one go long and try to create a tyre delta. Whether it would have resulted in any position gain, looking at their pace, they were very comfortable. So I doubt it, but it would have at least created a bit of variability.”

Ricciardo’s strategy also gave him the benefit of fresher tyres at the end of the race, which he used to set the fastest lap. He did it on the very last lap of the season, beating the time Verstappen had set 41 laps earlier by just 32 thousandths of a second.

“I really risked it all to get the fastest lap,” he admitted. “My last lap in this car, for it to be the fastest on track, it’s a nice way to say goodbye to the team and I guess to thank them.”

George Russell, meanwhile, had a bump back to reality after swapping his Mercedes for a Williams. His fastest lap was the slowest of the field. Even Perez, who covered just eight laps in traffic with heavy fuel, set a quicker lap than the driver who nearly won a week ago in Bahrain.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

Position change

Driver	Start position	Lap one position change	Race position change
Lewis Hamilton	3	0	0
Valtteri Bottas	2	0	0
Sebastian Vettel	13	1	-1
Charles Leclerc	12	-1	-1
Max Verstappen	1	0	0
Alexander Albon	5	0	1
Carlos Sainz Jnr	6	0	0
Lando Norris	4	0	-1
Daniel Ricciardo	11	0	4
Esteban Ocon	10	1	1
Daniil Kvyat	7	0	-4
Pierre Gasly	9	-1	1
Sergio Perez	19	-1
Lance Stroll	8	0	-2
Kimi Raikkonen	15	1	3
Antonio Giovinazzi	14	-1	-2
Pietro Fittipaldi	17	-1	-2
Kevin Magnussen	20	3	2
George Russell	16	0	1
Nicholas Latifi	18	-1	1

2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

Rank	Driver	Car	Fastest lap	Gap	On lap
1	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1’40.926		55
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda	1’40.958	0.032	14
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1’41.131	0.205	40
4	Alexander Albon	Red Bull-Honda	1’41.227	0.301	42
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’41.420	0.494	37
6	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1’41.475	0.549	37
7	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’41.675	0.749	29
8	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas-Ferrari	1’41.707	0.781	50
9	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’41.866	0.940	41
10	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’41.908	0.982	24
11	Carlos Sainz Jnr	McLaren-Renault	1’41.947	1.021	48
12	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	1’41.964	1.038	53
13	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’41.999	1.073	50
14	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’42.148	1.222	53
15	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’42.474	1.548	53
16	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1’42.497	1.571	49
17	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’42.704	1.778	47
18	Esteban Ocon	Renault	1’42.894	1.968	47
19	Sergio Perez	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’43.263	2.337	6
20	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1’43.328	2.402	54

2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

	Stint 1	Stint 2	Stint 3	Stint 4
Max Verstappen	C4 (10)	C3 (45)
Valtteri Bottas	C4 (10)	C3 (45)
Lewis Hamilton	C4 (10)	C3 (45)
Alexander Albon	C5 (10)	C3 (45)
Lando Norris	C5 (10)	C3 (45)
Carlos Sainz Jnr	C4 (10)	C3 (45)
Daniel Ricciardo	C3 (39)	C4 (16)
Pierre Gasly	C5 (10)	C3 (45)
Esteban Ocon	C4 (10)	C3 (45)
Lance Stroll	C5 (10)	C3 (45)
Daniil Kvyat	C5 (10)	C3 (44)
Kimi Raikkonen	C4 (10)	C3 (44)
Charles Leclerc	C4 (22)	C3 (32)
Sebastian Vettel	C3 (35)	C4 (19)
George Russell	C4 (10)	C3 (44)
Antonio Giovinazzi	C4 (27)	C3 (27)
Nicholas Latifi	C4 (11)	C3 (24)	C4 (19)
Kevin Magnussen	C3 (31)	C4 (16)	C4 (7)
Pietro Fittipaldi	C4 (10)	C3 (24)	C4 (14)	C5 (5)
Sergio Perez	C3 (8)

2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

	Driver	Team	Pit stop time	Gap	On lap
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	21.289		10
2	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	21.357	0.068	11
3	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	21.480	0.191	27
4	Alexander Albon	Red Bull	21.508	0.219	10
5	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	21.587	0.298	10
6	Esteban Ocon	Renault	21.615	0.326	10
7	Lando Norris	McLaren	21.840	0.551	10
8	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	22.000	0.711	10
9	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	22.012	0.723	10
10	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	22.036	0.747	10
11	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	22.040	0.751	35
12	George Russell	Williams	22.085	0.796	10
13	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	22.123	0.834	39
14	Carlos Sainz Jnr	McLaren	22.140	0.851	10
15	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	22.178	0.889	22
16	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	22.384	1.095	35
17	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	22.406	1.117	10
18	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	22.714	1.425	31
19	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	23.098	1.809	47
20	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas	23.217	1.928	48
21	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri	25.724	4.435	10
22	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas	26.329	5.040	10
23	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas	28.501	7.212	34

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