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

2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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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.”

Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Yas Marina, 2020
Ricciardo benefitted from staying out, unlike the Ferrari pair
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

DriverStart positionLap one position changeRace position change
Lewis Hamilton300
Valtteri Bottas200
Sebastian Vettel131-1
Charles Leclerc12-1-1
Max Verstappen100
Alexander Albon501
Carlos Sainz Jnr600
Lando Norris40-1
Daniel Ricciardo1104
Esteban Ocon1011
Daniil Kvyat70-4
Pierre Gasly9-11
Sergio Perez19-1
Lance Stroll80-2
Kimi Raikkonen1513
Antonio Giovinazzi14-1-2
Pietro Fittipaldi17-1-2
Kevin Magnussen2032
George Russell1601
Nicholas Latifi18-11

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:

RankDriverCarFastest lapGapOn lap
1Daniel RicciardoRenault1’40.92655
2Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’40.9580.03214
3Valtteri BottasMercedes1’41.1310.20540
4Alexander AlbonRed Bull-Honda1’41.2270.30142
5Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’41.4200.49437
6Sebastian VettelFerrari1’41.4750.54937
7Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’41.6750.74929
8Pietro FittipaldiHaas-Ferrari1’41.7070.78150
9Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’41.8660.94041
10Charles LeclercFerrari1’41.9080.98224
11Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’41.9471.02148
12Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’41.9641.03853
13Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’41.9991.07350
14Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’42.1481.22253
15Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1’42.4741.54853
16Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1’42.4971.57149
17Daniil KvyatAlphaTauri-Honda1’42.7041.77847
18Esteban OconRenault1’42.8941.96847
19Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’43.2632.3376
20George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’43.3282.40254

2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1Stint 2Stint 3Stint 4
Max VerstappenC4 (10)C3 (45)
Valtteri BottasC4 (10)C3 (45)
Lewis HamiltonC4 (10)C3 (45)
Alexander AlbonC5 (10)C3 (45)
Lando NorrisC5 (10)C3 (45)
Carlos Sainz JnrC4 (10)C3 (45)
Daniel RicciardoC3 (39)C4 (16)
Pierre GaslyC5 (10)C3 (45)
Esteban OconC4 (10)C3 (45)
Lance StrollC5 (10)C3 (45)
Daniil KvyatC5 (10)C3 (44)
Kimi RaikkonenC4 (10)C3 (44)
Charles LeclercC4 (22)C3 (32)
Sebastian VettelC3 (35)C4 (19)
George RussellC4 (10)C3 (44)
Antonio GiovinazziC4 (27)C3 (27)
Nicholas LatifiC4 (11)C3 (24)C4 (19)
Kevin MagnussenC3 (31)C4 (16)C4 (7)
Pietro FittipaldiC4 (10)C3 (24)C4 (14)C5 (5)
Sergio PerezC3 (8)

2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Max VerstappenRed Bull21.28910
2Nicholas LatifiWilliams21.3570.06811
3Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo21.4800.19127
4Alexander AlbonRed Bull21.5080.21910
5Valtteri BottasMercedes21.5870.29810
6Esteban OconRenault21.6150.32610
7Lando NorrisMcLaren21.8400.55110
8Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri22.0000.71110
9Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo22.0120.72310
10Lance StrollRacing Point22.0360.74710
11Sebastian VettelFerrari22.0400.75135
12George RussellWilliams22.0850.79610
13Daniel RicciardoRenault22.1230.83439
14Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren22.1400.85110
15Charles LeclercFerrari22.1780.88922
16Nicholas LatifiWilliams22.3841.09535
17Lewis HamiltonMercedes22.4061.11710
18Kevin MagnussenHaas22.7141.42531
19Kevin MagnussenHaas23.0981.80947
20Pietro FittipaldiHaas23.2171.92848
21Daniil KvyatAlphaTauri25.7244.43510
22Pietro FittipaldiHaas26.3295.04010
23Pietro FittipaldiHaas28.5017.21234

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2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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One comment on “2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres”

  1. This lap chart is depressingly flat, like this race was.

Comments are closed.