Yas Marina Circuit · Abu Dhabi
58 laps · 5.281 km per lap · Pirelli C3 Hard / C4 Medium / C5 Soft
Yas Marina closes the Formula 1 season, its striking marina-side setting and the illuminated Yas Hotel bridge over the track giving it one of the most visually distinctive backdrops on the calendar. A significant 2021 redesign shortened several corners and widened key sections specifically to improve overtaking, addressing years of criticism that the circuit produced processional racing.
The lap now mixes genuine high-speed sections with a tighter final sector, giving drivers real opportunities to attack into the hairpins that follow the two main straights. Degradation is on the milder side of the calendar, and the smooth, modern surface keeps tyre behaviour relatively predictable.
As the final round of the season, Yas Marina often carries championship weight beyond its own characteristics — a title fight still alive here plays out with every strategic call scrutinised for its effect on the final standings, not just the race result.
Pirelli nominates the C3 Hard, C4 Medium and C5 Soft for Abu Dhabi. With degradation on the lower side, the compound choice matters less for pure survival than for how it interacts with the circuit's genuine overtaking chances into the post-redesign hairpins.
Comfortably durable enough to anchor a one-stop race to the flag. Most straightforward strategies at Yas Marina lean on this compound for the majority of the race distance.
A common starting tyre and the anchor of two-stop plans, offering a clear pace step over the Hard while managing a competitive stint length.
Q3 runners start on the Soft under the usual rules. Its shorter life is a manageable factor given the circuit's genuine overtaking chances, which make recovering from an early stop more realistic than at a tighter circuit.
The 2021 layout changes transformed Yas Marina from one of the calendar's most processional circuits into one with a solidly above-average overtaking score. The shortened, widened final sector in particular gives following cars genuine chances to attack into the hairpin that leads onto the pit straight.
As a season finale, the circuit also carries strategic weight beyond its own characteristics: teams fighting for a championship position often make more conservative calls than the pure racing situation would otherwise dictate, prioritising a safe points finish over an aggressive gamble when the title is on the line.
The standard plan given the circuit's moderate degradation: start on the Medium, pit once for the Hard, and use the redesigned final sector's overtaking chances to make up any places lost in the pit stop.
A pace-focused alternative for a driver who needs to make up ground, using consistently fresher tyres to attack through the final sector's hairpins.
For a driver defending a championship position, the priority often shifts from maximum pace to minimising risk — a conservative one-stop that guarantees a solid points finish can be worth more than a gamble for a better result.
The two main straights are Yas Marina's clear deployment zones, and a well-charged battery there directly sets up the overtaking chances into the hairpins that follow, especially in the reworked final sector.
The tighter final sector offers the circuit's best harvesting opportunity, recovering the energy needed for the run back onto the pit straight and giving drivers a genuine chance to convert a well-managed battery into a season-ending overtake.
A one-stop is 7.3 s faster than the best two-stop in clean air.
One-stop pit window: lap 22–31 of 58
Single car, no traffic, track position or Safety Car — so PITWALL shows stop count and timing but no compound order: in 2026 the model prefers finishing on softs, while teams mostly ran medium → hard. Model circuit-1. How the model is calibrated →
The 2026 race is on 2026-12-06; its strategy data appears here afterwards.
Build your strategy for Yas Marina in PITWALL. Close out the season with a strategy built for the redesigned final sector's overtaking chances.
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