F1 | Abu Dhabi GP, Inaki Rueda analyzes Vettel and Leclerc's strategy at Yas Marina

A disappointing epilogue to an equally disappointing season that took place yesterday on the Yas Marina circuit, a traditionally very difficult track for the Scuderia. As usual, we asked Iñaki Rueda, Head of Race Strategy, to tell us about the approach to the weekend and its progress, with particular reference to strategy.

“Pirelli chose the same tires as last year for the final race of the season so we had a lot of reference data to use in preparing for the weekend. The Softs usually suffer from graining on this track so the aim is to avoid their use in the race: this is why the passage to Q3 with the Mediums was the main objective of qualifying for us, especially with Charles who would have had to serve on the grid the penalty received at the Sakhir Grand Prix. Thanks to an excellent lap in Q2, Charles managed to hit the target we had set ourselves while Seb, who found himself less comfortable with the Mediums, at least tried to place himself as far ahead as possible by making the second, decisive attempt in Q2 with the Softs. In the end, considering that in Q3 Charles didn't find the same feeling with the Softs that he had in Q1, we found ourselves with our two drivers in twelfth and thirteenth position."

What were the scenarios that opened up at the time in view of the race?

“The Yas Marina race usually sees everyone choose the single stop and this year was no exception. With Seb we aimed decisively at having a very long first stint, choosing to start with the only set of Hard available and hoping to be able to come back towards the end with a softer and newer compound than our rivals. With Charles, starting with the Medium tyres, we had an extra margin of flexibility, given that we could decide to bring forward or delay the stop for the transition to the Hard".

How did the race evolve? What was the decisive moment?

“On the first lap Seb managed to pass Charles and both were behind the two Renaults when Sergio Perez's car stopped in the last sector (lap 9), thus bringing the Safety Car onto the track, first virtually and then physically. For Seb, stopping was not an option because he would have been forced to focus on a two-stop strategy while we assessed what to do with Charles: in the end we chose to stay on track because if the majority of our direct rivals had stopped and we would have had we done the same we would still have found ourselves in traffic. At that point it was better to try to do something different so, when we realized that Esteban Ocon was returning to the pits we did the opposite. We thus found ourselves quite ahead in the standings but we knew that it would be temporary: everything depended at that point on how much the others might suffer in the end with worn tyres.”

Our stops therefore came well after those of most of the riders.

“Charles was the first to stop on lap 22. With the Hard tires and a fairly clear track he was immediately 1.3s faster than the center of the group and we could hope to get back into contention for points, given that there were still 33 turns. Seb's stop instead came on lap 35, when there were 20 left to go with a set of Mediums: he too was very fast at the start - almost two seconds - compared to the middle group and therefore there was the chance also for him to be able to try to get back into the fight for points. On this track, however, overtaking is never easy even if you have a faster car and, above all, in traffic the tires overheat a lot so both Seb and Charles found themselves at a certain point with no margin left to try to overtake those behind them. he was in front and our chances of achieving at least a top ten finish disappeared."

The last race of the season also served for a further test of the tires that Pirelli will introduce next year.

“Yes, in FP2 on Friday afternoon we were able to test a tire equal to the Medium of this event. As expected, the times were slower but this is certainly not the point of the test. Pirelli is doing a good job to produce tires that are more robust and can be used with lower pressures than current ones. The most important thing was to collect data to adapt our cars for next year to these tires and the objective was achieved.”