Buckle up, because we’re trading the dazzling lights of Las Vegas for the breathtaking Abu Dhabi sunset. That’s right, a swift journey of over 13,000 kilometres, and we find ourselves at Yas Marina, all set to witness the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for the 15th time. And Pirelli is excited too.

Can you believe it? Eleven of those times, it’s been the curtain call of the season. Talk about ending the show with a bang.

Now, Yas Marina isn’t your run-of-the-mill track. They’ve given it a makeover in 2021, a facelift to make it faster, more flowing, and, might I say, even more exciting. The petrolheads amongst us will know that modifications mean more chances for overtaking, and we’ve seen that drama unfold in the last two races here.

Yas Marina might not be a tyre muncher, but it has its quirks, especially the frontal axle feeling those vertical loads. To tackle this, Pirelli is rolling out the tire trio: C3 as the tough nut, C4 as the middle ground, and C5 as the sprinter.

Same choices as last year, mirroring the selection we had at the Vegas showdown just a weekend ago. 

Now, what’s the after-party plan? As is customary for Pirelli now, there will be a test day on the cards for the Tuesday post grand prix. Each team will provide two cars – one for the young guns and the other, in theory, to kick the tyres around.

But, here’s the plot twist – no new compounds in the mix. The FIA dropped the memo that the 2024 compounds are a copy-paste job of this year’s, just fewer in number. Now, what’s the game plan for the test, you ask? It’s all about gathering intel for next season, especially on tire management. The teams will get a fixed tyre allocation for this tyre tango.

The tyre workhorse gets 10 sets for the test drive, featuring a C1, a C2, two C5s, and the golden trio of C4s and C3s. Meanwhile, the young blood car gets a little less – two sets each of C3 and C5, and four sets of C4.

As we gear up for the grand finale, the chosen ones are C3 as the P Zero White hard, C4 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C5 as the P Zero Red soft.

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