The Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi has held the season ending race for around 10 years now, and was reprofiled a few years ago to get rid of some fiddly sections and make the lap quicker and more flowing. The new layout is probably more popular on balance than the old one (I certainly prefer it).

For a race setup here, it’s historically been a medium-high downforce track. But on F1 24, you’re looking at medium downforce to find a compromise between the two long straights and the twisty sections, but also properly defend on the straights with the over-powered ERS.

Here’s a general dry race setup for Abu Dhabi for a pad user:

• Wings – 22/24
• Diff – 10/45/50
• Camber/Toe – -2.50/-2.20/0.00/0.20 (LLL/20)
• Suspension – 39-5-15-9-25-58
• Brakes – 100% Pressure/53% Bias
• Tyre Pressures – Maximum all tyres

Hotlap Using This Setup

 

Tyre temperatures and stability over a longer stint can be a challenge here, but this seems to be a decent setup to get started with for a race. It’s weaker in the twisty sectors 1 and 3, but very strong on the straights. I managed to qualify and finish a Kick Sauber ahead of where it should be, so seems to work.

More Setup Info & Tips

Wing Levels – For pure single lap pace, you’d normally want wing levels in the high 20s to early 30s here, but you’ll just get eaten up on the straights doing that on the ’24 game. You need the rear wing at 25 or lower for enough straight line speed to defend in the DRS zones. For me, 22/24 with the standard 2 click spacing for better stability, works on a pad.

Tyre Pressures – Very simple round here – max pressures all tyres, no other way. The fronts you can just about keep under control, but the rear temps can be hard to control even using maximum pressures if you’re too aggressive on the traction (more on this below).

Intermediate Conditions – You’ll never see rain in career mode here, but if someone sticks some wet weather conditions on in a lobby, your dry setup will work OK in intermediate conditions. But I’d always space the rear wing 3 clicks above the front for easier traction and stability. You can also add 1-2 clicks of wing optionally, and reduce your On Throttle Diff down to 10 to make the traction easier to apply.

Full Wet Conditions – Again, very rarely will you race in the wet at Yas Marina, but if it’s full wet heavy rain, you’d probably want to make some more drastic adjustments to the suspension settings, and also add a bunch more wing so you’re pushing up to high downforce levels.

Here’s a suggested full wet race setup for a pad user:

• Wings – 27/30
• Diff – 10/55/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.00/0.13
• Suspension –  38-4-14-7-29-61
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/50% Bias
• Tyre pressures – Maximum all tyres

Bonus Setup Resources

You can definitely go a lot more aggressive on setups for single lap pace than the one I’ve posted, but they’re unlikely to be controllable over a longer race with the overheating issues here. For some different setup routes, here are some resources to check out:

• For a more aggressive race setup, check out the SimRacingSetups channel’s Yas Marina setup for this game. But be aware it’s created on a wheel and designed for wheel and therefore may not translate well over to a controller user without some tweaking. If you use this one, maybe try porting over my wing and Differential settings from above, plus your own preferred brake settings. Also be aware this setup might be harder to control with worn and/or overheating tyres.
• F1laps.com Abu Dhabi page – Another car setup forum with pages for every track, and loads of custom setups posted, both TT and race, all cars, all conditions.
• F1gamesetup.com – An even more specialized resource with custom setups, every car and every track, wet and dry weather.
• Sim Racing Centre (Premium) – Paid setup packs (individual tracks or bundle packs) designed by eSports drivers, therefore more aggressive and wheel focused. But may work on a pad if you’re used to the handling and are willing to apply some tweaks (their support guys can help with this).

Racing & Strategy Tips

Abu Dhabi is usually an eventful and busy race, with overtaking very possible and safety cars not uncommon. Here’s some tips for navigating a weekend here.

ERS (Qualifying) – You’ve got loads of extra Overtake ERS mode to use on flying Quali laps in online races here – basically as much as you want on the straights. You can use it on the pit straight and two DRS straights, plus anywhere else in sector 1 you can. Be sure to use it as it really boosts acceleration and top speed. Ideally, you’d aim to drain the yellow ERS bar just as you cross the line to finish a flying lap, but it’s actually quite hard to use it all up here as you recoup so much in the braking zones.

Overheating Tyres – The rear tyres (especially the right rear) are a real problem round here with all the traction zones. The soft tyre is a no-go in the race (it’s a medium-hard strategy), and even the medium and hard tyres can start to overheat as well, even with max tyre pressures. The only partial way around this is to be that bit more patient and progressive on the throttle out of slow corners. Because assisted traction is so easy on this game (especially medium TC), it can be tempting to slam on the power early and “lean” on the tyres in prolonged corners, but this exacerbates the overheating even more. Try to wait a fraction longer before getting on the power and do so a bit more gradually to lessen the rate at which the rear tyres get to that 107-110 Celsius mark.

Defending (Race) – Holding position is actually very possible here as long as you use your ERS sparingly and smartly, as it recoups so strongly on this game. For defending, just deploy all your ERS along both the DRS straights, and don’t use it anywhere else in the lap to let it recharge. Does work if you set your wing levels low enough and focus on getting good exits onto the two long straights.

Pit Strategy – The “undercut” – where you come in 1-2 earlier than your planned strategy – can be super powerful because of the high tyre degradation and also because AI cars often waste loads of time battling each other in the DRS zones. In my first career mode race here, by coming in 2 laps early I was able to jump from 7th to 1st and hold position from there (see above) to win. Can be a good thing to try if you’ve a bunch of cars up ahead.