<p>In the strip rolling process, accurate evaluation of rolling force is important for the design of the rolling schedule and production of high-performance strips. To achieve this purpose, a novel hybrid model of the slab method and upper bound method is developed and applied to estimate the strip rolling force. The novelty and strong point of the approach is that it can achieve both high estimation accuracy and more physical meanings for rolling force prediction. To confirm the validity of the proposed novel model, strip rolling experiments are designed and carried out. At the same time, the strip rolling force estimated by the established novel model is compared with those of the traditional slab method and upper bound method, which found that this novel model has better precision for strip rolling force prediction. The research results of this work indicate that the proposed hybrid model can be applicable for guiding the actual production of high-quality strips.</p>