Monaco Grand Prix 2016

31 May 2016

 

Race 6 – 78 Laps – 3.337km per lap – 260.286km race distance – very low tyre wear

Monaco GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – featuring Rob James from the Box of Neutrals podcast.

Monaco is the most prestigious, glamorous and unique event on the Formula 1 calendar and the challenging street track produced another thrilling grand prix on Sunday. The race featured so many different elements and incidents, but Lewis Hamilton emerged from it all to claim his first win of 2016.

Strategy once again played a crucial part in the race. Conditions were ideal for producing a stunning spectacle, starting in very wet conditions but gradually drying out as things progressed. Here are all of the main strategy stories from the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix:

Red Bull takes a risk

Many were expecting rain at some point on Sunday but Red Bull Racing still opted to take a risk in qualifying and attempt to get Daniel Ricciardo through to Q3 on the super-soft tyre, meaning he would start on that compound if things remained dry.

Red Bull left it late fitting the red-marked tyre to his car in Q2, meaning no one was able to copy that strategy, but it proved to work and Ricciardo easily progressed through to the top 10 shoot-out. Obviously the rain arrived in time for the race start, making the decision redundant, but what could have happened if things were dry?

It is hard to really predict how the race could have panned out. A two-stop race was theoretically fastest but traffic problems would have cost drivers time, so a one-stop was always going to be the preferred option.

The super-soft tyre showed good performance and durability during practice, as the middle compound of the three taken to Monaco by Pirelli. Running a longer first stint if things had remained dry, having started from pole position, would have helped Ricciardo stay out of traffic and given him an advantage when the ultra-softs started to go off.

With Monaco being so difficult to overtake on as well, it could have helped him stay out front for longer. But then, if he had lost a few positions early on while others were on ultra-softs and then gone to the new purple-marked compound for his final stint, he could have struggled to get past the cars on the slower tyres.

Vettel makes an early move

Kevin Magnussen was the first to move onto the intermediate tyres early on in the race, just as his team-mate crashed. Sebastian Vettel was the first front-runner to make the switch and initially times were quite comparable, but the inters soon found more grip and speed.

The problem was, the early stoppers found themselves in slower traffic and that severely impacted their races – Vettel got stuck behind Felipe Massa, Jenson Button struggled to get past Pascal Werhlein. So Rosberg and leader Ricciardo actually benefitted in that respect, with their late stops, saving them from losing ground.

Mercedes keep Hamilton out

This was quite a brave decision. The move over from intermediates to dry tyres is a very tricky one to get right and going too early, especially in Monaco, can prove costly. But when Marcus Ericsson and a few other drivers dived into the pits and moved onto slicks, their times soon proved it was the right moment.

Mercedes took a risk keeping Hamilton out for so long on the full wets but the degradation of the tyres and wear of the grooves meant he was able to keep up a decent pace. Ricciardo soon caught up to the W07 but of course, then Mercedes rolled the dice and pitted him for dry tyres. Hamilton undercut Riccardo slightly but he went off on his out-lap, which cost him time.

Fortunately for Hamilton, Red Bull were not ready with Ricciardo’s super-soft tyres and so he ended up emerging behind the Mercedes. Had that not been the case, the small off would have been a big help to Ricciardo snatching the lead back. It was interesting to see so many drivers going for different compounds and that was also the case at the front.

Hamilton went for the ultra-softs, which had more performance but were not as durable and he struggled initially in the cooler conditions. Ricciardo was on the super-softs and they were less of a risk for getting to the end, but he was stuck behind Hamilton and took a lot out of them before the Silver Arrows’ tyres found the sweet spot late on.

Low tyre wear all round

As always in Monaco, tyre wear was very low and this would have likely saw a one-stop race had things remained dry. Hamilton still went for that strategy due to Mercedes’ risk keeping him out but wear on the full wets and the ultra-softs was impressive, with 31 and 37 laps respectively on each.

Across the board, most of the drivers were able to get long stints out of their wet, inter and slick tyres. The soft compound proved to be strong initially for those who switched to it from inters and it held up well, but the ultra-soft and super-soft-shod cars had the advantage once the temperatures rose and the tyres rubbered in.

Hamilton soldiered on with his tyres in the final laps but Ricciardo struggled even more, probably from his early attacking laps in the stints and being stuck behind the Mercedes for so long. The slow pitstop cost him dearly and had it not happened, he would have likely gone on to take victory, especially as he looked to have far superior pace early on in the dry part of the race.

Hardest tyre gets some use

Unlike previous rounds, the hardest tyre in the range – the soft – got some use during the race and held up well pace-wise against the ultra-soft and super-soft, helped by the conditions, temperatures and the track evolution. Sergio Perez went for the alternative strategy and did a great job to finish third, with Vettel and Nico Hulkenberg also doing the same and performing well in the final laps. The latter was even able to nab sixth from Rosberg on the line.

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Soft: Perez (48 laps)
Supersoft: Button (47 laps)
Ultrasoft: Rosberg, Hamilton (47 laps)
Intermediate: Nasr (24 laps)
Wet: Wehrlein, Hamilton (31 laps)

Most Stops

Magnussen, Haryanto, Nasr, Bottas, Ericsson (3 – including drive-throughs)

All the Data

Thanks to Pirelli Motorsport for the detailed infographics

Stints by Driver

Safety Car Lap 1-9 Lap 35-36 Lap 49   3. Ricciardo Start P1 Wet 23 laps Pit 25.054 Intermediate 9 laps Pit 35.327 Used Supersoft  46 laps – Finished P2 (-1)   5. Vettel Start P4 Wet 13 laps Pit 25.114 Intermediate 18 laps Pit 25.561 Soft 47 laps – Finished P4 (+0)   6. Rosberg Start P2 Wet 20 laps Pit 26.698 Intermediate 11 laps Pit 27.680 Used Ultrasoft 47 laps – Finished P7 (-5)   7. Raikkonen Start P11 Wet 10 laps – Retired Lap 10 (DNF)   8. Grosjean Start P15 Wet 15 laps Pit 33.490 Intermediate 15 laps Pit 25.111 Ultrasoft 46 laps – Finished P13 (+2)   9. Ericsson Start P19 Wet 11 laps Pit 27.176 Intermediate 15 laps Pit 26.435 Ultrasoft 20 laps Pit 33.342 Used Ultrasoft 2 laps – Retired Lap 51 (DNF)   11. Perez Start P7 Wet 21 laps Pit 25.714 Intermediate 9 laps Pit 25.608 Soft 48 laps – Finished P3 (+4)   12. Nasr Start Pitlane Wet 8 laps Pit 28.242 Intermediate 24 laps Pit 26.836 Ultrasoft 16 laps – Retired Lap 48 (DNF)   14. Alonso Start P9 Wet 14 laps Pit 25.512 Intermediate 18 laps Pit 26.836 Supersoft 46 laps – Finished P5 (+4)   19. Massa Start P14 Wet 20 laps Pit 24.934 Intermediate 12 laps Pit 25.182 Supersoft 45 laps – Finished P10 (+4)   20. Magnussen Start P16 Wet 7 laps Pit 25.583 Intermediate 14 laps Pit 38.811 Intermediate 8 laps Pit 25.879 Supersoft 3 laps Pit 31.241 Retired L32 (DNF)

21. Guttierrez Start P12 Wet 16 laps Pit 26.044 Intermediate 16 laps Pit 27.407 Ultrasoft 45 laps – Finished P11 (+1)   22. Button Start P8 Wet 8 laps Pit 25.766 Intermediate 22 laps Pit 25.450 Supersoft 47 laps – Finished P9 (-1)   26. Kvyat Start P8 Wet 7 laps Pit 27.698 Intermediate 11 laps – Retired Lap 18 (DNF)   27. Hulkenberg Start P5 Wet 15 laps Pit 25.215 Intermediate 16 laps Pit 27.064 Soft 47 laps – Finished P6 (+1)   30. Palmer Start P18 Wet 7 laps – Retired Lap 7 (DNF)   33. Verstappen Start Pitlane Wet 12 laps Pit 25.604 Intermediate 19 laps Pit 25.459 Soft 3 laps – Retired Lap 34 (DNF)   44. Hamilton Start P3 Wet 31 laps Pit 26.315 Ultrasoft 47 laps – Finished P1 (+2)   55. Sainz Start P8 Wet 21 laps Pit 27.738 Intermediate 10 laps Pit 28.112 Supersoft 46 laps – Finished P8 (+0)   77. Bottas Start P10 Wet 15 laps Pit 27.364 Intermediate 25 laps Pit 25.478 Supersoft 19 laps Pit 24.673 Ultrasoft 28 laps – Finished P12 (-2)   88. Haryanto Start P19 Wet 11 laps Pit 29.117 Intermediate 23 laps Pit 27.380 Ultrasoft 13 laps Pit 26.292 Used Ultrasoft 27 laps – Finished P15 (+4)   94. Wehrlein Start P20 Wet 31 laps Pit 26.517 Ultrasoft 45 laps – Finished P14 (+6)