29 Mar 2017

Race 1 – 57 Laps – 5.303km per lap – 302.271km race distance – low tyre wear

Australian GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Rob James from Box of Neutrals.

Formula 1 is officially back, and it looks like we’ve got a real fight on our hands between Mercedes and Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton may have taken pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, but couldn’t hold onto the lead in the race.

A brave strategy call helped Sebastian Vettel leap-frog Hamilton to give Ferrari its first victory since Singapore 2015. F1’s new era didn’t start in particularly dramatic style, but it certainly threw up an interesting result and plenty of exciting moments.

Despite Pirelli’s new, wider tyres being more durable, strategy still played a crucial role in the race. Here are the major strategy headlines to emerge from the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne:

Mercs burning up?

Obviously it’s early days, but the Mercedes W08 does seem to burn up the tyres a bit more than rivals – especially in traffic. Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas both reported a lot of sliding and some overheating on the ultra-soft tyre in the opening stint, especially towards the end. They fared better on the softs but by that time it was tough to recover the lost ground.

Kvyat goes long

We knew from winter testing that the ultra-soft tyre could rack up a lot of laps, but we didn’t expect someone to do a 34-lap stint on them in the race. Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso looked after the ultras beautifully for almost two-thirds of the race, but his strategy and a potential seventh place were derailed when he had to make an unscheduled second stop.

This was due to the team having to top his car up with air. Actually, they had to do that at the first stop too, which cost him time, before bringing him in again with eight laps to go. It shows just how quick the STR12 is that he still managed to finish 9^th.

Durable tyres

As promised from Pirelli, the tyres were much harder and more durable in 2017. It may have caused most to go for a one-stop, but we still saw some good racing. Kvyat’s 34 lap-stint was the longest on the ultra-softs, Kevin Magnussen did 43 on super-softs and Stoffel Vandoorne managed 46 on the softs. Those are quite a bit bigger than the longest stints we saw last year, particularly with the softer compounds.

Overcut works (for some)

Will we be talking more about the overcut, compared to the undercut, in 2017? That could well be the case. The highest profile case of the overcut working as Vettel, who pitted six laps after Hamilton on ultra-softs. His pace was still pretty strong before he pitted and despite having to negotiate some traffic, the advantage gained was still good enough for him to emerge in the lead.

Traffic plays a part

But, he didn’t have as much traffic to pass as Hamilton and the Mercedes couldn’t follow other cars through corners quite as well as the Ferrari. Traffic actually had a big impact on the lead battle. Hamilton got caught behind lapped and slower cars, including Max Verstappen – the Red Bull racer stayed out for a few laps longer than Vettel.

Hamilton quickly got caught behind slower cars, including Max Verstappen, who stayed out a few laps longer than Vettel. This caused the Mercedes racer to lose crucial seconds in the pit stop phase and helped Vettel establish an initial lead.

Overcut doesn’t work (for others)

But while the overcut did work well for Vettel, it didn’t for Kimi Raikkonen. He stayed out one lap longer than Bottas and Verstappen – the cars in front and behind him. But this was later in the stint, perhaps when the tyres were starting to lose performance and didn’t quite have the edge to make it work. He didn’t lose any places, but he didn’t gain much time either.

Hoping for a safety car?

It was truly heartbreaking to see Daniel Ricciardo climb out of his stuck-in-gear car on the formation lap, in front of his home crowd. Red Bull worked fast to repair his car for a pit lane start and did an amazing job repairing it, but by the time the RB13 was ready and emerged on track, Ricciardo was two laps down.

It seems Red Bull were just using it as a test session and possible were waiting for a safety car to help him make up some of the ground, but – surprisingly, for Albert Park – we didn’t see one and Ricciardo retired with an engine failure anyway.

Two stop not the way to go

Most drivers finished the race with only one trip through the pits but a few tried a two-stop strategy, including Nico Hulkenberg. However, he got stuck behind Fernando Alonso early on and then there was a weirdly short middle stint on the softs, which clearly didn’t work well. So, he moved onto scrubbed ultra-softs for the run to the flag but he couldn’t make inroads and finished 11^th.

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Ultrasoft: Kvyat (34 laps!)
Supersoft: Magnussen (43 laps)
Soft: Vandoorne (46 laps)

29 Nov 2016

Race 21 – 55 Laps – 5.554km per lap – 305.355km race distance – low tyre wear

Abu Dhabi GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Nathan Harper from Beermogul Games (Apex Race Manager).

The 2016 Formula 1 season came to a close in tense style at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton winning the race in controversial style after employing tactics to try and snatch the title away from Nico Rosberg.

But second place for Rosberg was enough to take the championship, holding off Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages to become a first-time title winner. The 2016 finale threw up plenty of interesting strategy stories, here are the main headlines:

Verstappen bounces back

Facing the wrong way at the exit of Turn 1 on the opening lap isn’t the ideal situation, but few drivers could go from 22^nd to fourth like Max Verstappen did – at the Yas Marina Circuit of all places, too.

Having clashed with Nico Hulkenberg and dropped to last place, Verstappen put his super-soft tyres (which clearly weren’t badly damaged after his spin) to good use and quickly advanced up the order through the midfield runners, proving how strong the Red Bull car was compared to those further down the grid.

Running long on the super-soft tyre ended up putting Verstappen back into contention, as he was able to lap for longer at a fast pace. It brought him into the play and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, but Vettel’s charge meant he lost out on a possible third place – in part due to Verstappen’s soft tyres fading, as he was one of only two drivers on a one-stop strategy.

Employing the undercut

There were a few interesting strategy points from the first round of stops, in particular the tactics of Ferrari and Red Bull with Kimi Raikkonen and Ricciardo. On ultra-softs, Ferrari pitted Raikkonen on lap seven, giving him two extra laps on fresh Pirelli rubber before Ricciardo stopped.

The two had been close on the track before the stops and Red Bull seemingly pitted Ricciardo on lap nine to not lose too much time against Raikkonen, which proved to be right because he came out just behind the Ferrari. The overcut (if you can call it that) almost worked for Ricciardo.

But he eventually got the jump when Red Bull stopped Ricciardo first on lap 24, going from old softs to new softs. Ferrari reacted but it wasn’t enough and the Red Bull was through.

It all works out for Vettel

After the first round of stops, it wasn’t looking all that great for Vettel. He was running in sixth place, a little way off those ahead of him. But Ferrari actually got their strategy right in the end, despite some feeling a long second stint on softs was a mistake.

In the end, the softs ended up working well for a long stint, helped by the cooler conditions in the night. Vettel briefly held the lead when he stayed out and then pitted later on, for super-softs. This put him on the attack for the final part of the race and he put the tyre advantage to good use from the get-go.

He was quickly able to pass Raikkonen, Ricciardo and Verstappen, moving into third place. But one step higher on the podium wasn’t possible due to Rosberg’s strong top speed, while Vettel’s tyres also went off towards the end. Surprisingly, considering it wasn’t expected to be a good race tyre, the super-softs held up well in the end.

Hamilton does his own thing

This was the main event. Rosberg vs Hamilton for the title and after the first stops, it was Hamilton leading from Rosberg. The title was Rosberg’s at that point and Hamilton knew he had to do something if he wanted to swing it in his favour. But he had few options at his disposal.

The route he chose to take didn’t go down well with Mercedes. He tried to back Rosberg into the chasing pack in the final part of the race, helping Vettel and the Red Bulls to catch up. Mercedes told him several times to speed up but he continued to run at his own pace, which has caused a huge debate.

In the end, Hamilton won from Rosberg, so the plan didn’t quite work. But it was fascinating to see Hamilton putting his own strategy call into play. He spiced up and added a splash of tension into the race, which was welcome from a viewing point of view, but obviously it put Mercedes in a tricky situation. It’ll surely be talked about for quite some time…

Super-soft saves it

Many thought the super-soft tyre should’ve been avoided all weekend but in the race, it actually worked very well. Verstappen used it on his long first stint, with Ricciardo also running it early on as Red Bull gambled in its qualifying strategy. Vettel also put on the super-softs to end the race.

Quite a few drivers also went onto the super-soft tyre for the final stint, seemingly mimicking Vettel. It put them in a stronger position for the run to the flag, but it didn’t have quite the same impact for the likes of Esteban Ocon and Romain Grosjean.

Going long

One driver who did something VERY different was Marcus Ericsson. Because, what did he have to lose? Sauber put him on a ridiculously long first stint on the softs, going all the way to lap 38. By that time he was struggling a lot and fell down the field, but a super-soft stint to end the race helped him make up a bit of ground.

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Ultrasoft: Perez (9 laps)
Supersoft: Verstappen (21 laps)
Soft: Ericsson (38 laps)

16 Nov 2016

Race 20 – 71 Laps – 4.309km per lap – 305.909km race distance – medium tyre wear

Brazilian GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Fernando Campos.

The 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix will be one of those races we’ll all remember for many years to come. Lewis Hamilton took victory in the heavily disrupted race, which took place in wet conditions and included several safety car periods and red flags.

The chaotic and action-packed Brazilian GP saw Nico Rosberg finish in second place, meaning the title fight between the Mercedes duo will go down to the 2016 finale in Abu Dhabi. But all eyes were on Max Verstappen as he swept up the order to third.

But with wet weather came limited strategy, especially with the red flags meaning cars could change tyres if needed. Nevertheless, we’ve picked out the major strategy headlines to emerge from the Brazilian GP as there’s still plenty to be discussed.

Track drying out?

The weather at Interlagos is notoriously difficult and there were several moments where it looked like things would dry out enough for some quicker and more trouble-free running. This tempted several drivers to go onto intermediates, with some gambling in the early stages after the safety car start.

But the rain never really went away and remained quite constant throughout, which meant the inters proved to be the wrong tyre to be on throughout the race. Many did go for inters in that early period, before ending up changing back to the wet compound later on.

No pit stop

Lewis Hamilton became the first driver since Alain Prost at the 1993 German Grand Prix to win a F1 race without making a proper pit stop. Technically he did change tyres twice during the red flags, going for a new set of wets first and then a used set afterwards, but a proper pit stop was never completed by the Mercedes crew on Hamilton’s car.

Strategic tension

One of the main interesting strategic points from the race was the tension and vibe at Mercedes, Hamilton and Rosberg both didn’t want to stop for wets and lose track position, in case of a safety car or red flag – or to lose out to one another.

With the title fight being so close and the stakes being so high, each driver seemed a little wary of what was going on. Pitting could mean being stuck behind the other or losing ground and especially for Hamilton, that would’ve had an impact on the championship. In the end though, both managed to change tyres during the red flags.

Incidents, everywhere

There were quite a few incidents during the race, as you’d expect from the heavy rain and tricky conditions. Romain Grosjean binned his Haas on his way to the grid and didn’t even make the start, while Marcus Ericsson then crashed towards the end of the lap after 14 laps and deployed the safety car.

Kimi Raikkonen smashed his Ferrari on the pit straight, which ended up bringing out the first red flag on lap 20. These incidents and crashes proved to be quite important in the race outcome and the flow of the race too, making it especially stop-start.

Verstappen loses win?

Undoubtedly, Verstappen excelled in the wet conditions and he proved to be quick from the start. He was as high as second at one point in the race and was one of the drivers to pit for intermediates after Ericsson’s crash, ending up going back onto the wets.

Red Bull opted to pit Verstappen for inters once again on lap 43, going for the gamble. It failed and the subsequent pit stop to go back to wets dropped him well outside the top 10 – as low as 15^th. But the feisty and phenomenal way he moved his way back up the grid was truly incredible and will surely be talked about for years.

The pit stop proved to be a mistake and lost him a huge amount of track position. His new wet tyres gave him an advantage but he certainly looked quick all the way through the race, particularly on the wets. You have to think a win could’ve been possible in those conditions after such a fightback.

Button tries something different

Jenson Button is usually brilliant in wet conditions but the two switches he made to inters backfired and he ended up finishing last of those who made the chequered flag. There was simply too much water and too quickly a changing environment on track for the inters and this proved to be costly for track position and the end result.

Wet tyre lasts

It wasn’t particularly surprising but the wet tyre held up decently in the conditions, especially in terms of the life of the tyre. Drivers weren’t happy with how they performed in terms of getting rid of the water, especially with the amount of aquaplaning going on.

But in general the wets did last quite a while without too much wear or degradation, with the longest stints on it being 43 laps (for Hamilton, Rosberg, Sergio Perez, Felipe Nasr and others). The inters held up quite well too, with Bottas going for the longest stint (33 laps). It’s a shame they didn’t quite work as well as the wets too….

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Intermediate: Bottas (33 laps)
Wet: Vettel, Rosberg, Perez, Nasr, Alonso, Kvyat, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Hamilton, Sainz (43 laps)

31 Oct 2016

Race 19 – 71 Laps – 4.304km per lap – 305.354km race distance – medium tyre wear

Mexican GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Peter Anderson from Carsales.com.au.

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez hosted an unusual and intriguing Mexican Grand Prix, which started and ended with high drama. Lewis Hamilton claimed victory to cut the gap to team-mate Nico Rosberg to 19 points in the title fight.

Behind, there were some feisty battles, with three drivers being classified third at some point over Sunday afternoon and evening due to numerous penalties. Once all the dust had settled, it was Daniel Ricciardo completing the top three.

It wasn’t a particularly outstanding race in terms of strategy, but there were some fascinating points to take away from the race. Here are the major strategy headlines to emerge from the Mexican GP weekend

Ricciardo goes long

After the first corner mayhem and incidents, the safety car was quickly dispatched. Several drivers opted to dive into the pit lane straight away, most notably Ricciardo’s Red Bull. He went from super-softs to mediums, going for an aggressive two-stop strategy.

He did a long 49-lap stint on the medium tyre, going through traffic pretty quickly before going onto the soft tyre with 21 laps remaining. This gave him a nice, comfortably achievable final stint on the soft Pirelli compound, which enabled him to close in on the battling Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.

Red Bull looked strong throughout the race, although – like Ferrari – not quite on Mercedes’ pace. This meant Ricciardo was able to move into podium contention and despite finishing fifth on the road, he ended up getting the trophy for P3 anyway.

Vettel does his own thing

Vettel once again did his own strategy, staying out longer on the softs even when his Ferrari pit crew were ready for him. He did a remarkably long opening soft-tyre stint, which was all thanks to being able to make it through to Q2 on the mid-range compound.

He missed getting the longest soft-tyre stint of the race by two laps, pitting after 32 to go onto the medium. The soft as a whole held up well and Vettel was matching those behind him even with his older Pirelli rubber, which is probably why he opted to stay out a couple of laps after being originally called in.

It put him in better shape for the final, intense battles with the Red Bull duo but ultimately his aggression caught up to him, as he was penalised for moving in the braking zone on Ricciardo (ironically, something he’d complained about with Verstappen in previous races).

Perez can’t make it work

Sergio Perez had hoped to get a better result in front of his home crowd, having qualified a disappointing 12^th. But getting stuck behind both Williams drivers meant he couldn’t make the most of being light on his tyres. First, a good start got him caught up behind Valtteri Bottas.

He struggled to get passed the Finnish driver but having moved onto the mediums, he then got stuck behind Felipe Massa. He got ahead of him once, but overcooked it into Turn 1 and fell back behind. The equal top speed and not-as-effective DRS meant he failed to find a way through and settled for 10^th.

Red Bull tries the undercut

The two Mercedes drivers started on the softs, while the Red Bulls went for the super-softs, having used them in Q2. It appears Red Bull tried to undercut Rosberg, the second Silver Arrows on the road, with Ricciardo’s alternative strategy and Verstappen’s earlier stop.

Ricciardo ended up two-stopping with a late soft tyre stint to close in on Verstappen and Vettel. Verstappen pitted for mediums on lap 12 and made it all the way to the end, but Rosberg’s later stop meant he was able to make it to the end without as much degradation and tyre wear, while Verstappen was struggling towards the end.

Penalty drama

Obviously, the result at the chequered flag changed drastically after the race. Verstappen was third but then was given a five-second time penalty for gaining time by cutting the first chicane while battling Vettel. This dropped him to fifth.

There was a horribly awkward moment in the pre-podium room where Verstappen finds that out and has to leave, with Vettel running to make the podium on time. But later in the evening Vettel was given a 10-second penalty for moving under braking while scrapping Ricciardo, dropping him to fifth. Ricciardo was promoted to third (securing P3 in the drivers’ standings) and Verstappen moved back up to third.

Going long

It’s also worth mentioning the mega jobs Marcus Ericsson and Jolyon Palmer did, stopping on lap one and going all the way to the end on medium tyres. The Sauber’s drive was particularly impressive, as he finished 11^th after being crashed into by Pascal Wehrlein on lap one.

He ditched his softs on lap one, while pitting for repairs, and made his mediums last a staggering 69 laps. Palmer also stopped on lap one after the safety car was deployed and matched that stint number, finishing 14^th after starting last. Both showed good pace even in the final laps.

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Supersoft: Kvyat (23 laps)
Soft: Kvyat (34 laps)
Medium: Ericsson, Palmer (69 laps)