22 Jun 2016

Race 8 – 51 Laps – 6.003km per lap – 306.049km race distance – low tyre wear

European GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – featuring Cheeka Eyers from the podcast For Formula One’s Sake.

With a new track hosting the returning European Grand Prix, there were plenty of exciting unknowns heading into round eight of the 2016 Formula 1 season.

The unique Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan certainly produced a stunning backdrop and got plenty of people talking, but the race itself was pretty low-key.

Nico Rosberg stormed to a clear victory from Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez. But while the race wasn’t the most thrilling of the 2016 events so far, it did spark more strategy stories than we were expecting.

Baku plays to Mercedes’ strengths

The long straights of the Baku street track were always going to suit the Mercedes-powered cars, so coupled with the strong chassis of the championship leading W07, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were always going to be tough to beat.

The mix of incredible straightline speed and brilliant poise through the corners really highlighted the Mercedes’ strength, while also showcasing the flaws of Red Bull’s Renault power unit and the downforce levels of the likes of Williams and Manor.

Ferrari changes its mind?

Early in the European GP, it looked as if Ferrari were going for a two-stop strategy. With higher temperatures and a rapidly evolving track, tyre wear and degradation rates looked a bit higher than expected. So the radio call came in around lap seven to pit Vettel but he was sceptical.

Instead Ferrari opted to stop Kimi Raikkonen early, but the Finn managed to eke out his soft tyres to the end, while Vettel was happy on the super-softs until lap 20 and easily made it to the finish with just one stop. So, it looked like the switch back to a one-stop was the right call after all.

Red Bull struggles

But while Ferrari’s car worked well on its tyres, the Red Bull cars struggled with wear and degradation, possibly due to the team using less downforce to try and compensate for the RB12’s lack of grunt on the straights.

Both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen stopped early to get rid of the super-softs, going to the softs. But while others were able to get them into the working range and extend their stints, the RBR cars chewed them up and needed to pit for a second time.

Clearly worried about getting to the end, Red Bull went for the rarely-used medium compound for the final stints, which worked quite well and meant Ricciardo and Verstappen were able to make up for the lost ground to rise up to seventh and eighth.

Strategy calls fail to work

Lewis Hamilton started down in 10th after his qualifying contact with the wall but his early progress and strong strategy with a one-stop, pitting on lap 15 to switch from super-softs to softs, looked to be good enough for a positive result.

He could well have finished ahead of Perez but starting so low down and the deployment issue he had, after a set-up problem which he radioed about frantically, meant he couldn’t make up much more ground.

Nico Hulkenberg tried something different from outside the top 10 and started on the softs but the super-soft edge in the early laps meant he lost too many places initially to really make an impact higher up the order, finishing ninth – in Perez’s shadow once again. It was the same for the other soft-tyre starters, Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein (before the latter retired).

Meanwhile at the back, Rio Haryanto impressed to qualify 17th but a first lap pitstop for a new nose put him on a different strategy. Manor opted to see if he could get to the end on the softs and he did, which is quite an achievement. But he was well off the pace of the rest of the pack, despite the car’s more encouraging pace in practice and qualifying.

Not a two-stop race

Pirelli expected it to be a one-stop race for pretty much everyone but that didn’t prove to be the case. The higher temperatures and track evolution meant everyone was heading into the race with lots of unknowns to contend with and it proved to be too much for some.

The Red Bulls, Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Felipe Nasr, Romain Grosjean, Jolyon Palmer, Esteban Gutierrez and Ericsson actually all stopped twice, probably due to these different conditions and the fact they spent a lot of the race in the close midfield traffic.

The one-stop proved to ultimately be the best strategy if the cars were good on their tyres and the drivers were in a fair amount of clean air. The fact that the top six cars only pitted once shows which pit option had the advantage.

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Medium: Verstappen (31 laps)
Soft: Haryanto (48 laps)
Supersoft: Hulkenberg (31 laps)

Most Stops

Image: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN – JUNE 19: Daniel Ricciardo of Australia driving the (3) Red Bull Racing Red Bull-TAG Heuer RB12 TAG Heuer on track during the European Formula One Grand Prix at Baku City Circuit on June 19, 2016 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

14 Jun 2016

Race 7 – 70 Laps – 4.361km per lap – 305.270km race distance – low tyre wear

Canadian GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – featuring Ernie Black the F1 Poet.

Image: MONTREAL, QC – JUNE 12: Daniel Ricciardo of Australia driving the (3) Red Bull Racing Red Bull-TAG Heuer RB12 TAG Heuer and Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing Red Bull-TAG Heuer RB12 TAG Heuer on track at the start during the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 12, 2016 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Formula 1 travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix. The tricky, unforgiving and unusual circuit hosted the seventh round of the 2016 season and saw Lewis Hamilton claim his second win in a row.

Nico Rosberg’s advantage was severely cut by Hamilton’s victory, with the German coming home a distant fifth, with Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen between the Mercedes duo. Here are the major strategy stories and headlines from the Canadian GP weekend:

One vs two stop

Heading into the race, a one-stop strategy was said to be the quickest, due to low degradation rates and the durability of the two softest Pirelli tyre compounds – the super-soft and ultra-soft. A two-stopper was the more aggressive strategy and depended on drivers moving through traffic quickly, as well as getting tyres up to temperature quickly.

Hamilton and Vettel went for two very different strategies, with the Mercedes driver emerging in front. The W07 was clearly the quicker of the two cars, although the margin looked much smaller in Canada, but could Vettel have taken the fight to Hamilton in the same strategy?

He struggled to cut the gap after his second stop on the softs and his pace on the super-soft wasn’t anything to right home about, the middle tyre didn’t seem to work for most of the field. So it seems likely he could have been in a better position if he had stopped once, he was leading when he pitted anyway so would have had track position.

Interestingly Hamilton claimed after the race Mercedes were planning to two-stop the race but opted to pit just once after seeing Vettel stop surprisingly early, switching strategy. It worked out for the Englishman. With low tyre degradation, cooler conditions and the Mercedes’ strong pace, it proved to be the best option for him. There wasn’t much between a one and two stop but it appears Ferrari once again made the wrong call.

Not quite ultra-soft enough?

The ultra-soft tyre is meant to be the softest in Pirelli’s range but it seems to be lasting quite some distance. During its appearances so far in F1, the compound has been used extensively and has proved to last far longer than some were expecting. For example, Kevin Magnussen was able to do 29 laps on his set of ultra-softs during the Canadian GP, many others went well past the 20-lap mark.

The super-soft is also holding up quite well in terms of durability and degradation, although performance is less favourable and it wasn’t used much in Montreal. This partly due to the fact teams had to put two sets of soft tyres aside for the race and use at least one (rather than having two compounds nominated and having to use both, weirdly) so the ultra-soft was the better option for a second tyre.

It begs the question, are these tyres too durable? They seem to not be soft enough. Drivers have said they want a more aggressive ultra-soft tyre, they want more performance and higher wear. That’s what they expect from the softest compound in the Pirelli range. Perhaps durability was helped by the cooler conditions in Canada and it will be different in warmer climates, but Pirelli needs to take a look into this and see what can be done for next year to create more of a difference between the compounds.

Perez doesn’t make it work

Sergio Perez was one of the drivers with free tyre choice, having not made it through to Q3, to start the race on the soft tyre. It looked like the decision could pay off, the Force India and Perez in particular has completed some great stints during the season so far on the softs and doing something different in Canada can have a big impact on the end position.

However, Perez struggled to make the alternative strategy work, particularly with getting heat into the soft tyres during the opening stint. He admitted after the race the decision to go soft, super-soft and soft on strategy (a two-stop) was probably the wrong one. Starting 11^th and the first of the free tyre choice drivers, he had a real chance to challenge for good points but in the end he had to settle for 10^th – not helped by getting stuck in traffic and a slow pitstop.

Ricciardo stuck in traffic

Daniel Ricciardo looked to be on a good strategy but traffic during his stints negatively impacted his race and this meant he finished down in seventh, having started in fourth. He lost ground at the start, falling behind his team-mate, and looked the quicker Red Bull in the early stages, but he struggled to pass other cars and get in clean air.

Tyre wear was low, but being stuck behind traffic sped the process up for Ricciardo and a lock-up on the softs didn’t help matters either. A two-stop race with one ultra-soft stint and two soft tyre stints on paper looked to be almost ideal but a number of factors meant that simply wasn’t the case for Ricciardo.

Williams rule the pitlane

The Williams team has found the sweet spot with its pitstops, to the point where it took the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award for the seventh consecutive race in Canada. Valtteri Bottas had four tyres changed in just 2.11 seconds in Montreal and the consistent nature of the Williams pitstops is giving them a small but handy advantage in the race.

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Soft: Alonso (52 laps)
Supersoft: Vettel (26 laps)
Ultrasoft: Magnussen (29 laps)

Most Stops

Grojean (3 – including drive-throughs)

All the Data

Thanks to Pirelli Motorsport for the detailed infographics

Stints by Driver

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

31 May 2016

6ª Etapa – 78 Voltas – 3.337km por volta – 260.286km distância total – desgaste muito baixo de pneus

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

Mônaco é sem sombra de dúvidas o evento mais prestigiado e glamouroso evento no calendário da F1 e sua desafiadora pista de rua proporcionou mais uma corrida sensacional com diversas nuâncias, incidentes e Lewis Hamilton cruzou a linha de chegada em primeiro após as 78 voltas.

A estratégia foi mais uma vez uma parte essencial da corrida e as condições climáticas produziram um espetáculo, começando com uma pista extremamente molhada e gradualmente chegando aos traçados secos.

Red Bull arisca

Muitos já esperavam um domingo chuvoso no horário da corrida, mesmo assim, a RBR ainda optou por tentar passar pelo Q2 com pneus super macios calçando o carro de Daniel Ricciardo, com o objetivo de também tê-los na largada do GP.

A equipe saiu tarde para a pista, evitando que alguém copiasse sua estratégia, e o australiano teve vida fácil para se classificar com os pneus vermelhos. O clima monegasco acabou jogando um balde de água fria nos planos da Red Bull, mas o que poderia ter acontecido se a corrida tivesse sido no seco?

Obviamente é complicado imaginar o que poderia ter acontecido. A estratégia de duas paradas era considerada como a opção mais rápida, entretanto, problemas com o tráfego poderiam tornar a opção de apenas uma parada mais viável.

Os pneus vermelhos apresentaram boa performance e durabilidade durante a sexta-feira, portanto, largar da pole e partir para um stint mais longo poderia ter ajudado Ricciardo a evitar o trânsito e ainda ter uma grande vantagem quando os ultra macios começassem a acabar.

Com toda a dificuldade de ultrapassar nas ruas do principado, ficar mais tempo na pista poderia representar uma grande vantagem. Contudo, se perdesse posições e voltasse com os pneus mais rápidos, seria extremamente complicado escalar o pelotão, que estaria com os compostos mais lentos.

Vettel tenta dar o pulo do gato

Kevin Magnussen foi o primeiro a apostar na mudança para os Intermediários logo no começo da prova, justo quando seu companheiro de equipe abandonou a prova. Sebastian Vettel foi o primeiro dos ponteiros a tentar imitá-lo. Os tempos foram bem parelhos nas primeiras voltas mas os pneus verdes rapidamente acharam mais aderência e velocidade.

Entretanto, os pilotos que pararam mais cedo acabaram ficando presos atrás de pilotos mais lentos, prejudicando gravemente suas corridas. Vettel ficou preso atrás de Felipe Massa e Jenson Button encontrou dificuldades para superar Pascal Werhlein. Com isso, Rosberg e Ricciardo se beneficiaram com as paradas tardias, evitando uma perda de tempo extra.

Mercedes estica o Stint de Hamilton

A decisão da equipe alemã foi muito corajosa. A transferência de pneus de chuva para slicks sempre é muito complicada e quando feita muito cedo, especialmente em Mônaco, pode custar caro. Após Marcus Ericsson e alguns outros pilotos arriscarem a mudança, as condições de pista se mostraram perfeitas para a Mercedes completar a manobra.

A equipe arriscou em deixar Hamilton na pista com pneus azuis por tanto tempo, entretanto, o desgaste dos pneus e das ranhuras auxiliaram-no a manter um ritmo de corrida razoável. Ricciardo logo alcançou o W07, a Mercedes arriscou a mudança para os slicks e Hamilton conseguiu um pequeno undercut em Ricciardo, vantagem essa que foi jogada pela janela graças a um erro do inglês na volta subsequente.

Para a sorte do tricampeão, a RBR não estava preparada para o pit-stop do australiano, resultando na manutenção da liderança de Hamilton. Não fosse o erro crasso da equipe austríaca, Ricciardo teria recuperado a liderança. Mônaco proporcionou um leque enorme de estratégias e isso não foi diferente no pelotão dianteiro.

Hamilton colocou os ultra macios, que tinham mais performance mas não duravam tanto e demoravam para aquecer, especialmente com o traçado esfriado por conta da chuva. Já Ricciardo calçou super macios, com a garantia de que chegaria ao final do GP sem sustos. Contudo, o australiano ficou preso atrás da Mercedes e judiou de seus pneus em tentativas frustradas de recuperar a liderança, enquanto Hamilton apenas preservava seus ultra macios.

Baixo desgaste de pneus

Como sempre vemos em Mônaco, o desgaste de pneus foi extremamente baixo, cenário perfeito para a tentativa de apenas uma parada caso a pista tivesse continuado seca. Hamilton ainda completou a corrida nessa estratégia devido a aposta da Mercedes de mantê-lo na pista. O desgaste nos pneus azuis e roxos foi inacreditável, com o inglês completando 31 e 37 voltas respectivamente em cada composto.

Em todo pelotão, a maioria dos pilotos conseguiu esticar bem seus stints tanto com pneus de chuva, quanto com slicks. Os macios provaram ser fortes logo após a transição, no entanto, Ultra e super macios recuperaram a vantagem assim que a temperatura subiu e a aderência aumentou.

Hamilton arrastou seus ultra macios até o fim da prova, mas Daniel Ricciardo sofreu ainda mais com os pneus vermelhos devido aos ataques em busca da liderança da prova. O pit-stop longo custo caro, muito provavelmente custou até uma vitória, especialmente considerando a superioridade da RBR em ritmo de corrida no começo da prova.

Composto mais duro também é usado

Ao contrário das corridas anteriores, o composto mais duro do fim de semana foi usado com uma certa frequência e ainda conseguiu competir em pé de igualdade com ultra e super macios, ajudado pela temperatura e pelas condições da pista. Sergio Perez buscou uma estratégia alternativa e conseguiu levar sua Force India a um surpreende pódio, com Vettel e Hulkenberg apostando na mesma estratégia e terminando o GP com muita competitividade.

Texto Original: Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1 – BR version by Fernando Campos.

Stints mais longos

Macios: Perez – 48 Voltas
Super Macios: Button – 47 Voltas
Ultra Macios: Rosberg / Hamilton – 47 Voltas
Intermediários: Nasr – 24 Voltas
Chuva: Hamilton / Wehrlein – 31 Voltas

Mais paradas

Magnussen, Haryanto, Nasr, Bottas, Ericsson – 3

All the Data

Pirelli Motorsport 

Stints by Driver