27 Jun 2017

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

Azerbaijan GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Ted Kravitz from Sky Sports F1.

So straightforward was the 2016 European Grand Prix, held on the streets of Azeri capital Baku, that few expected the retitled 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix to be anything more than another snooze-fest.

Instead the Caspian Sea-set race proved one of the most dramatic of the season to date. Carbon fibre shards sprinkled the streets like confetti such was the ferocity with which Formula One’s 20 drivers took to the challenge of sport’s most unusual circuit, as if to make up for last year’s dearth of racing.

Few of the thrills and spills came about through strategy, however — indeed it was more a race of circumspection than tactical execution — but the reasons for the action are traceable to a handful of key ingredients that conspired to create one of the year’s most memorable races.

The Background

Pirelli’s conservative rubber construction has been a theme of 2017, the tyre manufacturer forced to guess how much downforce the 2017 cars would produce long before any would have the chance to turn a wheel in anger.

This was certainly true in Baku, where the same-named compounds as 2016 — the mediums, softs, and supersofts — were selected. In 2017, however, the supersoft is as hard as last year’s soft, the soft as hard as the medium et cetera, meaning in truth the tyres were a step harder than last season’s already too stable rubber.

Combined with the dustiness of the city streets the tyres put grip at perhaps the highest premium of any F1 race on the calendar. For Mercedes, and in particular for Lewis Hamilton, this could have spelt trouble, with the Briton struggling with tyre warm-up at Monaco and Russia, circuits with similar characteristics.

Mercedes has been slowly coming to grips (pun intended) with this problem, and it showed as much this weekend when it turned around concerning Friday practice form into a full second of advantage over Ferrari, hitherto the superior car on its tyres, during qualifying. Hamilton alone had half of that time over teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Perhaps adding to Ferrari’s woe was a technical directive issued by the race director ahead of the event clarifying that the FIA would not tolerate oil being burnt as fuel for performance. Rumours of oil burning have been simmering for much of the season, but this clarification, which was the second of the year, suggested talk was more than just idle speculation — and lo, Ferrari’s engines seemed off the pace …

First lap carnage set up big wins for Ricciardo & Bottas

Casualties of the trying conditions were Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo, who dropped to the back of the field early in the race.

Bottas was the root cause, tangling with compatriot Kimi Räikkönen at turn two on the first lap, puncturing a tyre and damaging some of the Ferrari’s bodywork. Ricciardo, an innocent bystander, had some of the debris collect in his brake ducts, leading to severe overheating.

Bottas limped back to the pits one lap down, while Ricciardo persisted until lap five before stopping. Both were now on the soft tyre and determined to attempt an ambitious undercut.

Plans changed when the first safety car was triggered on lap 11, however, which gave Bottas a chance to unlap himself and both drivers the opportunity to move back onto the preferable supersoft tyre while the rest of the field made the mandatory switch to the soft tyre.

Could this have proved the strategic lynchpin, with both using the superior rubber to scythe through the field for the remaining 40-odd laps? Last time out in Canada Romain Grosjean was able to complete 68 laps on the supersoft tyre and finish in the points.

We weren’t to know, however; a red flag period to enable marshals to clear debris on lap 22 enabled everyone to switch back to the supersoft tyre, negating the advantage.

But the lack of offset wouldn’t deter either driver, with Bottas and Ricciardo making a phenomenal nine passes apiece from P20 and P17 which, combined with retirements and other accidents, brought them to the top of the field.

Vettel shoots himself in the foot

The race had to be turned on its head first, however, for Ricciardo and Bottas to press their advantage, and it conveniently did so between the second safety car and the red flag period.

Sebastian Vettel was caught unaware just before the second safety car restart by Lewis Hamilton slowing to both bunch up the field and give the safety car time to travel back to the pits down Baku’s ludicrously long straight without getting caught by the field.

The Ferrari nudged the back of the Mercedes, causing minor damage to both and leaving Vettel staunchly believing he had been brake-checked. Incensed, accelerated until he drew level with Hamilton and then drove into him.

Though the impact was heavy, neither car was damaged. Regardless, the stewards soon after handed Vettel a 10-second stop-go penalty, the most severe punishment available to them before disqualification.

Not only was it an unedifying brain-snap by a four-time world champion, but it lost him and Ferrari the race. They weren’t to know it, but the ensuing red flag period concluded with Hamilton’s car having its headrest improperly fitted to the car, requiring him to make an unscheduled pit stop late in the race.

Ironically enough, replacing the head rest took longer than Vettel needed to serve his penalty, so the German emerged from pit lane leading his rival, with Hamilton unable to reverse the order before the end of the race. The pair finished fourth and fifth.

Force India lose a one-two finish

Some circumspection would have paid dividends for Force India’s drivers, too, who retrospectively threw away what could have been an easy one-two when they crashed into each other at turn two after the second safety car restart.

Esteban Ocon made a lunge down the inside of Sergio Perez at turn two, but his momentum was such that he pinned his teammate against the barrier. Both cars were damaged and dropped to the back of the field.

Ocon recovered to sixth by the end of the race, but damage to Perez’s car ultimately proved fatal, putting paid to a sensational podium repeat for the Mexican in Azerbaijan.

Stroll is F1’s youngest (rookie) podium-getter

Lance Stroll scored his first Formula One points just two weeks ago at his home race in Canada, and though they were expected to deliver him a confidence breakthrough, no-one could have predicted the rookie would finish on the podium one round later.

Unlike fellow podium-getters Ricciardo and Bottas, Stroll’s third place was about keeping his cool while his competitors cracked around him.

A strong qualifying result — eighth ahead of teammate Felipe Massa — meant he benefitted from the retirement of Max Verstappen (P7), the Force India clash and Kimi Räikkönen’s puncture (P4), Hamilton’s head rest stop (P3) and Vettel’s penalty (P2).

It looked like the 18-year-old would finish runner-up — or perhaps win the race had Ricciardo’s engine mimicked Verstappen’s and failed spontaneously — but Bottas’s dogged pursuit of the Williams car meant the Finn snatched second place by just 0.1 second as the pair crossed the line.

McLaren the unhappiest points scorers in history

McLaren had its first 2017 points at last, but you wouldn’t have guessed it by looking at the team, which seemed no less despondent than when it had suffered one of Honda’s trademarked late-race engine failures.

Fernando Alonso proclaimed after the race that he could have won the grand prix had any other engine powered his car — indeed the Spaniard had picked his way up to eighth from his P19 grid slot by the red flag period, just two placed behind Ricciardo.

Was there a degree of theatre to it against a backdrop of McLaren’s seemingly inevitable split with Honda by the end of the year? Absolutely — but then Alonso has always excelled in these dogfight-style grands prix.

His and the team’s frustrations would have been amplified by the only brief part Alonso was able to play in a scrap with Vettel and Hamilton as they attempted to recover ground after their late-race stops.

Briefly Alonso held them back, and he dared to spar with his fellow class-leading drivers, but his car was never going to be up to the task.

Points were nonetheless in the bag after a classic Alonso drive in subpar machinery. The question persists: will it be the engine or Alonso that leaves McLaren in 2017?

Michael Lamonato @MichaelLamonato

Longest Stints

Supersoft: Ricciardo, Bottas, Stroll, Vettel, Hamilton, Ocon, Magnussen, Sainz, Alonso, Wehrlein, Ericsson (29 laps)
Soft: Ericsson (12 laps)

Stints by Driver

14 Jun 2017

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

Canadian GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Ernie Black – the F1 Poet.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is known for producing exciting Formula 1 races and it didn’t disappoint in 2017, with a fun and frantic Canadian Grand Prix packed full of fascinating moments.

Despite high temperatures and the challenging nature of the track, a smooth track surface makes for relatively low tyre degradation – meaning it wasn’t the most exciting strategic race we’ve seen.

That was despite the three softest tyre compounds being taken to the race. But, while it wasn’t the most open race in terms of strategy, there were still plenty of headlines and stories to take a look at.

How Hamilton won it

Simply put, Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton were in a league of their own on race day. While Ferrari looked in the mix on Friday and close on Saturday, Mercedes worked hard to get on top of their tyre woes – especially with the ultra-softs – and this showed during the Canadian GP.

Also, with Hamilton out front, he was in clean air and able to manage his own race. So, he put in a relatively straight-forward one-stop race, pitting for the only time on lap 32. A radio message appeared to indicate Mercedes would go to the safer soft tyre to get to the end, but encouraging pace and degradation on the super-soft probably changed their mind.

Bottas loses ground

In the end, Valtteri Bottas didn’t have the pace to challenge Hamilton, and he finished 19 seconds behind first place. But, the Finn could’ve had an easier race had he not come out behind Esteban Ocon at his only pitstop.

This was slightly earlier than planned, because Mercedes said he suffered a flat-spot and needed to get it changed. He needed to find three seconds to emerge ahead of Ocon and could’ve done that had he stayed out without the flat-spot, but the earlier trip to the pits meant that wasn’t possible.

He lost around two seconds behind Ocon before the Force India pitted on lap 32, which cost him some ground. Bottas would still have finished well behind Hamilton but he would’ve had an easier run, after a poor start and getting stuck behind a slower car.

Vettel’s recovery drive

Sebastian Vettel’s chances of a podium finish vanished on lap one when he was tagged by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull at the first corner, which damaged his front wing. Ferrari still looked very strong in race trim but that knock in downforce clearly impacted Vettel’s early speed.

It was puzzling as to why Ferrari didn’t pit Vettel to change the front wing behind the safety car, was while he would’ve been at the back of the train, he would’ve had more time with quick tyres and a proper front wing to bounce back and make up ground in a quicker fashion – even though a two-stop would still have been the way to go.

Instead, Vettel was stopped under green flag conditions on lap five, before a long super-soft stint. The team opted to go for a second stop late on, fitting ultra-softs for a late challenge that almost didn’t pay off, but did in the end – as he jumped ahead of the Force Indias. He was 29 seconds off the lead after his first stop and finished 35 seconds behind Hamilton, so the pace was clearly there.

Ineffective stops

Ferrari decided to pit Kimi Raikkonen early in order to undercut Sergio Perez, who had passed him after a wild moment at Turn 8. But, the Finnish driver wasn’t really close enough before the stop to properly make use of it. When it became clear Ferrari needed to go for another plan if they wanted to pass the Force Indias, they pitted Raikkonen for ultra-softs, but a brake issue halted his charge.

Daniel Ricciardo was pitted on lap 18 to cover off Raikkonen, but he was further up the road so there wasn’t really any need for it. He was put on softs, the most durable tyre – a risk in some respects, with its lower grip levels and performance, but they knew it’d get to the end.

It meant Ricciardo had to defend hard but his tyres were still in good shape by the end. But, he did question afterwards if the super-softs would’ve been better, as they lasted a large number of laps and many drivers reached the end on them. Perhaps that would’ve made his life easier, in hindsight.

When Raikkonen and Ricciardo pitted, Perez found himself in clear air but didn’t make the most of it. His pace wasn’t strong enough to properly take advantage of an overcut and Force India pitted him the next lap anyway, going onto super-softs. This was the better option as he was able to attack Ricciardo on the higher grip compound, but he did start to struggle by the end of the race.

Force India vs Force India

One of the major storylines to emerge from the Canadian GP was the inter-team battle at Force India, with Perez refusing to let Ocon through and challenge Ricciardo, which eventually cost them both a spot to Vettel. On lap 49, the Ferrari’s were 13 seconds behind but on much fresher tyres.

Ricciardo did struggle a bit on the soft tyre and with its lower grip levels. But, Ocon did appear to have better pace and Perez also had his issues on the super-soft, especially towards the end. So, it seemed logical to let Ocon have a go, at least for a few laps, as he seemed to have superior pace.

Perez wasn’t having it though and even negotiated with the team over the radio. There didn’t seem to be a clear voice or a firm stance on it, and in the end Perez and Ocon scrapping let Ricciardo escape a little and helped Vettel close in faster.

Alonso misses out

Fernando Alonso narrowly lost out on a point, as he was running 10th when his engine failed with two laps to go. Unsurprising, the engine failure may have been, but his pace up to that point was pretty encouraging and he’d run as high as fourth due to a very, very long ultra-soft stint.

He switched to super-softs on lap 42 and was lapping well, before his race went up in smoke. All weekend he was well clear of Stoffel Vandoorne in terms of pace, and was pushing hard in the race. Honda just let him down once again…

Stroll’s first points

Lance Stroll’s come under fire during his rookie campaign so far for some erratic moments and underwhelming drives, but he fought back with a charging drive on home soil in Canada. He picked off a few cars on ultra-softs before pitting for super-softs on lap 25, where his pace transformed and he was able to make up even more ground to finish ninth.

One-stop the way to go

As predicted by Pirelli, low tyre degradation meant a one-stop was the favoured and safer strategy, although a two-stop was used by a few and was the more aggressive choice. It’s not often in 2017 we see all three compounds being used in a race, but we did in Canada as the difference between them was less. The tyres held up well all weekend, with 45 laps the longest ultra-soft stint (Vandoorne), 68 on the super-soft (Romain Grosjean) and 52 on softs (Ricciardo).

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Ultrasoft: Vandoorne (45 laps)
Supersoft: Grojean (68 laps)
Soft: Ricciardo (52 laps)

14 Jun 2017

7ª Etapa – 70 Voltas – 4.361km por volta – 305.270km distância total – desgaste baixo de pneus

Canadian GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Ernie Black – the F1 Poet.

O circuito Gilles Villeneuve já se tornou referência de corridas eletrizantes, e 2017 não foi exceção, com um GP do Canadá recheado de momentos emocionantes.

Mesmo com as altas temperaturas e a natureza desafiadora da pista, a superfície lisa proporciona um desgaste mais baixo da borracha, limitando a variedade de escolhas estratégicas.

Essa degradação foi baixa mesmo com os três compostos mais macios sendo levados para Montreal, todavia, se por um lado a corrida não foi muito aberta em termos de estratégia, ainda tivemos diversas histórias interessantes para observar.

Como Hamilton venceu a prova?

De maneira breve, Lewis e a Mercedes estavam em uma liga própria na corrida. Mesmo com alguns sinais de competitividade da Ferrari na sexta e no sábado, a equipe alemã trabalhou duro para resolver seus problemas com os pneus, especialmente os ultra macios, evolução que ficou evidente no GP do Canadá.

Além disso, liderando tranquilamente, o inglês teve a chance de correr de cara para o vento e administrar sua corrida com tranquilidade. Lewis partiu para uma estratégia básica de apenas uma parada, trocando sua borracha na volta 32. A princípio a Mercedes havia indicado que optaria pela escolha segura dos pneus macios, entretanto, a performance animadora e os baixos índices de degradação dos super macios mudaram a estratégia da equipe.

Bottas perde terreno

Ficou evidente que o finlandês não tinha performance para desafiar Hamilton, terminando 19 segundos atrás do líder. Todavia, Bottas poderia ter feito uma corrida mais tranquila caso não tivesse ficado preso atrás de Esteban Ocon após sua única parada.

Seu pit-stop foi mais cedo do que esperado porque, segundo a equipe, o piloto havia dechapado seu pneu e precisava trocá-lo. Ele precisava encontrar três segundos para voltar a frente da Force India e poderia ter alcançado essa marca se tivesse parado de acordo com a estratégia original, mas o contratempo custou caro.

Bottas perdeu cerca de 2 segundos atrás de Ocon, perdendo ainda mais terreno em relação ao seu companheiro de equipe. O finlandês terminaria em segundo de qualquer forma, mas teria encarado um GP do Canadá muito mais tranquilo não fosse uma largada ruim e o tempo perdido atrás da Force India.

Corrida de recuperação de Vettel

As chances de pódio do alemão desapareceram ainda na primeira volta, após o toque de Max Verstappen na curva 1, danificando sua asa dianteira. O ritmo de corrida da Ferrari ainda pareceu ser muito forte, mas o dano impactou a pressão aerodinâmica do alemão significativamente.

A equipe ainda optou por não chamar o líder do campeonato para os boxes enquanto o carro de segurança estava na pista, uma decisão intrigante, uma vez que o piloto poderia voltar no final do trem e ter mais tempo, pneus e uma asa dianteira inteira para recuperar o tempo perdido de uma maneira mais eficiente, mesmo que a estratégia de duas paradas ainda fosse a indicada.

O alemão parou na volta 5, após a saída do Safety Car, calçando os super macios e partindo para um longo stint intermediário. A Ferrari ainda o chamaria novamente para colocar os ultra macios em uma segunda parada tardia, estratégia que quase não funcionou, mas Vettel ainda conseguiu saltar as Force Indias, terminando a prova em 4º. O tetracampeão estava 29 segundos atrás de Hamilton após a primeira parada e terminando 35 segundos atrás do líder, provando que seu bólido tinha um ótimo ritmo de prova.

Paradas pouco efetivas

A Ferrari optou por parar Kimi antecipadamente, com o objetivo de saltar Sergio Perez, que havia ultrapassado a Ferrari ainda na primeira volta. Entretanto, o finlandês não estava perto o suficiente para fazer a manobra funcionar. Quando ficou claro que a estratégia não tinha funcionado, a escuderia chamou Kimi novamente, trocando para ultra macios em busca de um último stint meteórico, mas uma falha nos freios acabou com o possível ataque.

Daniel Ricciardo foi chamado na volta 18 para cobrir a parada de Kimi, mas o australiano tinha uma vantagem suficientemente grande para não precisar mudar de estratégia. A Red Bull ainda o devolveu para a pista com pneus macios, um certo risco, tendo em vista os níveis reduzidos de aderência, mas o piloto conseguiria chegar até o final do GP sem intercorrências.

Isso também fez com que Daniel tivesse pneus inteiros na briga pela 3ª posição nas voltas finais, contudo, o australiano ainda questionou a escolha da Red Bull, já que os super macios pareciam ser a opção ideal e diversos pilotos conseguiram chegar até o final com tranquilidade usando os pneus vermelhos.

Quando Raikkonen e Ricciardo pararam, Perez teve a pista livre mas não aproveitou a oportunidade. Seu ritmo não era forte o suficiente para concluir um overcut e a Force India acabou o chamando para os boxes na volta seguinte, trocando para os super macios, que eram a melhor opção na briga pelo pódio, mas Perez começou a sofrer com desgaste excessivo perto do fim da prova.

Force India vs Force India

Uma das principais batalhas no GP do Canadá foi a batalha interna na Force India, com Perez se negando a deixar Ocon passar para tentar desafiar Daniel Ricciardo, decisão que acabou custando uma posição para os dois ao serem ultrapassados por Sebastian Vettel. Na volta 49, as Ferraris ainda estavam 13 segundos atrás, mas se aproveitaram muito bem dos pneus novos.

Ricciardo enfrentou dificuldades com níveis baixos de aderência dos pneus macios. Enquanto isso, Ocon começava a apresentar um ritmo de corrida melhor e Perez lidava desgaste nos seus super macios. Dito isso, o processo lógico seria deixar o francês tentar buscar o último degrau do pódio, mesmo que por apenas algumas voltas.

Perez não aceitou as ordens de equipe e até negociou com seu engenheiro pelo rádio. Sem uma voz mais clara ou uma postura mais firme, a prova acabou com a batalha interna entre Ocon e Perez, facilitando a aproximação de Vettel e permitindo que Ricciardo tivesse um final de prova menos perigoso.

Alonso quase pontua

Fernando Alonso quase marcou seu primeiro ponto de 2017, não fosse um problema de motor com 2 voltas restantes, jogando fora a 10ª posição do espanhol. Mesmo que o abandono não seja surpresa, sua performance até esse ponto havia sido extremamente animadora, chegando a estar em 4º durante um stint inicial bem extenso com os ultra macios.

O bicampeão trocou para super macios na volta 42 e manteve suas ótimas voltas até ser forçado a sair da prova. Além disso, Alonso havia dominado seu companheiro de equipe durante todo o final de semana e estava muito competitivo na corrida, sendo traído pela Honda mais uma vez.

Primeiros pontos de Stroll

O canadense vinha sofrendo forte pressão em sua temporada de estreia devido a alguns acidentes e pilotagens abaixo da média, entretanto, o jovem piloto se recuperou com uma ótima performance em casa. Stroll fez algumas ultrapassagens com os ultra macios, antes de calçar os super macios na volta 25 e voltar ainda mais competitivo para a segunda metade da prova, terminando seu primeiro GP do Canadá em 9º.

Apenas uma parada

Como previsto pela Pirelli, o baixo índice de desgaste em Montreal fez com que a estratégia de uma parada fosse a escolha mais segura e indicada, mesmo que algumas equipes ainda tenham optado pelo caminho mais agressivo de duas passagens pelos boxes. A utilização dos três compostos na corrida não tem sido comum em 2017, mas a diferenças entre os três pneus era pequena no Canadá. Os três foram bem resistentes durante o final de semana, Vandoorne levou os ultra macios mais longe, completando 45 voltas com o composto, Grosjean fez 68 com os super macios e Ricciardo rodou 52 calçando os macios.

Texto Original: Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Stints mais longos

Ultra macios: Vandoorne (45 voltas)
Super macios: Grosjean (68 voltas)
Macios: Ricciardo (52 voltas)

30 May 2017

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

Monaco GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Matt Clayton, Australian Motorsport Editor, RedBull.com.

The 2017 Monaco Grand Prix was far from a thriller, but with the new breed of Formula 1 cars, was that really much of a surprise?

Kimi Raikkonen lined up on pole position but it was Sebastien Vettel who claimed victory, extending his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton to 25 points.

Hamilton’s recovery to seventh place came after a disappointing qualifying session, where traffic and yellow flags saw him eliminated in Q2.

Despite high temperatures, the low-grip track surface and durable nature of the Pirelli tyres limited strategy. Nevertheless, there was still some scope to do something different and plenty of strategic headlines to delve into:

How Raikkonen lost the race

He was starting from the best place on the grid after a stunning qualifying lap, but Raikkonen wasn’t quite so happy (let’s be honest, when’s he ever that smiley?) after the Monaco GP. Qualifying is even more crucial around the streets of Monte Carlo and with a strong start, the battle for the win came down to the pitstops.

Some have suggested Ferrari directly favoured Vettel by giving him a stronger strategy, in order to maximise track position. Of course, this was denied, but the Raikkonen pitstop call doesn’t make a whole lot of sense really – maybe it’s just another one of Ferrari’s occasional strategy errors.

Raikkonen pitted just after Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas, who were both doing solid but not spectacular sector times on super-softs. Ferrari must’ve known traffic could play its part too, but still stopped Raikkonen. It wasn’t a super-quick pitstop, so maybe they just missed the window they wanted, but it still cost him time and (most importantly) track position.

His pace was comparable – but not quite so as consistent – as Vettel’s, but when he realised he was behind him, he backed off. Definitely a missed opportunity and no wonder he was even more downbeat than usual afterwards.

And how Vettel won it

Keeping in touch with Raikkonen through the first stint put Vettel in a strong position, with the ‘overcut’ working much better than many expected. The ultra-soft had very little degradation and around a seven tenth advantage, so it was surely going to be the best tyre to be on. Vettel stayed out five laps longer than Raikkonen and pitted on lap 39.

He picked up his pace with some impressive in-laps, which were traffic-free (as Raikkonen was caught up behind some slower cars), and a good stop meant he emerged clear of his team-mate in first place.

Ricciardo’s long first stint

Daniel Ricciardo put in a very similar strategy to Vettel, utilising the ‘overcut’ and pitting several laps later than his closest rivals Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas. The ultra-softs kept a good pace for some time, enabling Ricciardo to do some fast laps and pit on lap 38. He emerged ahead, much to Verstappen’s frustration…

Mad Max vs Flying Finn

What made things even worse for Verstappen was than he not only lost a place to Ricciardo, but he also dropped behind Bottas too. This was after Mercedes aced the in-lap and pitstop for Bottas, who pitted one lap earlier and did a nice out-lap as well. The ‘undercut’ worked well for Bottas and this cost Verstappen. Had he done something similar to Ricciardo, it might have been a very different result. In the end, though, he stopped for a second time at the safety car.

Hamilton stays out

As mentioned earlier, surely a smart move was to stay out as long as possible on the incredible durable but quick ultra-soft tyre. That’s what Hamilton did and it worked very well, he used the Mercedes W08’s strong pace (not shown in Q2) and the ultra-soft to move up the order as others pitted.

Then, when he decided to stop on lap 46, from sixth place, he only lost one position. The strategy played out very well in getting Hamilton up the order, helped by a few incidents and drivers getting caught in battles, which cost them time in the process. Maximum damage limitation for the three-time champion with a ‘super-overcut’, you could call it.

Vandoorne does the same

Stoffel Vandoorne looked on course for a point in 10^th place after doing the same as Hamilton and staying out for a long opening ultra-soft stint, pitting on lap 43. It looked to have worked as he gained a few spots but crashing out just after the restart put pay to his race.

Unscheduled stops

A number of drivers should really have scored better results had it not been for unscheduled trips to the pits. Sergio Perez ditched his ultra-softs fairly early for super-softs (in part due to a front wing change) and this dropped him down to P16, which put him in slower traffic. A point may have been possible without a “PlayStation” move on Daniil Kvyat which required another stop for repairs.

His team-mate Esteban Ocon’s impressive run of top 10 results came to an end due to a puncture, which denied him a possible point as he had to stop for a second time – which was no-one’s plan, really. Kevin Magnussen also picked up a puncture, which prevented him from beating his team-mate Romain Grosjean.

Barely any deg

Monaco’s low-grip track surface really is unique, presenting a completely different set of conditions. Pirelli took the three softest compounds to Monaco but even the ultra-soft had barely any degradation or wear, the tyre manufacturer admitting it could probably last the entire race.

Pascal Wehrlein did the most ultra-soft laps with 56 before he was pitched into the barrier, his Sauber on its side, by Jenson Button at Portier. Perez did the most super-soft laps with 47, while the soft wasn’t used in the race and barely made an appearance all weekend. This meant a one-stop was always going to be the only strategy call.

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Ultrasoft: Wehrlein (56 laps)
Supersoft: Perez (47 laps)