Formula 1®
DHL FASTEST PIT STOP AWARD: 2016 FORMULA 1 EMIRATES JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
Red Bull were second in the fastest pit stop stakes at Suzuka. Max Verstappen was turned around and sent on his way in a similarly excellent time of 2.11 seconds by his crew. Mercedes secured third place by changing all four tires for race and world championship leader Nico Rosberg in just 2.19 seconds, which is no coincidence. These two teams are the only ones who have succeeded, along with Williams, in winning the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award on at least one weekend during 2016. The Silver Arrows have won three times, Red Bull once.
25 of the 38 pit stops at Suzuka lasted less than three seconds. The overall number of tire changes was relatively low compared to other races this year. This is remarkable in that, for the seventh time in the long history of the 2016 FORMULA 1 EMIRATES JAPANESE GRAND PRIX, all the drivers took the checkered flag. There was not one case of a scheduled pit stop due to a retirement. Williams, Sauber and Renault all utilized a one-stop strategy for both drivers.
All teams in Top Ten on two-stop strategy – except for Williams
The other outfits at Suzuka completed two pit stops per driver. Of the Top Ten drivers in the final standings, only Massa and team-mate Valtteri Bottas headed down the pit lane only once. Both drivers had missed going through into the third qualifying segment in Japan and were only eleventh and twelfth on the grid on Saturday. For that reason, they were free to choose the tire type on which to start the race. On the other hand, the drivers in grid slots 1 to 10 must always line up on the set of tires used in Q2.
In view of that, Williams bolted on the slightly longer-lasting medium tires on both cars to begin with. Massa came in on Lap 24 and Bottas on Lap 26 to change to the hard compound tires and went through to the end. The two drivers ultimately finished ninth and tenth. All the cars that crossed the finish line in front of them had started the race on soft tires from qualifying and had to make two stops later on. That also applied to the two drivers from Haas F1, who had lined up in front of Williams, but Massa and Bottas were able to get past them, thanks in part to the one-stop strategy.
The Williams team members were extremely positive in their comments after the race, as you would expect. “As a team, strategy-wise, we managed to do something different to our competitors, so that was good,” said Bottas, summing up. Performance manager Rob Smedley agreed with the Finn. “The team can be reasonably proud,” he said.
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