Formula 1®
DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award: 2016 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA PIRELLI
Five races and five fastest pit stops mean that Williams comfortably lead the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award. This time, the pit stops for the two drivers were almost identical. The crew serviced Felipe Massa’s car in 2.12 seconds, while Valtteri Bottas was sent back on his way in 2.22 seconds after his fastest stop.
The Williams team completed all five stops during the race in Spain under the magic benchmark figure of three seconds! In total, 21 of 47 pit stops in the 2016 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA PIRELLI were completed in less than three seconds.
The challenge of the European opener
The first European race on the calendar traditionally marks the beginning of a new phase of the season. “Most of our race freight has been away since early March, so it gives us a chance to refresh the parts and equipment as we transfer everything out of the air freight and over to the race trucks – a busy time for the race team,” explains Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical) at Mercedes.
It was equally as challenging for teams at the race track. Almost all the teams brought new upgrade packages to Spain to test them on their cars at the European opener. They know the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya like practically no other on the calendar. The teams completed eight days of testing there over the winter in preparation for the new season.
However, changes in track conditions, especially with regard to the higher temperatures compared to the tests in March, posed quite a few problems for the teams where the car’s balance and tire degradation are concerned. So, Mercedes battled to get balance right on Friday, and Ferrari struggled to get tires to work properly when it really mattered in qualifying.
Strategy decides battle for victory
Things went much better for the Scuderia in the race itself. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen battled for the win with the two Red Bull Racing drivers after the two Silver Arrows retired. The teams split the strategies of their respective drivers. Max Verstappen and Kimi Räikkönen were on a two-stop strategy. Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, however, put in an additional stint.
But this strategy did not work out. Verstappen beat Räikkönen, and Vettel could only place third despite the change of plans. The strategy of his Finnish teammate was obviously the better of the two. “We decided to split the strategies between the two cars,” said Vettel. “I went for the three-stopper, then I tried to attack the leader and succeeded, but in the end, both Daniel and myself came out behind the two stoppers.”
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