DHL FASTEST PIT STOP AWARD: 2016 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE MÉXICO

The winners of the series have triumphed again! Williams once again produced the fastest pit stop of the race in the 2016 Formula 1 Gran Premio de Mexico. Felipe Massa was stationary for a mere 2.06 seconds on Lap 14, by which time his mechanics had already changed all four tires, enabling the team to win the award for the 14th time this season. Only Mercedes (three times) and Red Bull (twice) have been anywhere near as successful this year. Williams were declared the overall winners of the 2016 DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award several weeks ago.

Mercedes placed directly behind Williams yet again in Mexico. The Silver Arrows pit crew booked second and third place in the hunt for the fastest pit stop as they serviced the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who also finished up front in the race. Their times for changing tires were terrific at 2.09 and 2.12 seconds. 18 of the 28 pit stops at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez took less than three seconds.

The relatively low number of tire changes this weekend was mainly due to the fact that the majority of the teams were committed to a one-stop strategy. Only seven of the 21 drivers who took the checkered flag pitted twice. For the most part, the rest bolted on medium tires at least once and drove through to the end of the race on them. Of the drivers finishing in the Top Ten, only Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Räikkönen did anything different.

Ferrari driver Räikkönen had also planned initially to finish the 2016 Formula 1 Gran Premio de Mexico on the medium compound tires that he had switched to, but the Finn was not happy with the grip provided by his boots and decided to try another set of mediums. “But to be honest, I had no better grip at the rear. Afterwards, it's easy to say that it was probably not the right thing to do, but I'm happy that we tried,” he said after crossing the finish line.

Ricciardo, on the other hand, used the virtual safety car period following the crash by Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein after the start on the first lap to come in and change tires. Switching to mediums, he also ditched the set of supersofts which he had utilized in the second segment of qualifying and had had to start the race on in accordance with the rules.

However, the Aussie stopped again on Lap 50 and changed to the yellow-marked soft tires, on which he was able to play such a decisive role in the battle between Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen in front of him. While they actually finished ahead, they both received penalties, enabling him to place third retrospectively.

Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson and Jolyon Palmer (Renault) also came into the pits under the yellow flag right at the start of the race, but what’s remarkable is that they both stayed out subsequently, going through to the end on the same set of boots in the longest stints of the day. British driver Palmer was satisfied with the result afterwards: “Seventy laps on one set of tires is probably some sort of record. It was a bit of a challenge, but in the end, we were still going okay; we were quick enough to keep our competitors behind.”