DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award: FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO HEINEKEN D’ITALIA 2016

First victory for Red Bull! After performing the second-fastest pit stop seven days previously at Spa-Francorchamps, the crew of the Austro-British racing team went one better in this weekend’s 2016 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO D’ITALIA HEINEKEN, registering their first win of the season in this particular competition.

By executing the fastest stop at Monza, Red Bull surpassed repeat winners Williams. The long-established outfit from Grove has won the category in eleven out of 14 races so far this season, losing out to Mercedes twice. The DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award for Red Bull in Italy is their first of the campaign. Daniel Ricciardo was stationary for just 1.98 seconds on Lap 37 – the second fastest pit stop of the season. Williams were the only crew to beat this time with a 1.92-second tire change for Felipe Massa in Baku. 

In second place were McLaren whose crew took 2.15 seconds to service Fernando Alonso’s car on Lap 33. Red Bull’s strong performance in Monza is underlined by the fact that Ricciardo’s first stop of 2.17 seconds comes in at P3 in this week’s Top Ten. Williams came a relatively modest fourth in the 2016 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO HEINEKEN D’ITALIA. Felipe Massa was sent on his way in 2.19 seconds on Lap 36. By performing the fastest stop in Belgium one week previously, his team wrapped up the 2016 DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award prematurely. 

The perfect strategy in Monza: one or two stops?

At Monza, teams traditionally prefer a one-stop strategy. On this high-speed track, a visit to the pits usually costs more time and positions than on other circuits. While a driver is having new tires fitted, the opposition will be hurtling down the home straight at around 340 km/h. The circumstances this time were somewhat different, with Pirelli bringing along an additional tire compound to each race in 2016, the idea being to allow the teams more scope for strategy. The extra option for Monza was the supersoft tire. Pirelli ventured the opinion that two stops would be the best option.

But after the practice sessions and qualifying in Italy, it was clear that the supersofts would last longer here than at Spa – many of the drivers had experienced high degradation of their tires in Belgium. For this reason, it was expected that the top teams at least would go for just the one stop at Monza. But when Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen pitted on Laps 14 and 15, they changed from one set of supersofts to another. It was then apparent that the Scuderia were planning on two stops per driver. 

“If you’re in a position where you have to defend yourself, you can go for a single stop. But we had to do the opposite – we had to be aggressive.”

Maurizio Arrivabene

Ultimately, though, this ploy was not enough to beat the second Silver Arrow. Nico Rosberg won the race ahead of runner-up Lewis Hamilton, although the Brit had initially dropped back behind the two Ferraris after a poor start. After the race, Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene explained why he still regarded the two-stop option for Vettel and Räikkönen as the correct choice: “If you’re in a position where you have to defend yourself, you can go for a single stop. But we had to do the opposite – we had to be aggressive.”

The other Top Ten drivers were also brought into the pits twice by their teams, the only exception being Mercedes who stuck with the one-stop strategy. However, Rosberg and Hamilton had gone into the second period of qualifying on soft tires, which meant that they were obliged to start the race on this compound, whereas the other drivers at the front of the grid were on supersofts for both Q2 and the start of the race.