Ferrari may be struggling with their car but they were by far the fastest team in the pits in Melbourne.
Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa’s five visits to the pits were the five quickest pit stops of the race.
Ferrari made an effort to improve their pit stops in the second half of last year. But although they were able to turn their cars around more quickly, they struggled to achieve consistency. Today’s performance shows they’ve done that now.
Stefano domenicali congratulated his team’s performance in the pits, saying: “I want to highlight the performance of the crew during the pit stops: looking at the figures, we were the fastest both in terms of outright performance and on average.
“I am keen to mention this, because we have worked a great deal on this front: already in the second part of 2011, the situation was better and today we have taken another step forward.”
Red Bull and Mercedes were the fastest crews in the pits last year, but they couldn’t match Ferrari today.
2012 Australian Grand Prix pit stop times
Here are all the pit stop times (pit entry to pit exit) from the Australian Grand Prix:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 21.910 | 34 | |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 22.035 | 0.125 | 13 |
| 3 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 22.103 | 0.193 | 37 |
| 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 22.313 | 0.403 | 11 |
| 5 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 22.528 | 0.618 | 28 |
| 6 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 22.837 | 0.927 | 36 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 22.862 | 0.952 | 17 |
| 8 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 22.915 | 1.005 | 37 |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 23.017 | 1.107 | 31 |
| 10 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 23.166 | 1.256 | 37 |
| 11 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 23.203 | 1.293 | 12 |
| 12 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 23.203 | 1.293 | 19 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 23.257 | 1.347 | 22 |
| 14 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 23.275 | 1.365 | 16 |
| 15 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 23.302 | 1.392 | 14 |
| 16 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 23.310 | 1.400 | 37 |
| 17 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 23.427 | 1.517 | 16 |
| 18 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 23.464 | 1.554 | 36 |
| 19 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 23.569 | 1.659 | 37 |
| 20 | Bruno Senna | Williams | 23.777 | 1.867 | 30 |
| 21 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 23.882 | 1.972 | 24 |
| 22 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 24.131 | 2.221 | 37 |
| 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 24.162 | 2.252 | 36 |
| 24 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 24.256 | 2.346 | 16 |
| 25 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 24.348 | 2.438 | 38 |
| 26 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 24.397 | 2.487 | 14 |
| 27 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | 24.579 | 2.669 | 18 |
| 28 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 24.579 | 2.669 | 33 |
| 29 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 24.580 | 2.670 | 34 |
| 30 | Bruno Senna | Williams | 24.599 | 2.689 | 1 |
| 31 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 24.881 | 2.971 | 19 |
| 32 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 24.933 | 3.023 | 13 |
| 33 | Timo Glock | Marussia | 25.046 | 3.136 | 36 |
| 34 | Charles Pic | Marussia | 25.303 | 3.393 | 21 |
| 35 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 25.346 | 3.436 | 13 |
| 36 | Timo Glock | Marussia | 26.322 | 4.412 | 20 |
| 37 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 28.888 | 6.978 | 37 |
| 38 | Bruno Senna | Williams | 30.888 | 8.978 | 47 |
| 39 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 32.319 | 10.409 | 1 |
| 40 | Charles Pic | Marussia | 48.984 | 27.074 | 35 |
NB. A complete list of stationary times is not available.
2012 Australian Grand Prix tyre strategies
A two-stop strategy was the preferred approach this year. The durability and performance of the medium tyre led most drivers to switch to it at the first round of pit stops.
This shows that, despite Pirelli producing a softer range of tyres this year, the teams are better-equipped to make them last. The preferred strategy last year was three stops, with some drivers making four.
The safety car period in today’s race may also have aided some teams in making their tyres last longer.
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
| Lewis Hamilton | Soft (17) | Medium (19) | Medium (22) | |
| Jenson Button | Soft (16) | Medium (20) | Medium (22) | |
| Romain Grosjean | Soft (1) | |||
| Michael Schumacher | Soft (10) | |||
| Mark Webber | Soft (14) | Medium (23) | Medium (21) | |
| Sebastian Vettel | Soft (16) | Soft (21) | Medium (21) | |
| Nico Rosberg | Soft (12) | Soft (19) | Medium (27) | |
| Pastor Maldonado | Soft (16) | Soft (21) | Medium (20) | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Soft | |||
| Daniel Ricciardo | Soft (1) | Medium (21) | Soft (16) | Soft (20) |
| Jean-Eric Vergne | Medium (19) | Soft (18) | Soft (21) | |
| Fernando Alonso | Soft (13) | Medium (21) | Medium (24) | |
| Kamui Kobayashi | Soft (13) | Soft (23) | Medium (22) | |
| Bruno Senna | Soft (1) | Medium (29) | Medium (17) | Soft (5) |
| Paul di Resta | Soft (13) | Soft (20) | Medium (25) | |
| Felipe Massa | Soft (11) | Soft (17) | Medium (9) | Medium (9) |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Soft (19) | Soft (18) | Medium (21) | |
| Heikki Kovalainen | Soft (14) | Medium (20) | Medium (3) | Medium (1) |
| Vitaly Petrov | Medium (18) | Medium (16) | ||
| Timo Glock | Soft (20) | Soft (16) | Medium (21) | |
| Charles Pic | Soft (21) | Soft (14) | Medium (18) | Medium |
| Sergio Perez | Medium (24) | Soft (34) |
2012 Australian Grand Prix
Browse all 2012 Australian Grand Prix articles
Slr (@slr)
18th March 2012, 13:06
Great job by Ferrari’s pit crew, Alonso and Massa must be really happy with them.
Fixy (@)
18th March 2012, 13:55
I could almost tell from the TV that Ferrari were the quickest! It’s good to see they can fix their problems, I wish they did so with the car!
BasCB (@bascb)
18th March 2012, 13:07
I think that without the SC Perez couldn’t have made a 1 stopper and Alonso and other would have had to stop again as well.
But Its good to see that Ferrari did manage to make the improvements they were targeting in some areas. I also think that the McLaren doing those two stops right in tandem might become more of a trend. Had Red Bull done that more often for Webber in the past, he would have been closer to Vettel in many occasions.
Interesting to see how far Mercedes have dropped in that aspect though. Is that due to the small changes with the airguns, or just the fact that they only did 20 stops and neither Rosberg nor the team seemed to be entirely concentrated on it after the shock of their speed going for a walk in the park outside the track.
Karthikeyan (@ridiculous)
18th March 2012, 13:41
Excuse my poor memory, but weren’t RedBull the team that allows the trailing driver to pit first as evidenced in Australia, Spa etc an not to mention the British Grand Prix during which Mark Webber gained 11 seconds on Vettel. Also, I’m pretty sure that ‘McLaren doing those two stops right in tandem might become more of a trend’ was done even last year by RedBull
BasCB (@bascb)
18th March 2012, 13:46
Yes, after having Webber fall back due to poorly timed pitstops Red Bull did start to do that last year and it helped a lot to solve that problem.
The only time it was done almost that close was in Monaco, and that was partly due to one of them having a problem at their pit stop, making the other one wait in line. Exactly what McLaren were afraid of now, I guess.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
19th March 2012, 21:01
I don’t think so, it can easily backfire if the first stop is slow and it puts a lot of pressure on the mechanics to get both stops right. Good work by Ferrari, at least they’ve done something right this season!
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
18th March 2012, 13:07
They looked visibly quick during their pit-stops. Good to know that Ferrari have improved somewhere! :D
jamesl91
18th March 2012, 13:40
very impressive from perez with only 1 stop. Alonso did well to get his Ferrari to 5th place however, I believe Massa wont be at Ferrari next year hes not good enough anymore, he has never fully recovered from his accident in Hungary 2009.
It was a great win for button, I honestly thought Lewis would drive off into the distance but he was just unlucky today.
q85
19th March 2012, 0:47
i dont thin 09 has much to do with it. alonso is just that good in all areas.
kimi was brilliant but fernando makes sure he is as good as he can be across the board. like michael used to be.
tough times for massa
James
19th March 2012, 16:57
Fair point. what I meant was that Massa was fighting for the championship in 2008 and since 09 he has been no where near what he used to be, maybe its Fernando’s influence.
as we all new Mclaren were quick specially lewis with the 1 flying lap (that was vettel style)
but I was expecting the 1 of the 2 mercs on the front row, mainly schumi but sadly not this time. however Malaysia looks like its going to be a wet race, saw the weather report earlier. so we are in for another great race by the looks of things
Estesark (@estesark)
18th March 2012, 13:57
Keith, would you consider sorting the tyre strategy table by finishing position, rather than starting position? And/or include a column that shows how many places they gained/lost during the race. It would help us to analyse which tyre strategies were most effective. If it’s not too much work, of course.
Atanu (@ilovevettel)
18th March 2012, 17:53
Keith, last year there was a graphic showing how many laps a driver drove in each stint. Will it be not there this year?
Palle (@palle)
18th March 2012, 22:46
If You compare Vettel and Buttons time consumption in the pits, then Vettel used 2.275 sec more, and he finished only 2.1 sec after Button.
Enigma (@enigma)
18th March 2012, 23:20
He didn’t lose the race in the pits – he wouldn’t have won because of the safety car, Button only driving as fast as he needed and track position.
Enigma (@enigma)
18th March 2012, 23:22
Interesting how slow Force India were in the pits. If I remember correctly they were 4th fastest last year.
Eggry (@eggry)
19th March 2012, 0:33
at least now they certainly fixed pit problem!! now it’s turn for car…
kenneth Ntulume
19th March 2012, 7:36
Typically most times when though Lewis is leading Button, Button easily gets to be allowed to pit first on a need to basis, This time Lewis needed the tyres more than the so called “smooth” driving Button. Why couldn’t Mclaren let Lewis pit???????
smudgersmith1 (@smudgersmith1)
19th March 2012, 16:18
Most impressive, compare Jensons times on the mediums compared to Vettels on the softs, (FIA timing sheets show he more than matched him for lap after lap)
Alejanddro
19th March 2012, 18:11
I’m a bit worried that Vettel was able to get those softs to last that long. I couldn’t hear what Lewis said but it seemed to me he was wanting to end his second stint on mediums due to wear while Vettel was still doing well on softs…
On the other hand Jenson looked ok
David
20th March 2012, 8:27
He made them last but didn’t gain any performance when they should have been at there best, maybe if he used them on his last stint on low fuel he could have had a shot at the lead
volvo
19th March 2012, 16:49
Perez did 34laps on softs, wow!
James
19th March 2012, 16:59
impressive or what?
hes a future star I think
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
19th March 2012, 23:41
He was very good on his tyres last year too, especially in Melbourne.
OOliver
19th March 2012, 21:05
@Kenneth Ntulume,
That was the trick Mclaren was using to get Button close to Hamilton last year.
Only when Button could manage his tyres did he pit later, but if his tyres were about to go off, they’d pit him first despite if Hamilton is leading. At other times they’d pit Hamilton much ealier while he still has life in his tyres, just so Button gets the optimum stop.
I have obseved closely all of Mclarens stop and have noticed the trend.
Perhaps Button has it in his contract that he can choose when he stops.
Lets see if they continue with the trend again this year.
David
20th March 2012, 8:32
So when Martin Whitmarsh states they have equal treatment is he lying ? I honestly think its as simple as, ‘the guy in front has first call’ I think it’s realistic to say Lewis is faster over one lap, but over a race distance JB is a match for him and a tad more intelligent in the decisions he makes but then he has far more experience
OOliver
21st March 2012, 11:32
David, the argument is not if Button is faster or if it’s Lewis.
The argument is Mclaren are incocnsistent with the leading driver dictates the pit schedule policy.
It just seems that policy is only used when Button is the driver leading.
The races I have seen when Button has damaged his tyres, he is usually stopped first even if he is in 6th or further back.
I had made this observation repeatedly since Button joined Mclaren.
It doesn’t matter which one of them is faster what matters is that they extract the maximum from both drivers. And not seem to give the besdt treatment to one.
Look at the races Hamilton was in contention to win last year. The team failed to focus on the driver ahead.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st March 2012, 12:03
Go on then, give us details.
Ritesh (@rits)
20th March 2012, 16:16
Force India were one of the fastest in pit stops for the last 2 years.. what happened to them? I think apart from Ferrari, Force India has had the worst start to the season (performance-wise).