2012 Malaysian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

30 comments on “2012 Malaysian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops”

1. 

   plutoniumhunter (@plutoniumhunter)
   25th March 2012, 23:04

   Wow… Button nearly does a Prost.
   1. 

      Billy
      26th March 2012, 3:12

      Maldonado actually overshot his pitstop and therefore did not change his tyres. That explains his quick pitstop on lap 14
2. 

   Jeanie Johnston
   25th March 2012, 23:25

   On lap 5, I think, Vettel was in front of Alonso when he pitted practically number to bumper behind Vettel. How come when he rejoined he was way behind them, something like 15 secs behind Alonso and 12 secs behind Webber? Did something happen?
3. 

   infy (@infy)
   25th March 2012, 23:27

   From what I could tell, Button was allowed to pit first because Lewis did not want to pit on that lap. The leading driver only gets priority if they both want to pit on the same lap.
   1. 

      AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
      26th March 2012, 6:06

      That’s not quite how it works, I think, in the dry. In Australia, Hamilton should have pitted one or two laps before Button did, because his tyres were going off earlier, but apparently the team did not want to extend him the advantage of the undercut (as Keith mentioned above, also).
4. 

   UKFan (@)
   25th March 2012, 23:44

   Hamilton only lost time on the first pit-stop cause he overshot he spot and talking about team orders, wasnt McLaren looking to pit Button earlier, I know that Hamilton said he was okay out there still everyone was going quicker on the new set, Mclaren should have made him pit earlier.
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      26th March 2012, 7:27

      Not to mention some teams send their “second” car in for new tyres first in wet races to give the leader the benefit of information on how he copes, which might have also been a consideration for McLaren.
   2. 

      Dphect (@dphect)
      26th March 2012, 13:08

      He only overshot it by a few inches, which happens all the time – it was just human error on the rear jack. Not Lewis mucking it up.
5. 

   literalf1 (@literalf1)
   26th March 2012, 0:21

   Great work turning this up quickly Keith. There is one slight error after the tyre pit stops & stints table:

   “Alonso opted for mediums, as did the Red Bull and McLaren DUOS”

   All CAPS on for duos.
6. 

   adaptalis (@adaptalis)
   26th March 2012, 0:46

   I think the fastest pit stop wasn’t for Maldonado. I think he overshot his pit box on that time (Lap 14) and didn’t make a pitstop. Went for another lap before pitting again, this time properly. (Lap 15) Karun Chandok spotted it while commenting on ESPN Star.
   1. 

      adaptalis (@adaptalis)
      26th March 2012, 1:14

      See the screen grabs.
      Maldo Overshoot
      
      And
      Maldo Overshoot 2
   2. 

      Enigma (@enigma)
      27th March 2012, 2:05

      Yep, that’s what Maldonado said:

      I had poor visibility in the pitlane so missed the pit box entry after the restart which dropped me down the order.

      I reckon he might’ve finished ahead of Senna without that error and the blown engine.
      @keithcollantine
7. 

   Eggry (@eggry)
   26th March 2012, 1:20

   Disastrous pit works from Mclaren…They ruined their drivers’ race while Ferrari helped.
8. 

   M30
   26th March 2012, 2:06

   They screwed Hamilton over with tardy pitstops. It doesn’t matter if Button calls first there were other signals on track that it is impossible for a driver to see – that the engineer can. Hamilton should get rid of Andy Latham quick time. He better get an engineer who has his back. Get Jesse Jackson!!
9. 

   AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
   26th March 2012, 6:16

   In addition to losing 8.5s to Alonso in the pit stops, Hamilton lost quite a bit of time with the timing of his stop to dry tyres. For instance, I think Hamilton’s lead over Vettel was at least 8 seconds while they were both on intermediates, but the gap was less than three seconds when Hamilton rejoined. So, although Alonso was undeniably quicker than Hamilton in the initial intermediates phase (following the safety car I mean), overall decent strategy and pit work should have brought them about level at the end of the race.

   Also, Hamilton might have done better to switch to hards for his dry stint, as he was losing quite a bit of time to Webber and Raikkonen in the final 5 laps of the race (unless he was just coasting home by that point).

   Finally, I like the new format of the tyre strategy table, much better than last year’s coloured-bar version!
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      26th March 2012, 8:14

      Glad you like it. Might have to come up with a more compact version of the pit stops table for the next time we have 70-odd stops!
10. 

    SPIDERmaN (@spiderman)
    26th March 2012, 7:25

    For me Hamilton was the leading driver at that point and time and his needs should have been prioritized over Buttons.
    trying to shortchange Hamilton by pitting button first in order to give button an early advantage was not good at all.maclaren are showing some very poor judgement and they deserve loosing to Ferrari on this occasion.
    1. 

       BasCB (@bascb)
       26th March 2012, 7:30

       But Hamilton was telling his team he was fine on the wets, so why pit him immediately. Not to mention the fact that by pitting Button first the team got the advantage of seeing how he would do on that set before changing Hamilton.
    2. 

       Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
       26th March 2012, 8:00

       @spiderman

       his needs should have been prioritized over Buttons

       You only think they they ‘prioritised’ Button over Hamilton because Button’s decision to change tyres a lap earlier than Hamilton ultimately proved to be the correct one.

       Had the rain eased as Button pulled into the pits for his first stop, Hamilton’s decision to stay on intermediates may have proved correct. And then presumably we’d have some people complaining that Hamilton was being favoured over Button.

       When the point is there was nothing to stop Hamilton making the same call as Button did.

       The same was true in reverse in Hungary last year when Button made the correct call to stay out while Hamilton pitted for intermediates.
11. 

    SPIDERmaN (@spiderman)
    26th March 2012, 7:56

    at least i put 10 quid on Alonzo when the odds were 25 to one.
12. 

    Toxic (@)
    26th March 2012, 8:42

    Looking at Senna’s times his result yesterday is getting even more impressive.
13. 

    OOliver
    26th March 2012, 9:37

    The question of tyre choice during a wet race is all related to the quality and timing of information a driver get from his race engineer.
    In the last stop for slicks, Button was told, Ricciardo is setting very fast times with, the slick tyres. And he came into the pits. This is a whole lot different that for example asking a driver, do you want to change to slicks now? The first information infers a lesser risk as the likely hood of making a wrong decision is almost nil, while the second quality of information is almost a gamble.

    This is where the experience of the race engineer matters. An experienced race engineer can pass on crucial information that may appear irrelevant to a less experienced engineer. The driver who is the one in the car, can then use that information and together they can come to a much more sensible decision.
    We don’t always get the pit to car communications, so we don’t know who gets told what first or what level of information is passed on.

    We can’t always trust what the teams says after the race as they might not give the information in the exact chronological order.
    1. 

       Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
       26th March 2012, 9:49

       I think it’s very telling that you completely discount the role of the driver in deciding for himself what tyres to use.

       The fact is Hamilton is great at driving on a very wet track – it’s probably his greatest skill as an F1 driver.

       While everyone else was putting on wets, he was lapping two seconds quicker on intermediates than everyone besides Perez on lap four.

       It stands to reason that drivers will have different views of when a track is ready for different types of tyres. Clearly, Hamilton was satisfied up to that point with the decision he’d made.
       1. 

          OOliver
          26th March 2012, 10:18

          Keith I was talking about race engineers in general and the role they play in the outcome. I didn’t even mention Hamilton.
          I used Button’s radio call as a reference, in describing quality of information delivered, because it was something we overheard.
          I was even thinking more about the Sauber drivers, how they got it right with Perez, but got it so wrong with Kobayashi.

          Of course, I have my opinion on the Mclaren pit wall, but I am done talking about them.
          1. 

             Young One
             26th March 2012, 11:14

             Button always sounds like he is crying when he is on radio, so I don’t think anybody would consider saying no to his requests.
             1. 

                OOliver
                26th March 2012, 15:30

                LOL!
                Perhaps thats the reason.
                It does sound like he is singing sometimes.
14. 

    mclaren (@mclaren)
    26th March 2012, 11:14

    Mclaren need to sort themselves out and cut out all these poor errors (pits + Strategy), they need to make the most of the current situation i.e. Probably the Quickest Car, and get that “cushion” MW was talking about otherwise it’s going to get real tough when others start closing the gap (the small one that does exist).

    In both, Aus and Here in Malaysia they failed to maximise on their front row lock outs, i really feel for Lewis, when he starts getting things right i.e keeping the car on track and not crashing into massa in such horrendous conditions, the team help by stuffing his pit stops, jeez!

    P.S. I think Sauber may have opted for a wet setup,though Sergio is undoubtedly talented, he’s not that Quick
15. 

    OOliver
    26th March 2012, 14:52

    Sergio is actually that quick in those conditions. But those were not your everyday conditions.
    Before the race was Stopped, Hamilton and Button were getting on fine. After the restart, the other drivers became emboldened, as the sensed the opportunity, while Mclaren became conservative. Post race, Hamilton looked more relieved the race was over and that he managed to hold on to a podium.
    Button made a mistake under braking, showing how much of a lottery the conditions were.
16. 

    Tony Perkins
    26th March 2012, 21:03

    Don’t forget they left Lewis out for 1 lap extra when everybody else was coming in for slicks. Very poor from Mclaren , something we have seen before from them .
17. 

    Norman
    6th April 2012, 9:09

    Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) pitted only twice in the race. Lap 15 and lap 40. His tyres may have been changed on the grid during the red flag period. According to the live timing and commentary he did 15 laps on intermediate before pitting.

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