2012 Hungarian GP tyre strategies and pit stops

10 comments on “2012 Hungarian GP tyre strategies and pit stops”

1. 

   Venkman
   29th July 2012, 21:21

   Its unreal how Kimi managed to put on a string of fastest laps on the set of Soft tyres during the second stint. And he was the only driver to stay on a set of softs for 25 laps!
   I think this worked for him because unlike the other drivers, he was in fresh air after his first pit stop.
   This call from the pit lane by Lotus I believe helped both their cars on the podium. Good on them!
2. 

   AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
   29th July 2012, 21:30

   Lewis Hamilton’s dominant pole position on Saturday allowed him to save new tyres for the race which was crucial to his strategy.

   But didn’t all the front runners have two new sets of mediums left? His dominance on Saturday might have saved him a set of options in case his first run in Q3 had been better, although that might only have served to lure him into the three-stop-strategy trap as well.

   I have often advocated an aggressive, extra-stop strategy, but today the three-stopper didn’t work, especially for Button. What’s more surprising is Button’s comments after the race, in which he stated that the team called him in early for both his first and second stop on strategic grounds, only to find himself dropped into traffic. And his pit stops were pretty fast, too, so they cannot have hoped to get him out well clear of Senna. On a two-stopper, Button may not have ended up on the podium, as Vettel was quite a bit faster behind him, and Raikkonen’s fast second stint passed all bar Hamilton, but at least he would have finished ahead of Alonso.
   1. 

      OOliver
      29th July 2012, 23:30

      I don’t know why Button was complaining about the strategy, he was struggling on the tyres his first 2 stops. He may have finished ahead of Alonso, but then again, his tyres may have gone off completely and he would have dropped too far back.
3. 

   OOliver
   29th July 2012, 23:49

   Mclaren are really amazing with their stops.
   Despite the error in Button’s stop, it was actually faster than Hamilton’s slow stop.
   And their slowest stops were not all that slow in the end.
   Amazing. I hope they maintain the consistency.
4. 

   DaveW (@dmw)
   30th July 2012, 1:28

   Note that mclaren put the race on a platter for lotus with their 4.2s first stop for Hamilton. Grosjean was about 2s behind at the time. Of course lotus choked and did a 4.9. Mclaren are patting themselves on the back for quick stops but if that was rbr or ferrari behind they would have punished them for another bad stop.
5. 

   sic_j02
   30th July 2012, 6:14

   The lotus are quick and gentle on tyres. Hopefully they can keep up and mess up with the frontrunners.
6. 

   Nigel Bates (@nigel1)
   30th July 2012, 10:26

   Although I can understand why they didn’t risk it, having had no long runs on the option in practice, could McLaren have put Hamilton out on softs for his second stint ?
   He managed to run a first stint of 18 laps with full tanks on used softs, after locking his fronts quite badly on the first corner. I suspect he could have managed a second stint of 22 laps quite easily.

   If nothing else, it would have given Grosjean second place.
7. 

   AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
   30th July 2012, 12:57

   Looking at the pit-stop times there doesn’t seem to be any significant blunders by any team. Looks like everyone was relatively on the ball.
8. 

   sato113 (@sato113)
   30th July 2012, 13:42

   its no coincidenc that lotus were fast at another very HOT track. (see bahrain and valencia). so maybe the hype around their pace will die down from now on as there arent any other sweltering heat tracks left. (apart from Austin i guess!)
   1. 

      Kimi4WDC
      30th July 2012, 23:42

      Keep wishing!! Kimi got this!

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