Red Bull were the quickest team in the pits at Singapore – just. Here’s the pit strategies and pit stop times from the race.
Singapore Grand Prix tyre strategies
The appearance of the safety car midway through the race – and its reappearance shortly afterwards – led several drivers to change their strategies.
Three-stoppers were switched to two, and at a stroke much of the intrigue over the closing laps disappeared.
It was particularly disadvantageous for drivers who had recently changed to the super-soft tyre, such as Mark Webber and Pastor Maldonado – though of course the latter was doomed to retire anyway.
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | Stint 5 | |
| Lewis Hamilton | Super soft (12) | Soft (10) | |||
| Pastor Maldonado | Super soft (13) | Soft (16) | Super soft (4) | Soft (3) | |
| Sebastian Vettel | Super soft (10) | Soft (23) | Soft (26) | ||
| Jenson Button | Super soft (14) | Soft (19) | Soft (26) | ||
| Fernando Alonso | Super soft (11) | Soft (18) | Soft (30) | ||
| Paul di Resta | Super soft (12) | Soft (21) | Soft (26) | ||
| Mark Webber | Super soft (8) | Soft (20) | Super soft (12) | Soft (19) | |
| Romain Grosjean | Super soft (14) | Soft (19) | Soft (26) | ||
| Michael Schumacher | Super soft (11) | Soft (22) | Soft (5) | ||
| Nico Rosberg | Super soft (12) | Soft (21) | Soft (26) | ||
| Nico Hulkenberg | Soft (18) | Soft (22) | Super soft (10) | Super soft (9) | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Super soft (13) | Soft (19) | Soft (27) | ||
| Felipe Massa | Super soft (1) | Soft (18) | Soft (14) | Super soft (26) | |
| Sergio Perez | Soft (18) | Soft (22) | Super soft (19) | ||
| Daniel Ricciardo | Super soft (11) | Soft (20) | Soft (28) | ||
| Jean-Eric Vergne | Soft (12) | Soft (12) | Super soft (14) | ||
| Kamui Kobayashi | Soft (14) | Soft (16) | Super soft (20) | Super soft (9) | |
| Vitaly Petrov | Super soft (1) | Soft (17) | Super soft (12) | Super soft (10) | Soft (17) |
| Heikki Kovalainen | Super soft (12) | Soft (14) | Super soft (19) | Super soft (14) | |
| Timo Glock | Soft (13) | Super soft (12) | Soft (34) | ||
| Charles Pic | Soft (16) | Soft (16) | Super soft (27) | ||
| Bruno Senna | Super soft (10) | Soft (15) | Super soft (8) | Soft (24) | |
| Narain Karthikeyan | Super soft (19) | Soft (11) | |||
| Pedro de la Rosa | Soft (18) | Super soft (12) | Soft (10) | Super soft (18) |
Singapore Grand Prix pit stop times
Red Bull turned around the fastest pit stop of the race for Sebastian Vettel when he made his first visit.
But McLaren – the form team of late when it comes to pit stops – very nearly matched them. Lewis Hamilton’s sole pit stop was just fractionally slower.
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 29.117 | 10 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 29.124 | 0.007 | 12 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 29.190 | 0.073 | 29 |
| 4 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 29.304 | 0.187 | 28 |
| 5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 29.333 | 0.216 | 8 |
| 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 29.348 | 0.231 | 40 |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 29.370 | 0.253 | 32 |
| 8 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 29.403 | 0.286 | 19 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 29.455 | 0.338 | 33 |
| 10 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 29.546 | 0.429 | 12 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 29.557 | 0.440 | 11 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 29.662 | 0.545 | 33 |
| 13 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 29.669 | 0.552 | 13 |
| 14 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 29.687 | 0.570 | 33 |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 29.789 | 0.672 | 31 |
| 16 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 29.898 | 0.781 | 24 |
| 17 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 30.019 | 0.902 | 14 |
| 18 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 30.029 | 0.912 | 33 |
| 19 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 30.043 | 0.926 | 18 |
| 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 30.099 | 0.982 | 26 |
| 21 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 30.217 | 1.100 | 40 |
| 22 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 30.232 | 1.115 | 45 |
| 23 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 30.234 | 1.117 | 13 |
| 24 | Bruno Senna | Williams | 30.317 | 1.200 | 10 |
| 25 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 30.338 | 1.221 | 33 |
| 26 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | 30.341 | 1.224 | 18 |
| 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 30.363 | 1.246 | 18 |
| 28 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | 30.405 | 1.288 | 30 |
| 29 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 30.440 | 1.323 | 12 |
| 30 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 30.499 | 1.382 | 12 |
| 31 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 30.540 | 1.423 | 29 |
| 32 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 30.613 | 1.496 | 40 |
| 33 | Charles Pic | Marussia | 30.647 | 1.530 | 16 |
| 34 | Bruno Senna | Williams | 30.684 | 1.567 | 33 |
| 35 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 30.693 | 1.576 | 14 |
| 36 | Bruno Senna | Williams | 30.828 | 1.711 | 25 |
| 37 | Charles Pic | Marussia | 30.834 | 1.717 | 32 |
| 38 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 30.842 | 1.725 | 30 |
| 39 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 30.879 | 1.762 | 11 |
| 40 | Timo Glock | Marussia | 30.977 | 1.860 | 13 |
| 41 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 30.981 | 1.864 | 33 |
| 42 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 30.992 | 1.875 | 11 |
| 43 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 31.026 | 1.909 | 12 |
| 44 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 31.137 | 2.020 | 33 |
| 45 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 31.753 | 2.636 | 33 |
| 46 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 31.958 | 2.841 | 1 |
| 47 | Timo Glock | Marussia | 32.015 | 2.898 | 25 |
| 48 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 32.080 | 2.963 | 14 |
| 49 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT | 32.436 | 3.319 | 19 |
| 50 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT | 32.625 | 3.508 | 30 |
| 51 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT | 33.042 | 3.925 | 18 |
| 52 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 34.601 | 5.484 | 50 |
| 53 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 36.146 | 7.029 | 50 |
| 54 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | 36.148 | 7.031 | 1 |
| 55 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | 41.154 | 12.037 | 40 |
| 56 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT | 44.101 | 14.984 | 40 |
2012 Singapore Grand Prix
- Hamilton says ‘early’ title wins never great for F1 as Verstappen nears second crown
- Hamilton edges Di Resta as top Singapore driver
- Rate the Race Result: 2012 Singapore Grand Prix
- F1 fans’ videos from the Singapore Grand Prix
- Williams positive despite “extremely frustrating” race
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Guilherme (@guilherme)
23rd September 2012, 23:01
I think it is only natural that McLaren doesn’t stay as the fastest team in the pits for long. Today this is such a big part of the sport, so much effort is going into finding these tenths of a second. The big teams must always practice their movements and improve their tools, so it doesn’t surprise me if Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes take over as the team to beat in the pits. And to be honest, I love this competition! I’m eagerly awaiting for a sub two-second pitstop!
Jake (@jleigh)
23rd September 2012, 23:02
Hamilton was stationary for less time, so it appears Vettel’s shortcut into the pit lane he was practising in practise worked well
Enigma (@enigma)
24th September 2012, 16:11
@jleigh Wasn’t he penalised for something like that 3 years ago?
Jake (@jleigh)
24th September 2012, 17:07
@enigma Yes, in 09 while he was chasing Hamilton down for victory. I suspect they’ve come up with a slghtly different one that doesn’t get penalised.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
24th September 2012, 23:09
@jleigh If that was the case you would expect a much bigger time difference than 0.007s surely?
Jake (@jleigh)
24th September 2012, 23:25
@andrewtanner If I remember Hamilton’s stop was 2 10ths quicker, so Vettel gained around 2 10ths on his shortcut.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
24th September 2012, 23:11
Comparing stints on tyres is impossible because of the cursed Safety Car…so I won’t try and bother!
Casanova (@casanova)
25th September 2012, 10:52
I know a lot of them were behind the safety car, but it’s still impressive on this circuit known for being tough on tyres that Glock managed 34 laps on a single set of softs. I guess the Marussia not having KERS must lessen the rate at which “traction events” wear out the tyres.