McLaren set the fastest pit stop of the race – and it allowed Lewis Hamilton to take fifth place off Kimi Raikkonen.
Japanese Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
| Sebastian Vettel | Soft (17) | Hard (20) | Hard (16) | |
| Mark Webber | Soft (1) | Hard (25) | Hard (27) | |
| Kamui Kobayashi | Soft (14) | Hard (17) | Hard (22) | |
| Romain Grosjean | Soft (1) | Hard (21) | Hard (29) | |
| Sergio Perez | Soft (15) | Hard (3) | ||
| Fernando Alonso | Soft | |||
| Kimi Raikkonen | Soft (13) | Hard (17) | Hard (23) | |
| Jenson Button | Soft (13) | Hard (22) | Hard (18) | |
| Lewis Hamilton | Soft (16) | Hard (15) | Hard (22) | |
| Felipe Massa | Soft (17) | Hard (19) | Hard (17) | |
| Paul di Resta | Soft (13) | Hard (19) | Hard (21) | |
| Pastor Maldonado | Soft (16) | Soft (17) | Hard (20) | |
| Nico Rosberg | Soft | |||
| Daniel Ricciardo | Soft (17) | Soft (17) | Hard (19) | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Soft (13) | Hard (18) | Hard (22) | |
| Bruno Senna | Soft (1) | Hard (15) | Hard (18) | Soft (19) |
| Heikki Kovalainen | Soft (18) | Hard (23) | Hard (11) | |
| Timo Glock | Soft (20) | Hard (20) | Hard (12) | |
| Jean-Eric Vergne | Hard (18) | Soft (17) | Soft (18) | |
| Pedro de la Rosa | Soft (17) | Soft (19) | Hard (16) | |
| Charles Pic | Hard (14) | Soft (17) | Hard (6) | |
| Vitaly Petrov | Soft (19) | Hard (23) | Soft (10) | |
| Michael Schumacher | Hard (17) | Soft (19) | Soft (17) | |
| Narain Karthikeyan | Soft (15) | Soft (17) |
Two-stop strategies were preferred by most drivers.
Mark Webber’s first-lap clash with Romain Grosjean meant he made his first pit stop at the end of lap one. He successfully completed the racing by making just one further stop, running two long stints on hard tyres, and salvaging ninth place.
Japanese Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 19.794 | 31 | |
| 2 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 20.233 | 0.439 | 13 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 20.346 | 0.552 | 37 |
| 4 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 20.379 | 0.585 | 36 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 20.508 | 0.714 | 17 |
| 6 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 20.643 | 0.849 | 17 |
| 7 | Timo Glock | Marussia | 20.662 | 0.868 | 20 |
| 8 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 20.691 | 0.897 | 26 |
| 9 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 20.762 | 0.968 | 31 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 20.778 | 0.984 | 36 |
| 11 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 20.783 | 0.989 | 14 |
| 12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 20.901 | 1.107 | 13 |
| 13 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 20.936 | 1.142 | 17 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 21.007 | 1.213 | 13 |
| 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 21.063 | 1.269 | 13 |
| 16 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 21.099 | 1.305 | 35 |
| 17 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 21.118 | 1.324 | 33 |
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 21.143 | 1.349 | 22 |
| 19 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 21.148 | 1.354 | 16 |
| 20 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 21.222 | 1.428 | 30 |
| 21 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 21.273 | 1.479 | 15 |
| 22 | Charles Pic | Marussia | 21.343 | 1.549 | 14 |
| 23 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 21.344 | 1.550 | 32 |
| 24 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 21.361 | 1.567 | 16 |
| 25 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | 21.367 | 1.573 | 42 |
| 26 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | 21.368 | 1.574 | 19 |
| 27 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 21.431 | 1.637 | 35 |
| 28 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 21.516 | 1.722 | 34 |
| 29 | Timo Glock | Marussia | 21.520 | 1.726 | 40 |
| 30 | Bruno Senna | Williams | 21.520 | 1.726 | 34 |
| 31 | Bruno Senna | Williams | 21.538 | 1.744 | 16 |
| 32 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 21.688 | 1.894 | 31 |
| 33 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 21.944 | 2.150 | 17 |
| 34 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT | 22.487 | 2.693 | 36 |
| 35 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 22.528 | 2.734 | 18 |
| 36 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 22.678 | 2.884 | 41 |
| 37 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 22.816 | 3.022 | 18 |
| 38 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT | 23.227 | 3.433 | 15 |
| 39 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT | 26.287 | 6.493 | 17 |
| 40 | Bruno Senna | Williams | 27.098 | 7.304 | 1 |
| 41 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 32.329 | 12.535 | 1 |
| 42 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 32.462 | 12.668 | 1 |
| 43 | Charles Pic | Marussia | 42.505 | 22.711 | 31 |
McLaren reacted to Raikkonen’s lap 30 pit stop by bringing Hamilton in the next time around. Lotus’s pit stop wasn’t too slow but McLaren’s was inspired – almost half a second quicker than the next-best of the race – which they also set.
It allowed Hamilton to leave the pits side-by-side with Raikkonen and take the position.
Marussia also deserve a word of praise for producing the seventh-quickest stop of the race, beating the likes of Ferrari and Lotus.
2012 Japanese Grand Prix
Image ?é?® McLaren/Hoch Zwei
Q85
7th October 2012, 18:01
as regards to Marussia well done, but ive always said there is no reason why the slower teams should be slower in the pit lane. changing tyres is a physical thing that requires training and practice, practice, practice not £££ so if i was a team boss of HRT or Marussia id be saying ok lads we cant beat them on race speed and money but we can damn well show them a thing or too in the pit lane.
Himmat
7th October 2012, 19:47
Well, the above shows a combination of stop and pit entry/exit. Slow cars have got worse traction etc so the stop-go part slows them down by quite a lot. But yeah, regarding the stationary time, they should be ideally on par with the rest – no reason to be slower there.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
10th October 2012, 13:09
Often crosses my mind. I think Himmat is right to an extent, but their cars aren’t THAT much slower. I guess perhaps they think ‘what’s the point’ in rushing? There is usually a substantial enough gap between the bottom 3 teams where position just isn’t so precious.