It was three-stop strategies all round in China with the exception of one team: McLaren.
Jenson Button and Sergio Perez both made two pit stops, but Button was the only driver to make it home in the points.
Button left it until lap 49 to put the soft tyres on. He nursed them to begin with but leant on them more heavily on his final tour, reducing his lap time by almost two seconds.
Other drivers such as Sebastian Vettel pushed their tyres harder at this point. But there was little for Button to gain by doing that – he was 22 seconds behind the next car – Vettel – at the flag.
Sergio Perez in the other McLaren ran his soft tyre stint in the middle of the race and spent as long on them as Button did. But he found it much harder to make them last than Button did and the stint cost him four places.
Chinese Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fernando Alonso | Soft (6) | Medium (17) | Medium (18) | Medium (15) |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Soft (6) | Medium (15) | Medium (13) | Medium (22) |
| Lewis Hamilton | Soft (5) | Medium (16) | Medium (16) | Medium (19) |
| Sebastian Vettel | Medium (14) | Medium (17) | Medium (20) | Soft (5) |
| Jenson Button | Medium (23) | Medium (26) | Soft (7) | |
| Felipe Massa | Soft (7) | Medium (12) | Medium (17) | Medium (20) |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Soft (4) | Medium (19) | Medium (15) | Medium (18) |
| Paul di Resta | Medium (14) | Medium (18) | Medium (21) | Soft (3) |
| Romain Grosjean | Soft (7) | Medium (16) | Medium (14) | Medium (19) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Medium (14) | Medium (15) | Soft (7) | Medium (20) |
| Sergio Perez | Medium (24) | Soft (7) | Medium (25) | |
| Jean-Eric Vergne | Medium (15) | Medium (22) | Soft (6) | Medium (13) |
| Valtteri Bottas | Medium (16) | Medium (18) | Medium (17) | Soft (5) |
| Pastor Maldonado | Soft (7) | Medium (16) | Medium (16) | Medium (17) |
| Jules Bianchi | Soft (6) | Medium (10) | Medium (16) | Medium (23) |
| Charles Pic | Soft (5) | Medium (12) | Medium (16) | Medium (22) |
| Max Chilton | Soft (7) | Medium (14) | Medium (12) | Medium (22) |
| Giedo van der Garde | Soft (6) | Medium (14) | Medium (17) | Medium (18) |
| Nico Rosberg | Soft (5) | Medium (14) | Medium (1) | |
| Mark Webber | Soft (1) | Medium (14) | ||
| Adrian Sutil | Soft (5) | |||
| Esteban Gutierrez | Medium (4) |
Chinese Grand Prix pit stop times
Red Bull were the fastest team in the pits again. Last year the fastest pit stop in the race, achieved by Ferrari, took 20.024s. Red Bull cut that by seven tenths of a second and Vettel’s three pit stops were completed in less than a minute in total.
A demonstration of Red Bull’s superiority came when Vettel arrived in the pits behind Nico Hulkenberg after 14 laps. He was already heading back to the track while Hulkenberg was still sat on his jacks as the Sauber crew fumbled a right-rear tyre change. Hulkenberg spent a total of 3.6 seconds longer in the pits than Vettel during the race.
But faster pit stops can carry highers risks as the other Red Bull driver discovered. Mark Webber’s race ended when a wheel came off his car following a pit stop.
Red Bull were fined ?óÔÇÜ?¼5,000 (?é?ú4,262) by the FIA for releasing Webber unsafely. However the stewards took into consideration the fact that “the team was initially unaware of the fact the wheel was not correctly fitted but as soon as the problem was identified the team advised the driver to stop the car”.
Here’s how long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 19.323 | 14 | |
| 2 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 19.449 | 0.126 | 36 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 19.600 | 0.277 | 37 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 19.719 | 0.396 | 6 |
| 5 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 19.831 | 0.508 | 53 |
| 6 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 19.862 | 0.539 | 49 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 19.894 | 0.571 | 19 |
| 8 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 19.898 | 0.575 | 23 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 19.957 | 0.634 | 36 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 19.969 | 0.646 | 24 |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 20.027 | 0.704 | 19 |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 20.083 | 0.760 | 7 |
| 13 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 20.084 | 0.761 | 31 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 20.109 | 0.786 | 37 |
| 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 20.191 | 0.868 | 51 |
| 16 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 20.235 | 0.912 | 37 |
| 17 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 20.253 | 0.930 | 31 |
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 20.286 | 0.963 | 23 |
| 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 20.303 | 0.980 | 23 |
| 20 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 20.320 | 0.997 | 32 |
| 21 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 20.327 | 1.004 | 29 |
| 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 20.362 | 1.039 | 38 |
| 23 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 20.379 | 1.056 | 5 |
| 24 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 20.464 | 1.141 | 34 |
| 25 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 20.521 | 1.198 | 23 |
| 26 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 20.584 | 1.261 | 21 |
| 27 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 20.598 | 1.275 | 14 |
| 28 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 20.625 | 1.302 | 32 |
| 29 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 20.716 | 1.393 | 43 |
| 30 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 20.743 | 1.420 | 20 |
| 31 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 20.753 | 1.430 | 6 |
| 32 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 20.753 | 1.430 | 7 |
| 33 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 20.759 | 1.436 | 21 |
| 34 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 20.794 | 1.471 | 7 |
| 35 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 20.905 | 1.582 | 6 |
| 36 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 20.977 | 1.654 | 15 |
| 37 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 20.982 | 1.659 | 39 |
| 38 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 21.012 | 1.689 | 41 |
| 39 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 21.063 | 1.740 | 7 |
| 40 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 21.067 | 1.744 | 37 |
| 41 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 21.097 | 1.774 | 6 |
| 42 | Charles Pic | Caterham | 21.265 | 1.942 | 5 |
| 43 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 21.287 | 1.964 | 1 |
| 44 | Charles Pic | Caterham | 21.294 | 1.971 | 33 |
| 45 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 21.490 | 2.167 | 51 |
| 46 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 21.517 | 2.194 | 23 |
| 47 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 21.614 | 2.291 | 16 |
| 48 | Charles Pic | Caterham | 22.183 | 2.860 | 17 |
| 49 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 22.217 | 2.894 | 34 |
| 50 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 22.299 | 2.976 | 5 |
| 51 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 22.727 | 3.404 | 20 |
| 52 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 22.838 | 3.515 | 14 |
| 53 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 24.834 | 5.511 | 16 |
| 54 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 24.946 | 5.623 | 4 |
| 55 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 25.091 | 5.768 | 21 |
| 56 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 25.151 | 5.828 | 33 |
| 57 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 26.956 | 7.633 | 15 |
Mike (@mike)
14th April 2013, 17:16
I think in hindsight, Button was being overly careful. Not a bad call considering the wear concerns at the time though.
toiago (@toiago)
14th April 2013, 17:47
At least for me, Perez still keeps failing to impress.
Luc
14th April 2013, 18:14
Indeed he is.
Meanwhile button did set the second fastest lap , where Perez was just 14/15th.
socksolid (@socksolid)
14th April 2013, 19:22
That was really all about button ending the race with very light car and the softer tires (that’s when the button’s fastest lap was done?) while perez used his softer tires earlier in the race and in the end of the perez had word mediums when he had light car.
Dizzy
14th April 2013, 19:36
I don’t think Perez was that bad this weekend.
Before his 1st stop he was matching Button’s times & was only about 4 seconds behind him on the track.
What cost him was that he came out the pits in traffic after his 1st stop & then made the move to the soft’s too early.
I find it amazing how people’s opinions on Perez changed as soon as he was announced as Hamilton’s replacement.
There were people all through 2012 praising him & calling for him to replace Massa, Then as soon as he signed with Mclaren the same people were saying he wasn’t good enough.
GongTong (@gongtong)
14th April 2013, 20:54
Bear in mind, that as soon as he signed for Mclaren he stopped driving well.
That probably had an effect on people’s opinions.
I agree with the sentiment that F1 fans are very fickle. But in this case, perhaps some of the criticism is justified.
Luc
14th April 2013, 21:41
Honestly, I can’t say I was one of them.
If I were Whitmarsh, I would’ve hired Hulkenberg.
I think the reason for Perez’s podiums were due to excellent strategy performed to perfection by Perez’s ability to save tires with that car.
Perez’s qualifying performances were not special, whereas Kobayashi did put his sauber on the first row in spa.
Imo the car had more pace than they extracted out of it.
Perez is off to McLaren, and the promice from sauber is not even close to Button.
His racecraft just isn’t there (yet) , and he certainly wasn’t the only one that had to go trough traffic.
so yes, i feel sceptical about him, but that’s the way it is.
I quite like surprises , so if he should surprise, I’ll swallow my words, but at the moment I think McLaren made a big mistake.
Nickpkr21
16th April 2013, 22:22
His tire sequence was the worst, specially for a two stopper, but he needs to get a car that can qualify in the first row before you can talk about delding you.
Mclaren is still a midfield car thus season.
Nickpkr21
16th April 2013, 22:27
Meant deluding, which remembers me I like Perez but it’s starting to suck to be a Mclaren “fan” and even only been three races at it….
mikkomixxx (@mikkomix)
14th April 2013, 18:14
Special mention to the Mercedes pit crew.
They showed grace under pressure when the team decided to pit their cars on the same lap, almost stacking the two. It’s not easy to manage 18 tires in a span of a few seconds. Good job!
alexf1man (@alexf1man)
14th April 2013, 18:20
Yes, and unlike Force India in Malaysia didn’t have gun problems… although I think you’ll find it was 16 tyres, unless they took two of Webbers!
mikkomixxx (@mikkomix)
14th April 2013, 19:00
You’re right, it’s supposed to be 16 LOL! Thanks!! Webber wasn’t gonna use them anyway haha
Retired (@jeff1s)
14th April 2013, 19:39
Not sure by doing that 2-cars stop, they made the 23rd and 50th quickest pitstop time.
Just how on earth Bianchi did only 10 laps on medium tyres (stint 2)?
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
14th April 2013, 19:54
It does look like Rosberg lost some time there, though do we need factor in that cars drive into the pits more slowly at the beginning of the race with very worn tyres?
Enigma (@enigma)
14th April 2013, 21:29
@jeff1s I think he was trying to jump Pic, but didn’t manage to (on that occasion).
ChrisJ (@chrisj)
14th April 2013, 18:25
16 tyres :P have to agree though great job!
Bleu (@bleu)
14th April 2013, 19:47
Not really slow pit stops this time out, regardless of the reasons behind them.
Illusive (@illusive)
14th April 2013, 20:42
Hulkenberg lost a lot in this, he did 7 laps on soft, while Di Resta did only 3, it was much wiser to use the soft for only few laps.
Joao (@johnmilk)
14th April 2013, 21:27
it is interesting to see that a 7 lap stint in the soft tyre was clearly a disadvantage. Massa lost to Alonso, Grosjean to Kimi, Maldonado to Bottas, Chilton to Bianchi. For those that paid more attention may remember that Massa lost more than a second just for staying one more lap, by then he was pressing Alonso for 2nd place.
Joao (@johnmilk)
14th April 2013, 21:30
same logic for Van der Garde (6 laps) vs Pic (5 laps) and Vergne (6 laps) vs Ricciardo (4 laps)
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
15th April 2013, 3:57
Massa himself blamed his medium stints for the struggles, he even pitted sooner after the first pit-stop and still didn’t made much ground with it.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
15th April 2013, 4:29
McLaren’s situation is nothing alike Ferrari. At times I feel they can pull an RB8 rather than mimicking the F12. With pace being so tight and subjective, who knows what someone in the zone could have achieved in supposedly the faster 3 stop strategy.