Completely wet practice and qualifying sessions left F1 teams in the dark about how the slick tyres would perform during the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Most teams preferred the softer medium tyre for the race, though Mercedes in particular did more running on the hard as they were having trouble with rear-end grip.
Red Bull have performed some of the quickest pit stops this year – including during the last race – but they weren’t as hot on pit lane in Brazil. Mark Webber’s first stop was slow, costing him a place to Fernando Alonso.
They pitted both their drivers together on lap 47 moments after the collision between Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. Webber had to wait briefly behind Sebastian Vettel due to a delay in his team mate’s tyres appearing – just as Vettel experienced during last year’s race.
“I think we were afraid of a safety car at that stage,” said Vettel of the hasty double-stop. “I came in, hoping everybody was ready.”
“I think I had three wheels on the car but I was waiting for the front right. For some reason, last year and this year, it seemed to be the front-right…”
However the drama failed to stop Red Bull chalking up another one-two.
Brazilian Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sebastian Vettel | Medium (24) | Medium (23) | Hard (24) | |
Mark Webber | Medium (23) | Medium (24) | Hard (24) | |
Fernando Alonso | Medium (21) | Hard (26) | Medium (24) | |
Jenson Button | Hard (20) | Medium (23) | Medium (28) | |
Nico Rosberg | Medium (22) | Hard (22) | Hard (27) | |
Sergio Perez | Medium (19) | Medium (25) | Hard (27) | |
Felipe Massa | Medium (19) | Medium (24) | Hard (28) | |
Nico Hulkenberg | Medium (20) | Medium (26) | Hard (25) | |
Lewis Hamilton | Medium (21) | Hard (26) | Hard (24) | |
Daniel Ricciardo | Medium (14) | Hard (28) | Hard (28) | |
Paul di Resta | Medium (20) | Medium (27) | Hard (23) | |
Esteban Gutierrez | Hard (22) | Medium (25) | Medium (23) | |
Adrian Sutil | Medium (17) | Medium (20) | Hard (17) | Medium (16) |
Heikki Kovalainen | Medium (15) | Medium (19) | Hard (36) | |
Jean-Eric Vergne | Medium (10) | Hard (18) | Medium (18) | Hard (24) |
Pastor Maldonado | Medium (23) | Medium (20) | Hard (27) | |
Jules Bianchi | Medium (21) | Hard (26) | Hard (22) | |
Giedo van der Garde | Medium (24) | Medium (23) | Hard (22) | |
Max Chilton | Medium (26) | Medium (22) | Hard (18) | Medium (3) |
Charles Pic | Medium (25) | Hard (33) | ||
Valtteri Bottas | Medium (17) | Hard (24) | Medium (4) | |
Romain Grosjean | Medium (1) |
Brazilian Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
1 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 22.342 | 19 | |
2 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 22.397 | 0.055 | 44 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 22.510 | 0.168 | 24 |
4 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 22.591 | 0.249 | 19 |
5 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | 22.646 | 0.304 | 34 |
6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 22.655 | 0.313 | 21 |
7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 22.655 | 0.313 | 43 |
8 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 22.721 | 0.379 | 14 |
9 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 22.732 | 0.390 | 47 |
10 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 22.746 | 0.404 | 20 |
11 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 22.753 | 0.411 | 44 |
12 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 22.755 | 0.413 | 21 |
13 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 22.981 | 0.639 | 54 |
14 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | 23.019 | 0.677 | 15 |
15 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 23.138 | 0.796 | 47 |
16 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 23.161 | 0.819 | 17 |
17 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 23.222 | 0.880 | 66 |
18 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 23.237 | 0.895 | 20 |
19 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 23.237 | 0.895 | 46 |
20 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 23.328 | 0.986 | 22 |
21 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 23.330 | 0.988 | 47 |
22 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 23.340 | 0.998 | 42 |
23 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 23.403 | 1.061 | 47 |
24 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 23.449 | 1.107 | 48 |
25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 23.451 | 1.109 | 46 |
26 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 23.455 | 1.113 | 10 |
27 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 23.600 | 1.258 | 23 |
28 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 23.695 | 1.353 | 41 |
29 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 23.732 | 1.390 | 24 |
30 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 23.788 | 1.446 | 43 |
31 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 23.857 | 1.515 | 22 |
32 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 23.887 | 1.545 | 20 |
33 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 24.001 | 1.659 | 37 |
34 | Charles Pic | Caterham | 24.099 | 1.757 | 25 |
35 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 24.166 | 1.824 | 17 |
36 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 24.183 | 1.841 | 28 |
37 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 24.423 | 2.081 | 47 |
38 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 24.657 | 2.315 | 21 |
39 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 25.012 | 2.670 | 23 |
40 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 25.060 | 2.718 | 26 |
41 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 26.718 | 4.376 | 47 |
42 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 26.734 | 4.392 | 43 |
43 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 27.107 | 4.765 | 47 |
44 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 32.899 | 10.557 | 47 |
2013 Brazilian Grand Prix
- 2013 F1 season is lowest-rated year since 2009
- Adaptalis wins 2013 Predictions Championship
- Top ten pictures from the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix
- 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
- 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix team radio transcript
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
25th November 2013, 6:17
Mercedes missed a trick by letting Massa get ahead of Hamilton after the first round of stops. I appreciate they do not want to shorten their stints too much, but running in the dirty air for 10 laps can’t have done his tyres any good either. If they had pitted him one lap earlier to respond to Massa, they would have come out in front.
Cosmas (@cosmas)
25th November 2013, 7:49
a correction for Massas tyre strategy:
medium-medium-hard
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
25th November 2013, 9:47
The RBR pit stop incident illustrates what I have been thinking for a while now: Having the first pit box is a disadvantage; it is best to have the last one.
I can see three advantages of the last pit box, and two disadvantages compared to the first pit box:
Advantages of the last pit box:
1) In qualifying, the cars can be sent out by reacting to other cars coming out of their garages. For example, like in Q3 yesterday, RB were waiting for a long time at the red light without anyone else queuing. This time could have been reduced had they been able to send out their cars only when someone else does, while still retaining the first position at the light.
2) In the race, the pit crew has an additional ~10 seconds to react to a car coming in. This would have all but avoided the time loss for Vettel and Webber. This might also allow a team to react to the pit crew of another team coming out more easily.
3) It is easier to pull away from the box as there is no other pit garage the drivers need to drive around.
Disadvantages:
1) Cars can pull into the box more easily as there is no box of another team in the way.
2) Drivers have more time to prepare mentally for the pit exit and the lap ahead.
So, if the order could be chosen, I would always choose the last pit box as the advantages greatly seem to outweigh the disadvantages.