2013 Brazilian GP tyre strategies and pit stops

2013 Brazilian Grand Prix

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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 1Stint 2Stint 3Stint 4
Sebastian VettelMedium (24)Medium (23)Hard (24)
Mark WebberMedium (23)Medium (24)Hard (24)
Fernando AlonsoMedium (21)Hard (26)Medium (24)
Jenson ButtonHard (20)Medium (23)Medium (28)
Nico RosbergMedium (22)Hard (22)Hard (27)
Sergio PerezMedium (19)Medium (25)Hard (27)
Felipe MassaMedium (19)Medium (24)Hard (28)
Nico HulkenbergMedium (20)Medium (26)Hard (25)
Lewis HamiltonMedium (21)Hard (26)Hard (24)
Daniel RicciardoMedium (14)Hard (28)Hard (28)
Paul di RestaMedium (20)Medium (27)Hard (23)
Esteban GutierrezHard (22)Medium (25)Medium (23)
Adrian SutilMedium (17)Medium (20)Hard (17)Medium (16)
Heikki KovalainenMedium (15)Medium (19)Hard (36)
Jean-Eric VergneMedium (10)Hard (18)Medium (18)Hard (24)
Pastor MaldonadoMedium (23)Medium (20)Hard (27)
Jules BianchiMedium (21)Hard (26)Hard (22)
Giedo van der GardeMedium (24)Medium (23)Hard (22)
Max ChiltonMedium (26)Medium (22)Hard (18)Medium (3)
Charles PicMedium (25)Hard (33)
Valtteri BottasMedium (17)Hard (24)Medium (4)
Romain GrosjeanMedium (1)

Brazilian Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Felipe MassaFerrari22.34219
2Sergio PerezMcLaren22.3970.05544
3Sebastian VettelRed Bull22.5100.16824
4Sergio PerezMcLaren22.5910.24919
5Heikki KovalainenLotus22.6460.30434
6Lewis HamiltonMercedes22.6550.31321
7Felipe MassaFerrari22.6550.31343
8Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso22.7210.37914
9Fernando AlonsoFerrari22.7320.39047
10Jenson ButtonMcLaren22.7460.40420
11Nico RosbergMercedes22.7530.41144
12Fernando AlonsoFerrari22.7550.41321
13Adrian SutilForce India22.9810.63954
14Heikki KovalainenLotus23.0190.67715
15Esteban GutierrezSauber23.1380.79647
16Adrian SutilForce India23.1610.81917
17Max ChiltonMarussia23.2220.88066
18Paul di RestaForce India23.2370.89520
19Nico HulkenbergSauber23.2370.89546
20Nico RosbergMercedes23.3280.98622
21Paul di RestaForce India23.3300.98847
22Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso23.3400.99842
23Jules BianchiMarussia23.4031.06147
24Max ChiltonMarussia23.4491.10748
25Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso23.4511.10946
26Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso23.4551.11310
27Pastor MaldonadoWilliams23.6001.25823
28Valtteri BottasWilliams23.6951.35341
29Giedo van der GardeCaterham23.7321.39024
30Jenson ButtonMcLaren23.7881.44643
31Esteban GutierrezSauber23.8571.51522
32Nico HulkenbergSauber23.8871.54520
33Adrian SutilForce India24.0011.65937
34Charles PicCaterham24.0991.75725
35Valtteri BottasWilliams24.1661.82417
36Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso24.1831.84128
37Lewis HamiltonMercedes24.4232.08147
38Jules BianchiMarussia24.6572.31521
39Mark WebberRed Bull25.0122.67023
40Max ChiltonMarussia25.0602.71826
41Mark WebberRed Bull26.7184.37647
42Pastor MaldonadoWilliams26.7344.39243
43Giedo van der GardeCaterham27.1074.76547
44Sebastian VettelRed Bull32.89910.55747

2013 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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3 comments on “2013 Brazilian GP tyre strategies and pit stops”

  1. 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.

  2. a correction for Massas tyre strategy:
    medium-medium-hard

  3. 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.

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