2015 Austrian Grand Prix lap charts

Lewis Hamilton’s best chance to reclaim the lead he lost to Nico Rosberg during the Austrian Grand Prix came when they made their single pit stops during the middle of the race.

But Hamilton was disappointed when he returned to the track after his pit stop and saw Rosberg was even further up the road.

“How did he get so far ahead?” questioned Hamilton on the radio. “That tyre’s faster, mate, straight out of the box,” race engineer Peter Bonnington answered.

This is the familiar phenomenon of the ‘undercut’ where the first driver onto a fresher set of tyres gets a performance advantage. Given that, Hamilton was also surprised to have been left out for an extra lap after Rosberg’s pit stop.

“What’s the reason you didn’t pit me?,” Hamilton asked next. Bonnington’s reply was that Felipe Massa was “trafficking Nico but boxed just before he caught him”.

The race chart below sheds more light on the situation. Rosberg had come out of the pits behind Massa’s third-placed Williams and would have caught him, potentially losing time. It therefore made sense to keep Hamilton out.

But Massa headed for the pits on the very next lap – as he did so, Rosberg reached the finishing line first, and so he did not officially spend a lap behind the Williams. The upshot was Hamilton, who had reduced Rosberg’s lead from four seconds to less than three before they pitted, was over four-and-a-half seconds behind after they pitted.

Hamilton hasn’t had much luck when trying to ‘overcut’ Rosberg in the past. The team tried to do the same in Brazil last year but Hamilton spun on his in-lap and, like to day, had to settle for second.

However on this occasion it may not have made a difference: Hamilton crossed the pit lane exit line as he returned to the pits, earning a five-second time penalty. Even if he had left the pits in front of Rosberg, he would have had to pull five seconds clear of his team mate in order to win the race.

2015 Austrian Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Use the controls below to show/hide different drivers:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2015drivercolours.csv

	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71
Lewis Hamilton	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Nico Rosberg	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	3	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Sebastian Vettel	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	1	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Felipe Massa	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Nico Hulkenberg	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	9	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	8	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
Valtteri Bottas	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Max Verstappen	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	8
Felipe Nasr	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	12	12	12	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11
Romain Grosjean	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	12	14	14	12	12	12	12	12	11	11	11	11	13
Pastor Maldonado	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	11	11	10	8	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	12	11	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	7
Marcus Ericsson	11	14	14	17	16	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	14	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13
Carlos Sainz Jnr	12	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	9	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	15
Sergio Perez	13	11	11	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	8	7	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	7	12	12	12	12	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Kimi Raikkonen	14
Daniil Kvyat	15	13	17	15	15	15	15	15	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	12	11	10	10	11	11	12	12	12	12	11	11	11	10	9	11	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12
Roberto Merhi	16	15	13	13	13	13	13	14	15	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	16	16	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14
Will Stevens	17	18
Daniel Ricciardo	18	16	15	14	14	14	14	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	12	11	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Fernando Alonso	19
Jenson Button	20	17	16	16	17	17	17	17	17

2015 Austrian Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap. Use the controls below to show/hide different drivers:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2015drivercolours.csv

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71
Lewis Hamilton	0.865	1.929	1.305	0.956	0.805	0.673	1.506	1.573	1.978	2.321	2.406	2.13	2.007	1.902	1.843	1.719	1.806	1.839	1.983	2.401	2.614	2.875	2.914	4.071	4.287	3.996	3.841	3.547	3.226	3.238	2.761	2.21	0	0	0	5.937	4.604	5.323	5.454	5.647	5.925	6.348	6.126	6.471	6.789	7.033	7.016	6.564	6.747	6.498	6.424	6.509	6.307	6.208	6.066	5.991	6.477	6.399	6.373	6.084	5.688	5.199	5.055	5.414	5.282	4.985	4.649	4.547	4.238	2.245	3.8
Nico Rosberg	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.044	19.202	14.473	1.638	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sebastian Vettel	2.45	3.026	2.289	2.336	2.191	1.297	2.913	3.572	4.362	4.839	5.493	5.806	6.138	6.4	6.924	7.191	7.548	7.893	8.238	8.922	9.614	10.16	10.46	11.259	11.814	11.988	12.166	12.294	12.448	12.578	12.409	12.41	10.275	10.611	7.541	0	26.2	26.809	26.958	26.883	26.631	26.464	25.978	25.486	25.614	25.58	25.636	25.413	25.911	25.489	24.72	24.718	24.665	24.672	24.629	24.439	24.327	24.062	24.089	24.005	23.744	23.323	22.927	22.538	22.248	21.732	21.742	21.378	20.63	18.587	18.181
Felipe Massa	3.475	4.198	3.095	3.217	2.997	1.742	3.837	4.646	5.669	6.508	7.379	7.813	8.454	8.985	9.379	10.029	10.476	10.934	11.617	12.416	13.213	14.05	14.425	15.057	15.902	15.732	16.304	16.526	16.883	17.461	17.724	18.21	16.864	21.473	36.074	23.779	22.265	22.561	22.859	22.652	22.504	22.352	22.03	22.008	22.404	22.522	22.935	22.922	23.185	23.073	22.371	22.544	22.563	22.254	22.531	22.399	22.417	22.1	22.262	22.284	22.621	22.271	22.03	21.735	21.541	21.244	21.282	20.867	19.99	17.936	17.573
Nico Hulkenberg	5.065	5.019	4.392	4.051	4.247	2.111	4.302	5.293	6.637	7.743	8.889	9.601	10.436	11.472	12.251	12.94	14.041	15.091	16.094	17.07	18.307	19.617	20.9	22.528	28.021	44.715	44.836	44.604	44.696	44.701	44.551	44.46	42.527	43.74	42.261	32.247	33.086	34.489	36.186	37.302	38.415	39.88	40.647	41.533	42.92	44.264	45.347	46.242	47.576	48.223	48.452	49.742	50.732	51.535	52.6	54.094	55.355	56.681	57.744	58.675	59.415	59.709	60.261	61.071	61.969	62.309	62.638	63.442	63.874	62.775	64.075
Valtteri Bottas	6.755	7.818	6.256	6.859	5.886	2.737	5.546	7.216	8.186	9.247	10.693	11.622	12.405	13.444	14.485	15.099	16.056	16.961	18.114	19.024	20.183	21.025	21.979	23.146	23.599	26.533	45.834	45.986	46.199	45.997	45.702	45.376	43.266	44.112	41.546	31.658	31.404	34.023	35.452	36.224	37.265	38.016	38.551	39.066	40.513	42.161	42.91	43.325	44.026	44.05	43.855	44.293	44.609	45.508	46.119	46.607	47.327	47.769	48.564	49.254	49.872	50.069	50.591	51.432	52.31	52.724	52.987	53.783	54.105	52.687	53.604
Max Verstappen	5.929	6.348	5.516	6.236	4.928	2.44	4.889	6.145	7.3	8.523	9.613	10.605	11.579	12.824	15.386	16.626	18.001	19.026	20.672	22.23	23.469	24.772	26.082	27.895	29.405	33.434	53.112	54.134	54.988	55.495	55.534	55.587	53.716	54.461	51.695	40.428	40.099	42.056	43.384	44.582	45.67	46.885	47.778	48.882	50.513	51.965	53.008	53.972	55.208	55.672	56.427	57.446	58.195	59.171	60.039	60.827	61.688	62.467	63.756	65.027	65.891	66.138	66.53	66.951	67.689	68.825	69.834	70.784	74.582	74.695
Felipe Nasr	7.94	8.961	7.118	8.684	7.181	2.938	5.981	7.99	9.488	11.141	13.077	14.097	15.202	16.275	17.635	18.829	20.539	21.917	23.367	24.812	26.389	27.964	29.471	36.089	56.677	58.467	59.396	60.061	60.901	61.32	61.723	62.348	61.039	62.489	60.436	49.978	50.173	52.803	55.291	57.922	59.995	61.85	63.249	64.655	66.82	70.019	73.153	74.932	76.909	78.619	80.743	82.678	83.84	84.914	86.422	87.699	89.082	90.254	91.672	94.344	97.826	99.157	100.696	102.429	104.73	106.463	108.418	110.524	111.731	112.796
Romain Grosjean	9.837	11.432	10.22	11.553	9.116	3.604	7.749	9.689	11.953	13.475	15.514	17.483	19.095	20.179	21.488	22.895	24.715	26.073	27.674	29.137	30.638	32.116	36.778	56.131	57.144	57.338	57.607	57.69	58.008	58.124	58.304	58.718	56.665	57.003	83.357
Pastor Maldonado	11.729	12.773	11.763	13.311	11.395	4.3	8.21	10.537	12.799	14.878	16.958	18.517	20.055	21.184	22.506	23.775	25.273	27.022	28.552	30.329	31.786	33.151	34.617	36.263	38.039	38.719	39.763	40.464	41.378	41.964	42.583	43.07	42.026	43.151	41.245	31.454	35.507	53.847	55.58	55.64	56.02	56.483	57.034	57.651	59.41	60.153	60.688	61.131	62.964	63.656	63.315	63.774	63.987	64.099	64.377	64.449	64.577	64.432	65.192	65.661	66.487	66.679	67.147	68.055	68.349	69.421	70.56	71.025	74.556	73.802
Marcus Ericsson	12.811	13.814	16.11	17.837	15.95	6.52	10.451	14.699	18.307	21.667	24.63	31.287	46.655	48.885	51.099	53.219	55.254	57.468	60.259	84.795	90.174	92.58	96.798	99.239	101.265	103.383	105.047	106.662	108.109	109.306	110.472	111.501	111.509	114.466	112.928	102.794	103.111	104.992	106.984	108.897	112.778	114.862	116.687	132.27	139.588	160.974	162.434	162.939	164.207	165.94	167.796	170.134	170.884	171.443	172.243	172.943	174.073	175.212	176.267	177.563	178.732	179.444	180.563	181.879	183.33	184.374	185.85	187.62	191.298
Carlos Sainz Jnr	9.296	9.532	8.267	10.657	8.052	3.315	6.631	8.564	10.286	11.721	13.727	15.014	16.355	17.65	18.979	20.329	21.75	22.941	24.55	26.307	27.556	28.86	30.357	32.744	37.118	61.076	61.667	61.953	62.664	68.966	78.684	87.781	96.55	106.418	121.215
Sergio Perez	10.994	12.214	11.098	12.084	10.444	3.987	7.439	9.385	11.276	13.116	15.098	16.624	18.239	19.669	21.119	22.57	24.24	25.766	27.193	28.706	30.21	31.609	33.075	35.061	36.657	37.328	38.399	39.312	40.228	40.765	41.65	42.303	40.955	42.198	40.901	30.428	30.674	36.778	60.751	61.173	61.594	63.175	64.11	65.227	67.157	68.617	69.545	70.08	71.091	73.277	73.666	74.626	75.055	75.633	76.538	77.395	80.52	80.967	82.034	82.842	83.577	83.953	85.073	86.367	87.683	88.647	89.36	89.759	90.024	88.975
Kimi Raikkonen
Daniil Kvyat	12.252	17.449	14.979	16.384	14.705	5.452	9.809	12.491	15.148	17.517	20.784	23.17	25.593	27.583	29.462	31.623	34.335	36.429	38.6	40.565	42.445	44.388	46.188	48.189	49.908	50.774	52.695	53.785	56.201	57.598	59.797	61.084	60.172	61.822	59.498	48.716	49.401	52.194	54.646	58.4	60.689	62.958	65.567	67.518	74.239	93.966	96.523	98.405	99.226	99.626	99.776	100.291	100.67	100.985	101.785	102.434	103.374	104.039	105.013	106.252	107.311	108.16	109.202	110.804	112.77	114.055	115.191	116.044	116.839	119.366
Roberto Merhi	13.407	13.344	12.409	13.88	12.18	4.911	9.583	13.861	19.569	24.089	28.561	32.596	37.61	41.238	45.019	48.732	52.167	55.684	59.337	64.518	68.171	71.822	77.232	81.148	84.629	88.681	92.752	95.909	99.05	102.097	105.452	109.684	111.143	119.313	140.01	131.233	132.914	136.401	140.3	143.191	147.578	151.767	154.986	158.335	162.343	165.698	172.262	175.223	178.645	181.311	184.854	188.631	193.017	196.165	200.921	204.314	209.774	212.783	217.742	222.658	226.25	229.339	234.136	239.573	244.018	247.056	249.842	252.753
Will Stevens	16.857
Daniel Ricciardo	14.889	15.442	13.973	15.494	13.269	5.015	8.902	11.396	13.866	16.276	18.495	20.449	22.387	24.464	26.363	28.085	30.202	32.134	34.17	36.132	37.932	39.888	41.645	43.778	45.276	46.208	47.598	48.575	49.821	50.807	51.657	52.411	51.096	52.271	49.819	39.017	39.347	41.591	44.23	46.212	47.908	49.605	51.053	52.779	55.045	56.835	58.52	60.196	62.664	68.523	92.252	92.446	92.114	91.892	91.875	91.801	91.849	91.757	92.281	92.881	92.876	92.319	96.065	96.149	96.229	96.051	95.556	95.122	94.247	92.019
Fernando Alonso
Jenson Button	15.776	16.667	15.244	18.767	17.338	9.694	37.291	82.717

2015 Austrian Grand Prix

Browse all 2015 Austrian Grand Prix articles

18 comments on “Why Mercedes left Hamilton out for an extra lap”

Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
21st June 2015, 16:41

Why was Ericsson so bad? He should probably compete in Manor championship.
1. Sharon H (@sharoncom)
  21st June 2015, 19:45
  
  He had a drive-through for jumping the start and had to do CTRL+ALT DEL on the pit straight.
Wass1985
21st June 2015, 16:51

It seems Mercedes aren’t so forgiving to Lewis when the tables are turned.
Mr win or lose
21st June 2015, 17:19

After 5 years of Pirelli tyres Hamilton is still unaware of the fact that fresh tyres have more grip than used tyres.

The main advantage of an ‘overcut’ is to have better tyres at the end of the race. As Mercedes pits the first driver first, the only way for Hamilton to beat Rosberg was to pit significantly later and hope that his performance advantage would be big enough to close the gap and attack at the end of the race.
1. N
  21st June 2015, 18:29
  
  You should apply for a job at Merc.
2. Kgn11
  21st June 2015, 19:04
  
  The tires don’t always switch on right away, sometimes they take 2-3 laps to get up to full temperature.
3. smudgersmith1 (@smudgersmith1)
  21st June 2015, 19:22
  
  You don’t think a two time world champion knows that ???
  It was the team who made him stay out, he didn’t have the choice of the undercut.
  1. Mr win or lose
    21st June 2015, 21:01
    
    That’s why I was surprised that he was surprised…
    Mercedes never allows their 2nd-placed driver to undercut his teammate, so Hamilton was always going to stay out longer, but that doesn’t have to be a disadvantage.
    1. Fletch (@fletchuk)
      21st June 2015, 22:18
      
      Lewis always thinks everyone is against him – he has the biggest victim mentality since Senna
      1. brown
        22nd June 2015, 0:04
        
        this… a thousand times this.
      2. cartwheel
        22nd June 2015, 15:32
        
        Agreed, with a minor clarification that it seemed Senna actually did have people out to get him.
    2. Ryan (@ryanisjones)
      22nd June 2015, 14:29
      
      I don’t think you understand. They made him stay out an extra lap which is “not” normal, hence him seeking clarification as to why? This has nothing to do with a victim mentality, it is a reasonable question to ask, as he would have had no idea why they were doing it. Furthermore he lost time to Rosberg because of it, hence it was the wrong move – even more reason for him to question it.
      
      They explained that they did it, because they thought he would be quicker on the older tyres whilst Rosberg would loose time behind Massa, who had yet to pit. Massa then pitted causing Rosberg to loose no time and, thus Hamilton lost more time comparatively. Staying out 1 more lap (not normal procedure) ended up being a “significant” disadvantage for Hamilton
Wass1985
21st June 2015, 22:06

Who’s saying Hamilton should have got the undercut? Nobody. The question is why wasn’t Hamilton pitted the lap after Rosberg when it was clear to see the softs were switching on immediately, the Massa excuse doesnt make sense at all and seems very fishy indeed to me…
1. spoutnik (@spoutnik)
  22nd June 2015, 0:15
  
  Ah come on, just stop it, conspiracies are just plain silly.
Samhainhell (@samhainhell)
22nd June 2015, 9:00

I perfectly know that Hamilton is by far the most popular driver from the current ones, and by that there is the need of the media to center their attentions on him.. However, what I don´t understand is why there must be always some kind of excuse to why he loses or to why things go wrong?

The incredible amount of topics about Hamilton anytime he loses, or when anything happens to him is just overwhelming.. Even Rosberg´s “day” – today or even in spain – seem to be obfuscated by anything related to Hamilton that in some way goes as an excuse for a bad result..

He is good, real good, however it seems everyone wants to make him even better, seasoning any kind of race event with anytime he goes for a bad result..

I have a bad opinion of such thing, because it seems that Rosberg´s results come not by his own merit, and were only possible by a bad performance from Hamilton, using any kind of excuse to such..
Wass1985
22nd June 2015, 11:20

No excuses given but give the man a fair shot at the win, pitting him 2 laps later instead of the usual one blew his only chance at getting past Rosberg, I wouldn’t be happy with the team at all if I was Hamilton.
1. cartwheel
  22nd June 2015, 15:37
  
  It is the same story when HAM is out front and ROS is whinging about anything to get him ahead. The simple answer is that with the current spec of F1, once a car is out front it is impossible to catch the same car on virtually the same strategy (give or take a few laps for a pitstop). Merc gave HAM the only chance he had, but Massa pitted so he really had no chance. And- if somehow it did work out that he got in front of ROS, his penalty would surely have put him back behind afterward anyway.
2. Solo (@solo)
  2nd July 2015, 15:28
  
  I saw Massa too and i thought “Hey Rosberg may lose time behind that guy” the same as Hamilton’s engineer.
  In the end Massa pitted and Rosberg got a little lucky on that, but that is racing.
  Even if Hamilton went in the pits only after one lap Rosberg will probably still be ahead so betting on Massa was probably the best chance he could have.
  So i do not believe the team didn’t try to give him a chance to fight. In general. Rosberg seem to had found a better set-up for his car or maybe Austria suits him better or something but except that qualy lap Hamilton didn’t seem to have his usual speed compared to Rosberg.
  I’m a Ham fan but what is fair is fair.