2016 Spanish Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

2016 Spanish Grand Prix

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A two-stop strategy was the preferred route home for most of the teams.

But not for Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel – and it potentially cost them the race.

Among the few other drivers who opted for the same route was Felipe Massa. He committed to it early, pitting as soon as lap eight for his first stop and enjoying stellar service from the Williams crew once again.

For Massa the strategy helped keep him out of traffic. But for Ricciardo and Vettel it left them on the wrong side of strategy splits within their own teams, and handed the initiative to their team mates.

Renault were the only team to use the hard tyres during the race, switching both drivers to it at their second pit stops. Neither driver had particularly good pace on this rubber, but while Jolyon Palmer persevered with it until the end, Kevin Magnussen ditched his for soft tyres.

2016 Spanish Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1 Stint 2 Stint 3 Stint 4 Stint 5
Max Verstappen Soft (12) Medium (22) Medium (32)
Kimi Raikkonen Soft (12) Medium (23) Medium (31)
Sebastian Vettel Soft (15) Medium (14) Soft (8) Medium (29)
Daniel Ricciardo Soft (11) Medium (17) Soft (15) Medium (22) Soft (1)
Valtteri Bottas Soft (12) Medium (27) Medium (27)
Carlos Sainz Jnr Soft (10) Medium (28) Medium (28)
Sergio Perez Soft (9) Medium (26) Medium (31)
Felipe Massa Soft (8) Medium (17) Soft (16) Medium (25)
Jenson Button Soft (10) Medium (26) Medium (29)
Daniil Kvyat Soft (9) Medium (16) Medium (26) Soft (14)
Esteban Gutierrez Soft (16) Soft (14) Medium (35)
Marcus Ericsson Soft (9) Soft (15) Medium (16) Medium (25)
Jolyon Palmer Soft (11) Medium (22) Hard (32)
Felipe Nasr Soft (12) Medium (24) Medium (29)
Kevin Magnussen Soft (10) Medium (20) Hard (25) Soft (10)
Pascal Wehrlein Soft (11) Medium (22) Medium (32)
Rio Haryanto Medium (22) Medium (26) Soft (17)
Romain Grosjean Soft (15) Soft (14) Medium (8) Soft (19)
Fernando Alonso Soft (11) Medium (28) Medium (6)
Nico Hulkenberg Soft (10) Medium (10)
Lewis Hamilton Soft (1)
Nico Rosberg Soft (1)

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2016 Spanish Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

Driver Team Pit stop time Gap On lap
1 Felipe Massa Williams 21.384 8
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 21.603 0.219 37
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 21.643 0.259 15
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 21.683 0.299 43
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 21.738 0.354 11
6 Fernando Alonso McLaren 21.795 0.411 11
7 Felipe Massa Williams 21.831 0.447 41
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams 21.856 0.472 12
9 Sergio Perez Force India 21.918 0.534 35
10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 22.104 0.720 28
11 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 22.107 0.723 12
12 Kevin Magnussen Renault 22.122 0.738 55
13 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 22.169 0.785 35
14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 22.176 0.792 10
15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 22.234 0.850 25
16 Jenson Button McLaren 22.280 0.896 10
17 Max Verstappen Red Bull 22.348 0.964 34
18 Max Verstappen Red Bull 22.369 0.985 12
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 22.397 1.013 33
20 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 22.430 1.046 30
21 Valtteri Bottas Williams 22.443 1.059 39
22 Felipe Massa Williams 22.568 1.184 25
23 Jenson Button McLaren 22.590 1.206 36
24 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 22.617 1.233 29
25 Sergio Perez Force India 22.679 1.295 9
26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 22.769 1.385 51
27 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 22.840 1.456 9
28 Kevin Magnussen Renault 22.843 1.459 10
29 Romain Grosjean Haas 22.844 1.460 29
30 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso 22.874 1.490 10
31 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 22.897 1.513 40
32 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso 22.937 1.553 38
33 Felipe Nasr Sauber 22.976 1.592 12
34 Fernando Alonso McLaren 22.987 1.603 39
35 Felipe Nasr Sauber 23.090 1.706 36
36 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 23.122 1.738 24
37 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 23.133 1.749 65
38 Kevin Magnussen Renault 23.165 1.781 30
39 Romain Grosjean Haas 23.187 1.803 15
40 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 23.206 1.822 16
41 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 23.277 1.893 9
42 Jolyon Palmer Renault 23.283 1.899 11
43 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 24.387 3.003 33
44 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 24.554 3.170 11
45 Rio Haryanto Manor 26.186 4.802 48
46 Rio Haryanto Manor 28.753 7.369 22
47 Romain Grosjean Haas 34.832 13.448 37

2016 Spanish Grand Prix

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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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14 comments on “2016 Spanish Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops”

  1. Paul Hembury himself said that three stops was the best strategy. Slightly disingenuous to suggest it wasn’t: it wasn’t on the day, but it was in every prognosis and strategy. Verstappen and Kimi just managed to really make them last, and on a track where track position is important, and where Ricciardo had a weakish second stint behind a backmarker, and Vettel had too short a stint on softs, two stops worked better this time. Still not the optimal strategy.

  2. Ben (@scuderia29)
    15th May 2016, 22:57

    Vettel spent just 8 laps on the soft tyres..i mean, ferrari do like to shoot themselves in the foot, what was the thinking behind that stint?? if he had just put on the mediums he would have saved himself a whole pitstop and would have surely won

    1. He followed ricciardo cause otherwise he would have lost time after max. The net undercut actually worked out as he was in a position to hold of ricciardo. Of course like vettel said, they were stronger on softs, so it sees a bit weird to use two sets of mediums.

    2. Ferrari’s strategy was a bit weird indeed. They sacrificed Vettel’s strategy to keep both Ferraris ahead of Ricciardo, but it also meant that Vettel lost out to Räikkönen. In the final stint his tires were only two laps fresher than Räikkönen’s, so there was no way that he could regain second place. His pace in the last stint was quite poor anyway. I was a bit surprised that he wasn’t too unhappy to have lost out to his teammate.

  3. Honestly baffled by the decision to put Ricciardo on a three stopper, particularly as track position is so key at Catalunya. Vettel’s decision made more sense, they were covering the car they were racing. As soon as Verstappen didn’t follow him i and carried on lapping at a good pace it was clear the race was Max’s. If I was Daniel I would be demanding answers.

    1. For the team it doesn’t matter which driver wins. By switching one driver to a three stopper and leaving the other driver on the two stopper, they secured the win, because both drivers had track position.

      Leaving RIC on the two stop strategy would’ve been worse for RB. Ferrari would’ve probably just undercut them.

      1. +1. red bull played a great strategic game. it just happened to be at the expense of ricciardo but circumstances made it more sensible to put verstappen on the 2-stop.

        1. They chose to put Riciardo on the weakest Ferrari driver (Vettel). Could not even pass him eventho the RB12 has better exit into the strait then Ferrari and DRS. So Riciardo cannot complain. If he had passed Vettel he had (more) richt to complain. But he couldn’t and would never have been winner even on 2 stop.

  4. It was very marginal for both Verstappen and Raikkonen.
    If you look at the laptimes of Gutierrez, who went on the Mediums in lap 30, he did a string of 1:30’s, then steadily dropped through the 1’31’s and ended the race with 4 laps in the mid 1:32’s.
    Verstappen and Raikkonen went on the mediums in lap 34/35, started with 1’29’s and were in the process of dropping through the 1’30’s. Just as the flag dropped they were about to ‘hit the cliff’ (like Gutierrez).
    Ricciardo went on the mediums in lap 43 and had Vettel not been in the way (or if Ricciardo had quickly cleared him) then he would have easily caught (and maybe passed) the two leaders.
    Vettel was never a threat for victory after his last stop. His tyres were only 2 laps newer and the gap to the lead too big. He only took the undercut on Ricciardo for third place.

    1. Had Ferrari got the undercut on Max, Ferrari would have won. On high degradation circuits the cars behind should always get the advantage as they can overtake via the undercut, Ferrari missed that chance on Rai’s 2nd stop. Great story though.

  5. Riciardo would not have won on a 2 stopper. Because he couldn’t pass Vettel.
    Vettel was not even the best Ferrari driver of the day.

    1. Ahem… after the 4 leaders had both their 2 pitstops, on lap 36 to be precise, the board reads:
      RIC
      VET +1.189
      VER +12.416
      RAI +16.332
      BOT +22.849 (1 pitstop)
      now if RIC had kept MED instead of SOF tell me who he had to overtake to win?

      Of course at the time it looked like a gamble to keep both drivers on 2 stops strat, but with hindsight the win was there to take.

      1. Max said in an interview on dutch TV that Riciardo’s tyre degregation was worse then his, so a 2 stop for Riciardo didn’t look good.
        So Riciardo: better manage your tyres if you want to beat Max. He will set the new standard.

        Actually will bring a new aspect to the battles between drivers and teams. Pretty cool stuff.

  6. Great stops on Haryanto…

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