Despite predictions of a chaotic race, F1’s first grand prix at Baku proved to be rather processional. Most changes of position occurred inside the DRS zones.
The drivers who made up the most places were Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen, though while both gained eight places from their starting position neither finished in the points.
A last-lap overtaking move by Sergio Perez on Kimi Raikkonen secured him a podium finish, but in reality as Raikkonen had a five-second penalty, Perez was already going to finish there.
2016 European Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan, click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2016 European Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2016 European Grand Prix
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Tom (@newdecade)
19th June 2016, 20:17
Checo didn’t need to pass him but afaik Kimi would have ended up standing on the podium, which would have been a bit awkward. I’m sure he would have done it for the fun of it regardless
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
19th June 2016, 22:39
@newdecade no, penalties are applied before the podium. Checo would’ve ended up there regardless.
Arnoud van Houwelingen
19th June 2016, 20:46
In second half of the race Max was 26 seconds faster then Lewis and as fast as Rosberg. He was 70 seconds behind Rosberg in lap 26 and on the finsh line in lap 51 he was also 70 seconds behind Rosberg. He should have pitted to the medium tires sooner i guess. Those tires really worked for RBR.
http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page=chart&gp=963&graf=3&dr1=Lewis%20Hamilton&dr2=Max%20Verstappen
Patrick (@paeschli)
19th June 2016, 22:04
Maybe a 1 stop Super Soft – Medium strategy would have been better for Red Bull.
Mick Harrold (@mickharrold)
20th June 2016, 15:21
You are forgetting a few things here. Most importantly, Rosberg had the race in the bag after lap 5. He opened up a pit stop to Vettel early and then sat on that margin. To go faster than that would have been stupid as it would have taken life out of his tyres and everyone expected at least one safety car period even though it never happened.
It’s like saying Max was better than Ricciardo because he passed the Hulk quicker than Ricciardo did. In that case, up until Ricciardo caught the Hulk, he was on the same pace as Verstappen. But when Ricciardo caught the Hulk, his tyres hadn’t gone off yet (SS Vs Softs) and Ricciardo had to bise his time behind a faster engine. While he waited, Max caught up. Then Ricciardo overtook and so did Verstappen. It was easy once his tyres went off.
A similar school of thought goes to Hamilton. Yeah, half of the field was faster than Hamilton in the second half of the race. He had his problems as we all know, but the least documented one is lack of competition. It was all over by half time and he had problems and his head dropped. Had someone been up his behind, I am sure he could have gone faster. The nearest car was 15 seconds behind. A car 1 second behind does a lot for your motivation.
Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics. If you look for a result, you will find it in the data. That doesn’t make it true. Max couldn’t even make his tyres last as long as Ricciardo. Yes, he finished close, but that is only part of the story. The first 5 laps tell another story about pace and that isn’t in Verstappen’s favour. But again, that is only a snippet of the race.
At the end of the day, The Hulk, Massa and Hamilton underperformed. Everyone else finished up exactly in the position their car deserved. In the team mate battle for the front runners, only Hamilton can feel he should have finished in front of his team mate and that is up for discussion this year. In all other teams, the better team mate finished in front. 2 DRS zones will do that for you!
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
20th June 2016, 15:47
Verstappen’s last stint was mighty, while Ricciardo was slightly hampered by a brake problem. The Red Bulls were quite good on mediums, but indeed it’s hard to compare their speeds to the leaders, as most drivers were taking it easy by that stage of the race.
By the way, Hamilton should have known about Räikkönen’s penalty. If he would have pushed until the chequered flag (after his problem had been solved) he may well have finished within 5 seconds of Räikkönen to claim fourth place. I don’t know why he didn’t go for these easy points.