The Mercedes drivers headed the fastest lap chart at the European Grand Prix despite the fact neither felt the need to push hard in the closing stages of the race.
However behind them the Red Bull drivers had problems. Their lap times went off quickly, forcing an early pit stop. However their lap times were little better after they switched from the super-soft to the soft tyres.
That led the team to bring its drivers in for a second stop, changing to the harder medium compound tyres, on which they were more competitive.
Tyre strategy was also much on Sebastian Vettel’s mind. When he was told to pit early in the race he challenged the decision and chose to stay out for longer. He finished second.
2016 European Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
Go ad-free for just £1 per month
>> Find out more and sign up
2016 European Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’46.485 | 48 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’46.822 | 0.337 | 42 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’46.973 | 0.488 | 50 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’46.990 | 0.505 | 45 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’47.028 | 0.543 | 49 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’47.181 | 0.696 | 41 |
| 7 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas-Ferrari | 1’47.563 | 1.078 | 50 |
| 8 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’47.583 | 1.098 | 48 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’47.604 | 1.119 | 50 |
| 10 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’47.622 | 1.137 | 50 |
| 11 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’47.708 | 1.223 | 48 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’47.736 | 1.251 | 51 |
| 13 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’47.761 | 1.276 | 35 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’47.943 | 1.458 | 48 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’48.012 | 1.527 | 37 |
| 16 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’48.804 | 2.319 | 31 |
| 17 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’48.898 | 2.413 | 48 |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’49.101 | 2.616 | 27 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1’49.282 | 2.797 | 41 |
| 20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor-Mercedes | 1’50.571 | 4.086 | 33 |
| 21 | Rio Haryanto | Manor-Mercedes | 1’51.365 | 4.880 | 27 |
| 22 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’53.167 | 6.682 | 2 |
2016 European Grand Prix
- Podium earns Perez Driver of the Weekend win
- Baku’s first race ranked among the worst since 2008
- 2016 European Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2016 European Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 European Grand Prix
ColdFly F1 (@)
19th June 2016, 17:20
Very impressive lap times by the RBR on the mediums (especially VES).
On can only wonder would could have been had they done a 1-stopper moving to the Mediums around lap 15.
ES
19th June 2016, 17:22
Verstappen had some problems with tyre degredation during his first 2 stints. His 3d stint was massive. He was 14 secs behind Ricciardo and took it to 1.4 secs in the last round. Had the race had 2 more laps…he would have passed Ricciardo.
Great laptime…on Mediums from Verstappen
Duncan Idaho (@)
19th June 2016, 21:17
Ric wasn’t cruising at the end (no-one to pass)?
Rick (@)
19th June 2016, 22:06
Nope, as you can see Verstappen started gaining massively on Ricciardo staring lap 37 and by that time Riccardo was still gaining on Hulkenberg himself. After passing him (I believe around lap 44), Ricciardo’s lap times remained the same, which most likely means he was at the edge of what his tyres could take. Verstappen is just much better at managing his tyres.
Both drivers’ first two stints were destroyed by the extremely low downforce they had to run on this track.
Mark
22nd June 2016, 23:05
Ricciardo’s brakes were shot.
Matn
19th June 2016, 17:49
Verstappen should have used two sets of the white walls, he was on fire the last 15 laps.
Making up around 15 second in about 20 laps was impressive again.
Not and RBR circuit though, good for Mercedes power and it really showed that the Ferrari engine is still much stronger than the Renault/Tag.
Perez man of the match
Daniel Chico (@daniel-chico)
19th June 2016, 18:11
Can someone explain why the difference in performance for RBR? Hopefully Horner or the pilots will be interviewed and asked to elucidate this question. I’m really liking the three compounds rule. Wasn’t for that, they would be stuck with the softs.
Rick (@)
19th June 2016, 22:11
See my comment above, Verstappen explained in a Dutch interview that the RBR chassis is made for high downforce. Basically opposite of the Williams chassis that destroys its tyres when using too much downforce. Thanks to the Renault/TH engine they had to run low downforce in order to make sure they’re not being overtaken in every straight, but this destroyed their tyres in the first two stints. That also explains why Verstappen came 3rd fastest in lap times on the hardest compound, it was just the best match in hindsight.
Daniel Chico (@daniel-chico)
20th June 2016, 1:22
Thank you, @addvariety. That makes sense.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
19th June 2016, 18:37
Once again Verstappen showing on race pace he has Ricciardo by the whatsits.
Rick (@)
19th June 2016, 22:15
Yup, VES from P9 to P8 and RIC from P2 to P7. But Péres is my driver of the weekend. Awesome in FP, then crashed (happens to the best), admitted his error, drove a mega lap in Q3 and a faultless race. He was even a bit unhappy with P3, because he knew he would’ve been P2 in the race if it weren’t for his crash earlier. He clearly was faster than Ferrari, Red Bull, Williams and Hamilton.
Rick (@)
19th June 2016, 22:15
Pérez of course.
TrueGrit
20th June 2016, 8:31
Yep no doubt Ricciardo is petrified having out qualified and finished the race in front of Verstappencrash. Again.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
20th June 2016, 9:34
“Verstappencrash”?