The stoppage during the Belgian Grand Prix handed some teams the chance to gain an advantage by making a ‘free’ tyre change. However only a handful of them took advantage of the opportunity.
All three podium finishers were able to do so and Fernando Alonso also used the stoppage to make one of his tyre changes. That put him in a stronger position later in the race, allowing him to take seventh position.
However the Force India pair both made their pit stops during the Safety Car period before the race was red-flagged, perhaps not expecting the race was going to be red-flagged. This was a setback for Nico Hulkenberg, who had run in second place early on but fell to fourth behind Hamilton.
Williams were back on top as the quickest team in the pit lane, producing the two fastest pit stops of the race for Valtteri Bottas.
2016 Belgian Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nico Rosberg | Soft (9) | Medium (17) | Medium (18) | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Soft (9) | Soft (16) | Medium (19) | |
| Lewis Hamilton | Medium (9) | Soft (12) | Soft (11) | Medium (12) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Super soft (6) | Soft (3) | Medium (14) | |
| Sergio Perez | Super soft (6) | Soft (18) | Medium (20) | |
| Sebastian Vettel | Soft (1) | Soft (22) | Soft (21) | |
| Fernando Alonso | Medium (9) | Soft (14) | Medium (21) | |
| Valtteri Bottas | Super soft (7) | Soft (16) | Medium (21) | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Soft (1) | Super soft (4) | Soft (19) | Medium (20) |
| Felipe Massa | Super soft (2) | Soft (20) | Medium (22) | |
| Max Verstappen | Super soft (1) | Medium (15) | Soft (11) | Soft (17) |
| Esteban Gutierrez | Soft (7) | Soft (15) | Medium (22) | |
| Romain Grosjean | Soft (6) | Soft (17) | Medium (21) | |
| Daniil Kvyat | Soft (9) | Soft (21) | Medium (14) | Super soft (9) |
| Jolyon Palmer | Soft (6) | Soft (16) | Medium (12) | Super soft (10) |
| Esteban Ocon | Soft (6) | Medium (18) | Medium (19) | |
| Felipe Nasr | Soft (1) | Medium (8) | Soft (14) | Medium (20) |
| Kevin Magnussen | Soft (5) | |||
| Marcus Ericsson | Soft (3) | |||
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Soft (1) | |||
| Jenson Button | Super soft (1) | |||
| Pascal Wehrlein | Soft (0) |
Go ad-free for just £1 per month
>> Find out more and sign up
2016 Belgian Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 22.190 | 7 | |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 22.318 | 0.128 | 23 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 22.403 | 0.213 | 1 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 22.432 | 0.242 | 32 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 22.451 | 0.261 | 23 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 22.484 | 0.294 | 2 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 22.515 | 0.325 | 22 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 22.531 | 0.341 | 25 |
| 9 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 22.578 | 0.388 | 34 |
| 10 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 22.596 | 0.406 | 26 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 22.652 | 0.462 | 24 |
| 12 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 22.698 | 0.508 | 6 |
| 13 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 22.727 | 0.537 | 27 |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 22.762 | 0.572 | 23 |
| 15 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 23.056 | 0.866 | 24 |
| 16 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 23.061 | 0.871 | 5 |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 23.107 | 0.917 | 23 |
| 18 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 23.231 | 1.041 | 16 |
| 19 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 23.333 | 1.143 | 22 |
| 20 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 23.359 | 1.169 | 21 |
| 21 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 23.363 | 1.173 | 35 |
| 22 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 23.486 | 1.296 | 7 |
| 23 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 23.561 | 1.371 | 22 |
| 24 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 23.564 | 1.374 | 6 |
| 25 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 23.705 | 1.515 | 6 |
| 26 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 23.783 | 1.593 | 6 |
| 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 24.015 | 1.825 | 23 |
| 28 | Esteban Ocon | Manor | 24.208 | 2.018 | 24 |
| 29 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 24.343 | 2.153 | 21 |
| 30 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 26.390 | 4.200 | 1 |
| 31 | Esteban Ocon | Manor | 28.718 | 6.528 | 6 |
| 32 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 30.238 | 8.048 | 23 |
| 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 31.235 | 9.045 | 1 |
| 34 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 87.084 | 64.894 | 1 |
| 35 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 996.150 | 973.960 | 9 |
| 36 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 998.234 | 976.044 | 9 |
| 37 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 998.401 | 976.211 | 9 |
| 38 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 998.468 | 976.278 | 9 |
| 39 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1000.478 | 978.288 | 9 |
| 40 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1001.198 | 979.008 | 9 |
Patrick (@paeschli)
28th August 2016, 20:00
Sebastian Vettel Soft (1) Soft (22) Soft (21)
@keithcollantine That must be an error, right? I thought they had to put on at least two different types of tyres.
Also, you gotta wonder if Ferrari didn’t screw up their strategy by only bringing one sets of mediums to the race.
King
28th August 2016, 20:33
I didn’t see Sebastian on super-soft. I don’t know if he went on to mediums at any stage. If not, and if @keithcollantine is correct in the table above, then surely Vettel would have to be disqualified.
Patrick (@paeschli)
28th August 2016, 21:51
Seems like Vettel did his last stint on mediums. https://twitter.com/pirellisport/status/769931729008222209
Yoseph
29th August 2016, 20:15
Nope, 20 laps on mediums is indicated on the last column, which was a stint shared by other drivers as well, hence the common column.
MattyPF1 (@mattypf1)
28th August 2016, 22:52
Hulkenburg: Super Soft (6), Soft (3), Medium (14). I don’t that’s 44 laps worth of tyre life there
Vic (@sainz)
29th August 2016, 6:56
It has to be a mistake.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
29th August 2016, 1:09
The second that Magnussen obliterated that barrier I was convinced that there would be a red flag, so spent the next 5 minutes angrily shouting at everyone who stopped under the safety car!
ForzaRogo (@forzarogo)
29th August 2016, 19:58
Yep, Mercedes had a masterclass compared to everyone else with that one.
Richard (@rick1984)
30th August 2016, 0:01
I like how the pit times for the drivers that made changes at the red flag are counted. Nothing like a nice quick quarter of an hour tyre change!!
Jezzard
30th August 2016, 0:02
Re Soft, Soft, soft, during live commentary on Canadian GP I recall Paul Di Resta having an disagreement with David Croft in which he said that you could use the same tyres throughout, as long as (I think) the soft was used. This seemed against everything I’ve previously heard but Di Resta restated this and Croft changed the subject. Skimming the back of British GP programme seemed to agree with Di Resta, but this is against everything I’ve ever heard before during the years of these regs….
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
30th August 2016, 22:00
Well, no matter how much worse the Williams car is getting, it is quite clear that the Williams team are the best at quick pit stops this year. That at least is good to know. They have improved massively since last year.