The Brazilian Grand Prix ran counter to the usual pit stop strategies we see in wet weather races.
Normally drivers cannot discard the intermediate tyres quickly enough and the first to do so tend to benefit. But with rain falling constantly throughout the race those who stayed on the wet weather tyres tended to benefit. All ten points-scorers were on wets when the chequered flag fell.
In the case of the Mercedes drivers, the only time they changed tyres during the race was when the whole field was instructed to switch to the full wet compound during the first red flag period on lap 20. The same was true for others including Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz Jnr, both of whom finished in the top six.
As was the case in the two other wet races earlier this year, Kevin Magnussen was one of the first to make the switch to intermediate tyres. He gambled on them again at the end of the race but it didn’t pay off, leaving the Renault driver well outside the points.
2016 Brazilian Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | Stint 5 | Stint 6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Wet (20) | Wet (8) | Wet (43) | |||
| Nico Rosberg | Wet (20) | Wet (8) | Wet (43) | |||
| Max Verstappen | Wet (13) | Intermediate (7) | Wet (8) | Wet (15) | Intermediate (11) | Wet (17) |
| Sergio Perez | Wet (20) | Wet (8) | Wet (43) | |||
| Sebastian Vettel | Wet (10) | Intermediate (10) | Wet (8) | Wet (43) | ||
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Wet (20) | Wet (8) | Wet (43) | |||
| Nico Hulkenberg | Wet (20) | Wet (2) | Wet (6) | Wet (43) | ||
| Daniel Ricciardo | Wet (13) | Intermediate (7) | Wet (8) | Wet (12) | Intermediate (12) | Wet (19) |
| Felipe Nasr | Wet (20) | Wet (8) | Wet (43) | |||
| Fernando Alonso | Wet (9) | Intermediate (11) | Wet (8) | Wet (43) | ||
| Valtteri Bottas | Wet (9) | Intermediate (11) | Wet (8) | Wet (10) | Intermediate (33) | |
| Esteban Ocon | Wet (20) | Wet (8) | Wet (43) | |||
| Daniil Kvyat | Wet (9) | Intermediate (8) | Intermediate (3) | Wet (8) | Wet (43) | |
| Kevin Magnussen | Wet (7) | Intermediate (13) | Wet (8) | Wet (13) | Intermediate (30) | |
| Pascal Wehrlein | Wet (20) | Wet (8) | Wet (24) | Wet (19) | ||
| Jenson Button | Wet (8) | Intermediate (12) | Wet (8) | Wet (6) | Intermediate (10) | Wet (27) |
| Esteban Gutierrez | Wet (12) | Intermediate (8) | Wet (8) | Wet (32) | Wet | |
| Felipe Massa | Wet (9) | Intermediate (11) | Wet (8) | Wet (3) | Intermediate (15) | |
| Jolyon Palmer | Wet (9) | Intermediate (8) | Wet (3) | |||
| Kimi Raikkonen | Wet (19) | |||||
| Marcus Ericsson | Wet (9) | Intermediate (2) |
NB: The whole field came into the pits on laps 20 and 28 due to race stoppages. These have been omitted from the table below.
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2016 Brazilian Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 24.041 | 54 | |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 24.186 | 0.145 | 13 |
| 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 24.192 | 0.151 | 8 |
| 4 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 24.265 | 0.224 | 41 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 24.282 | 0.241 | 22 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 24.435 | 0.394 | 43 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 24.521 | 0.480 | 52 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 24.623 | 0.582 | 13 |
| 9 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 24.656 | 0.615 | 17 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 24.724 | 0.683 | 9 |
| 11 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 24.745 | 0.704 | 9 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 24.754 | 0.713 | 44 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 24.821 | 0.780 | 9 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 24.986 | 0.945 | 7 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 24.994 | 0.953 | 38 |
| 16 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 25.006 | 0.965 | 34 |
| 17 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 25.147 | 1.106 | 12 |
| 18 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 25.355 | 1.314 | 17 |
| 19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 25.395 | 1.354 | 9 |
| 20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 25.509 | 1.468 | 52 |
| 21 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 25.758 | 1.717 | 9 |
| 22 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 29.421 | 5.380 | 9 |
| 23 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 29.621 | 5.580 | 40 |
| 24 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 29.754 | 5.713 | 31 |
| 25 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 29.981 | 5.940 | 10 |
2016 Brazilian Grand Prix
- Verstappen dominates Brazil Driver of the Weekend
- 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Strong rating for Brazilian GP despite red flags
- 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix
Craig Wilde (@wildfire15)
13th November 2016, 23:32
I got the impression everyone wanted to be clever when they started switching to intermediates so early. Didn’t really pan out how they hoped and possibly cost Vestappen a victory
sumedh
14th November 2016, 7:58
So, Mercedes got a 1-2 without making a single pit stop? Great going ..
Mick Harrold (@mickharrold)
14th November 2016, 7:59
Red Bull are so often the masters of strategy. Today they were not. Not only did the pit a billion times for new tyres, they even managed to pit Daniel when the pit was closed!
The last round of tyre changes to inters and then back to wets was especially mid boggling. Ferrari would have been proud of that kind of performance. If they had gone more conservative, Daniel would have been 4th or even 3rd and Max may have gotten to second or even had a go at first.
Normally, you see teams bailing out their drivers after they have had a spin or a crash or whatever. Today, Max bailed Red Bull out of a poor display.
nmsi (@nmsi)
14th November 2016, 12:32
I actually think RB made a guess and went for a win. Max was not catching Lewis in the rain on same old wets and putting intermediates on was their best chance to be fastest on the track. Unfortunately for them, it didn’t play out and they traded possible 2-3 to a 3-8. Points wise it was a bad bet, but when going all out for a win, a good one.