2017 Belgian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

Lewis Hamilton’s two visits to the pits were the fastest complete stops of the Belgian Grand Prix.

However like most of the leading drivers he wouldn’t have made a second pit stop had the Safety Car not given them the opportunity to put on fresher rubber. This played into Ferrari’s hands as they, like rivals Red Bull, had saved a fresh set of ultra-soft rubber.

Red Bull gambled on strategy with Daniel Ricciardo, who was their only remaining driver after Max Verstappen’s early retirement. They attempted to complete the race using only the softest tyres available, despite Ricciardo’s concerns about blistering. The Safety Car period gave them the option of a free second pit stop, so whether he would have made it became a moot point.

Kevin Magnussen was very unhappy with his ultra-soft tyres at the beginning of the race. He repeatedly urged his team to bring him in and his lap nine pit stop was one of the earliest. He put on soft tyres intending to run to the end of the race, but after pitting for super-softs under the Safety Car he locked up, spoiled his tyres, and eventually pitted for another set of the ultra-softs.

2017 Belgian Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

	Stint 1	Stint 2	Stint 3	Stint 4
Lewis Hamilton	Ultra soft (12)	Soft (18)	Soft (14)
Sebastian Vettel	Ultra soft (14)	Soft (16)	Ultra soft (14)
Daniel Ricciardo	Ultra soft (14)	Super soft (16)	Ultra soft (14)
Kimi Raikkonen	Ultra soft (15)	Soft (14)	Ultra soft (15)
Valtteri Bottas	Ultra soft (13)	Soft (17)	Soft (14)
Nico Hulkenberg	Ultra soft (11)	Soft (18)	Ultra soft (15)
Romain Grosjean	Ultra soft (10)	Soft (19)	Super soft (15)
Felipe Massa	Super soft (11)	Soft (18)	Ultra soft (15)
Esteban Ocon	Ultra soft (10)	Super soft (17)	Super soft (2)	Ultra soft (15)
Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ultra soft (19)	Soft (10)	Super soft (15)
Lance Stroll	Super soft (9)	Soft (20)	Ultra soft (15)
Daniil Kvyat	Super soft (18)	Ultra soft (12)	Ultra soft (14)
Jolyon Palmer	Ultra soft (8)	Soft (22)	Ultra soft (14)
Stoffel Vandoorne	Super soft (18)	Ultra soft (12)	Ultra soft (14)
Kevin Magnussen	Ultra soft (9)	Soft (21)	Super soft (4)	Ultra soft (10)
Marcus Ericsson	Super soft (8)	Soft (15)	Soft (6)	Ultra soft (15)
Sergio Perez	Ultra soft (12)	Super soft (13)	Super soft (4)	Ultra soft (13)
Fernando Alonso	Ultra soft (10)	Soft (15)
Max Verstappen	Ultra soft (7)
Pascal Wehrlein	Soft (2)

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2017 Belgian Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

	Driver	Team	Pit stop time	Gap	On lap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	22.037		12
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	22.357	0.320	30
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	22.443	0.406	14
4	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	22.444	0.407	18
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	22.533	0.496	15
6	Felipe Massa	Williams	22.667	0.630	11
7	Romain Grosjean	Haas	22.756	0.719	29
8	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	22.828	0.791	9
9	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	22.900	0.863	14
10	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	22.908	0.871	30
11	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	22.919	0.882	30
12	Romain Grosjean	Haas	22.925	0.888	10
13	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	22.963	0.926	13
14	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	22.963	0.926	29
15	Felipe Massa	Williams	23.092	1.055	29
16	Lance Stroll	Williams	23.109	1.072	29
17	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	23.180	1.143	30
18	Esteban Ocon	Force India	23.200	1.163	27
19	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	23.221	1.184	23
20	Sergio Perez	Force India	23.289	1.252	12
21	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	23.341	1.304	30
22	Esteban Ocon	Force India	23.364	1.327	10
23	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	23.507	1.470	11
24	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	23.539	1.502	29
25	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	23.737	1.700	34
26	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	23.792	1.755	29
27	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	23.999	1.962	8
28	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso	24.095	2.058	19
29	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	24.158	2.121	10
30	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso	24.370	2.333	29
31	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	24.674	2.637	30
32	Lance Stroll	Williams	24.697	2.660	9
33	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	25.650	3.613	30
34	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	26.187	4.150	30
35	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	26.202	4.165	8
36	Sergio Perez	Force India	26.574	4.537	29
37	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	26.894	4.857	18
38	Sergio Perez	Force India	28.594	6.557	25
39	Esteban Ocon	Force India	29.646	7.609	29
40	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	30.373	8.336	17

Note Raikkonen’s lap 40 pit stop was to serve a ten-second stop-go penalty.

2017 Belgian Grand Prix

• 2017 Belgian Grand Prix team radio transcript
• 2017 Belgian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
• 2017 Belgian Grand Prix Star Performers
• “That’s a BS call”: 2017 Belgian GP team radio highlights
• Hamilton equals Schumacher’s pole record with 41 races to spare

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