The United States Grand Prix was one of the more varied races we’ve had this year in terms of pit stop strategy.
Max Verstappen’s move to a two-stopper provoked Ferrari to do the same with Sebastian Vettel even though, unlike the Red Bull driver, he did not have a fresh set of super-softs for the final stint. Ferrari’s move came close to backfiring as Verstappen drew within striking range of Vettel at one point, but his well-timed pass on Bottas allowed him to draw free of the Red Bull, after which Kimi Raikkonen let him back through into second place.
Carlos Sainz Jnr had excellent pace on the soft tyres in his second stint and used them to attacked the Force Indias. However despite the advantage of starting on new tyres Felipe Massa was unable to take the fight to the pink cars.
2017 United States Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Ultra soft (19) | Soft (37) | |
| Sebastian Vettel | Ultra soft (16) | Soft (22) | Super soft (18) |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Ultra soft (20) | Soft (36) | |
| Max Verstappen | Super soft (24) | Soft (13) | Super soft (19) |
| Valtteri Bottas | Ultra soft (18) | Soft (34) | Ultra soft (4) |
| Esteban Ocon | Ultra soft (14) | Soft (42) | |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ultra soft (19) | Soft (37) | |
| Sergio Perez | Ultra soft (12) | Soft (43) | |
| Felipe Massa | Super soft (29) | Ultra soft (26) | |
| Daniil Kvyat | Ultra soft (17) | Soft (38) | |
| Lance Stroll | Super soft (10) | Soft (26) | Ultra soft (19) |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | Super soft (25) | Ultra soft (30) | |
| Brendon Hartley | Ultra soft (8) | Super soft (27) | Super soft (20) |
| Romain Grosjean | Ultra soft (16) | Soft (39) | |
| Marcus Ericsson | Super soft (21) | Soft (34) | |
| Kevin Magnussen | Super soft (1) | Soft (48) | Ultra soft (6) |
| Fernando Alonso | Ultra soft (14) | Soft (10) | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Ultra soft (12) | Super soft (2) | |
| Pascal Wehrlein | Soft (3) | Soft (2) | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Ultra soft (3) |
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2017 United States Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 23.254 | 52 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 23.402 | 0.148 | 19 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 23.423 | 0.169 | 37 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 23.459 | 0.205 | 18 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 23.575 | 0.321 | 20 |
| 6 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 23.578 | 0.324 | 25 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 23.604 | 0.350 | 12 |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 23.620 | 0.366 | 38 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 23.772 | 0.518 | 29 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 23.796 | 0.542 | 14 |
| 11 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 24.229 | 0.975 | 35 |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 24.300 | 1.046 | 16 |
| 13 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 24.325 | 1.071 | 24 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 24.326 | 1.072 | 12 |
| 15 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 24.400 | 1.146 | 8 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 24.497 | 1.243 | 36 |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 24.502 | 1.248 | 14 |
| 18 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 24.525 | 1.271 | 19 |
| 19 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 24.883 | 1.629 | 17 |
| 20 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 24.897 | 1.643 | 16 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 24.949 | 1.695 | 10 |
| 22 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 25.112 | 1.858 | 1 |
| 23 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 25.268 | 2.014 | 49 |
| 24 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 25.841 | 2.587 | 21 |
| 25 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 31.334 | 8.080 | 3 |
2017 United States Grand Prix
- 2017 United States Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- 2017 United States Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2017 United States Grand Prix Star Performers
- Top ten pictures from the 2017 United States Grand Prix
- Hamilton only needs fifth – but we’ve heard that before…
