2017 Brazilian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix

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A one-stop strategy was the way to go in Brazil despite the seriously hot conditions at Interlagos.

Brazilian Grand Prix in pictures
Only four cars started the race on the soft compound tyres and the medium wasn’t seen all day. The early Safety Car period made tyre degradation less of a concern for most drivers.

After losing ground at the start, Sergio Perez tried to get back in the fight by running longer than the others, almost reaching half-distance on his super-softs. But it wasn’t enough to help him pass Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso once he got back on track.

The only drivers who deviated from a one-stop strategy did so because of specific circumstances: Either being forced to because of damage (such as Lance Stroll) or because they had enough of a gap over their closest pursuer to make a pit stop without losing a position (Max Verstappen).

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1 Stint 2 Stint 3
Sebastian Vettel Super soft (28) Soft (43)
Valtteri Bottas Super soft (27) Soft (44)
Kimi Raikkonen Super soft (29) Soft (42)
Lewis Hamilton Soft (43) Super soft (28)
Max Verstappen Super soft (28) Soft (34) Super soft (9)
Daniel Ricciardo Soft (1) Soft (42) Super soft (28)
Felipe Massa Super soft (27) Soft (44)
Fernando Alonso Super soft (28) Soft (43)
Sergio Perez Super soft (35) Soft (36)
Nico Hulkenberg Super soft (30) Soft (40)
Carlos Sainz Jnr Super soft (31) Soft (39)
Pierre Gasly Soft (44) Super soft (26)
Marcus Ericsson Soft (44) Super soft (26)
Pascal Wehrlein Super soft (1) Soft (69)
Romain Grosjean Super soft (1) Soft (47) Super soft (21)
Lance Stroll Super soft (28) Soft (39) Super soft (2)
Brendon Hartley Super soft (27) Soft (13)
Esteban Ocon Super soft
Stoffel Vandoorne Super soft
Kevin Magnussen Super soft

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2017 Brazilian Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

Driver Team Pit stop time Gap On lap
1 Lance Stroll Williams 22.486 28
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 22.644 0.158 62
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 22.736 0.250 28
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 23.064 0.578 27
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 23.121 0.635 43
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 23.170 0.684 29
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull 23.180 0.694 28
8 Felipe Massa Williams 23.275 0.789 27
9 Sergio Perez Force India 23.275 0.789 35
10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 23.342 0.856 28
11 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 23.484 0.998 43
12 Carlos Sainz Jnr Renault 23.550 1.064 31
13 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 23.748 1.262 44
14 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 23.830 1.344 27
15 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 24.054 1.568 30
16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 24.164 1.678 44
17 Lance Stroll Williams 24.756 2.270 67
18 Romain Grosjean Haas 25.845 3.359 1
19 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 25.946 3.460 1
20 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 26.439 3.953 1
21 Romain Grosjean Haas 34.438 11.952 48

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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2 comments on “2017 Brazilian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops”

  1. I wonder why Pérez’s strategy didn’t allow him to leapfrog Massa.

    1. From what I remember watching the gaps, the only “good” time for PER to pit was either the same lap or one after MAS, when there was just barely enough space for him to tuck in a few seconds back of MAS and not in a pack of dirty air. Force India expected too much of those old supersofts, (rubber naming suggestion: Hardest (HT), Hard (H), Medium (M), Soft (S), Softest (ST),) and there was still Alonso’s dirty air slowing Pérez down while those behind him filled the gap which would’ve given Checo clean air for the first few laps of his stint.

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