11 Apr 2017

Race 2 – 56 Laps – 5.451km per lap – 305.066km race distance – low tyre wear

Chinese GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Peter Anderson from CarsGuide.com.au.

The Chinese Grand Prix was packed full of action and drama, from clashes and crashes to great overtakes and close battles.

It wasn’t the most fascinating strategic race, but the changeable conditions and drying track in the early laps threw up some interesting points.

Lewis Hamilton scampered off into the distance to take his first win of the season, fifth victory in China and 54^th triumph of his Formula 1 career.

Sebastian Vettel was in second, running out of time to chase the Mercedes down, with Max Verstappen a charging third after starting 16^th.

With the dust (or smog, in Shanghai) now settled on round two of the 2017 F1 season, let’s reflect on the major strategic storylines from the Chinese GP:

Sainz takes the gamble

Rain earlier in the day meant there were damp but drying conditions for the start of the race. The pit straight was particularly slippery, with some standing water, but most of the track was a lot drier. However, 19 of the 20 runners opted for the safe choice and start the race on intermediates.

Carlos Sainz Jr. was the only driver to start on slicks, going for super-softs. He said Toro Rosso thought he was “mad” for choosing to gamble but despite an awful start and early spin, it actually proved to be worth it as the Spaniard moved up the order through the opening pitstop phase. It put him in a good position for the remainder of the race and he eventually finished seventh.

VSC a missed opportunity

At the end of the first lap the virtual safety car was deployed to clear Lance Stroll’s beached Williams, following contact with Sergio Perez. It presented an interesting strategic opportunity because the track was drying fast and it offered a chance to ditch the intermediates early.

Nico Hulkenberg pitted at the end of lap one, while Vettel, Kevin Magnussen, Perez and the McLaren duo of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne were just a few of the people who switched to slicks on lap two. Sadly, though, it didn’t pay off because the safety car was deployed just a few laps later and wiped out the advantage they had gained.

Safety car switch

The majority of the pack actually pitted under the virtual safety car, apart from the front-runners – Hamilton, Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas. They all stayed out longer and switched to dry tyres when Antonio Giovinazzi crashed heavily on the pit straight.

Diving into the pits at the end of lap five as the rest of the field circulated at a slower pace was a massive boost. The other drivers had already stopped and were also struggling to heat their tyres, which gave those stopping under the safety car even more of an edge. Hence why Vettel dropped to sixth. Bottas lost out in this stage with a slow stop, falling to fifth.

Into the unknown

Friday’s running was quite simply useless, they only managed around 20 minutes of on-track action due to the red flags for visibility. That left just Saturday’s FP3 and qualifying to get to grips with these new tyre compounds in time for the race, so everyone went into Sunday with a lot of questions needed to be answered. But, unknowns can often throw up exciting races.

Red Bull two-stop

Through Saturday’s running it was clear Red Bull is a decent way off Mercedes and Ferrari, so going for a two-stop strategy in the race was an interesting one. The team committed early by going from intermediates to super-softs, and then going for the same compound at the second round of stops.

It’s possible the team wanted to go for a more aggressive strategy to try and make up for some of the time lost through pure pace, and it certainly worked for them. The super-soft was also used heavily on Saturday so there was more data, and it proved to be a good match durability wise against the soft.

Mad Max

Verstappen’s opening lap onboard is a must-watch and a great example of being aggressive on the opening lap. He picked off car after car, going from 16^th at the start to seventh by Turn 16, and the Dutch driver kept up that style through the race – helped by two final stints on the super-soft.

But that perhaps came back to bite him later on when he began struggling with his tyres. Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo suffered earlier on but came into his own, perhaps through not being quite so aggressive and stopping a few laps after Verstappen. The fight for P3 went down to the wire but Verstappen just finished ahead.

Kimi loses out

Kimi Raikkonen’s Chinese GP wasn’t particularly inspiring, but it definitely wasn’t helped by Ferrari returning to their poor strategy calls of the past. They kept him out longer than rivals for his second stop and his soft tyres were struggling by the end of the stint, meaning he was losing a few seconds per lap at times. It put him on the back foot for the final stint and he ran out of laps to challenge the Red Bulls, finishing within sight of a podium.

A lot to ask

The soft and super-soft tyres looked pretty durable after Saturday’s running, so the medium was never really going to be used. It became clear a few teams were seeing if their drivers could one-stop, having moved onto the softs after the early switch from inters.

But that was asking a bit too much of the softs and the teams bailed on that decision during the stint, going for a second stop. Marcus Ericsson was the only driver to one-stop but it did his race no favours and some who stopped during the VSC even had to three-stop, including Perez and Romain Grosjean.

The most laps completed in the race on super-softs was 30 (Jolyon Palmer) and the most on softs was 40 laps (Esteban Ocon).

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Intermediate: Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Bottas (4 laps)
Supersoft: Palmer (30 laps)
Soft: Ocon (40 laps)

11 Apr 2017

2ª Etapa – 56 Voltas – 5.451km por volta – 305.066km distância total – desgaste baixo de pneus

Chinese GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Peter Anderson from CarsGuide.com.au.

O GP da China foi recheado de ação, ultrapassagens e emoção. Além disso, a transição do molhado para o seco misturou ainda mais o pelotão, proporcionando escolhas estratégicas interessantes.

Lewis Hamilton dominou de ponta a ponta, conquistando sua primeira vitória do ano, 5ª na China e 54ª da carreira, seguido por Sebastian Vettel e Max Verstappen, que terminou em 3º mesmo largando em 16º.

Agora que a poeira ao redor da 2ª etapa do ano baixou, aqui estão as principais histórias e escolhas estratégicas do último domingo em Shanghai.

Sainz aposta

Pancadas de chuva durante a manhã proporcionaram uma pista molhada porém secando rapidamente para a largada da prova. A reta principal estava particularmente escorregadia, com muitas poças, mas boa parte da pista já estava muito mais seca. Mesmo assim, 19 dos 20 pilotos optaram por começar a corrida com pneus intermediários.

Carlos Sainz foi o único a largar com slicks, optando pelos super macios. O espanhol disse que a equipe pensou que ele estava maluco quando apostou nos pneus de pista seca, entretanto, com exceção de uma péssima largada e uma rodada na curva 1, Sainz conseguiu capitalizar na ousadia, escalando o pelotão na primeira janela de pit-stops. A estratégia o colocou em uma ótima posição durante a corrida e colaborou com a 7ª posição alcançada.

Oportunidade perdida no VSC

O Safety Car virtual foi liberado no fim da primeira volta para facilitar a retirada da Williams atolada de Lance Stroll. Esse cenário pareceu uma oportunidade perfeita para os pilotos se livrarem dos intermediários, já que a pista estava praticamente seca.

Nico Hulkenberg parou no fim da volta 1, enquanto Vettel, Magnussen, Perez, Alonso e Vandoorne fizeram a troca na volta 2. Infelizmente, o Safety Car foi liberado algumas voltas depois, graças ao acidente de Antonio Giovinazzi, acabando com qualquer vantagem construída pelos primeiros a calçar os slicks.

Troca no Safety Car

Boa parte do pelotão parou durante o Safety Car virtual, com exceção dos ponteiros Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen e Bottas. O quinteto permaneceu na pista e trocou para pneus de pista seca após a batida de Antonio Giovinazzi na reta principal.

Entrar nos boxes no fim da volta 5 enquanto o resto do pelotão circulava em baixa velocidade, foi uma vantagem enorme. Os pilotos que já estavam calçando slicks encontraram enorme dificuldade de mantê-los aquecidos, beneficiando ainda mais os que pararam durante o Safety Car. Isso explica porque Vettel caiu para 5º. Já Bottas perdeu terreno com uma parada lenta, caindo para 5º.

Correndo no escuro

Os treinos de sexta foram praticamente inúteis, já que o grid conseguiu apenas 20 minutos de ação na pista devido às condições climáticas. Isso deixou pilotos com apenas o terceiro treino livre e o Qualifying para testar os novos carros e compostos de pneus em Shanghai, levando muitas perguntas não respondidas para o domingo de corrida. Para nossa alegria, corridas no escuro costumam ser emocionantes.

Duas paradas da Red Bull

Era claro no sábado que a Red Bull estava consideravelmente atrás de Mercedes e Ferrari, portanto, partir para uma estratégia de duas paradas pareceu uma ideia interessante. A equipe foi arrojada logo no começo, passando de intermediários para super macios, trocando novamente para os vermelhos na segunda rodada de pit-stops.

Possivelmente, o time optou por uma estratégia agressiva na tentativa de encurtar a diferença para os líderes usando pura performance, o que certamente funcionou para eles. Os super macios foram muito utilizados no sábado, fornecendo mais telemetria e comprovando sua durabilidade confiável no domingo.

Mad Max

A primeira volta de Max Verstappen no GP da China foi uma obra prima e um perfeito exemplo do que é ser agressivo na primeira volta. O holandês fatiou o pelotão, saindo de 16º na largada para 7º na última curva, mantendo esse estilo de pilotagem durante o resto da prova, ajudado por dois stints nos super macios.

Essa agressividade o prejudicou um pouco no final do GP, uma vez que o desgaste tornava cada vez mais difícil encontrar aderência. Enquanto isso, seu companheiro de equipe encontrou dificuldades no começo do stint mas logo se encaixou. Além disso, Ricciardo havia parado algumas voltas depois de Verstappen, levando a briga pela 3ª posição até os últimos metros da corrida. Melhor para o holandês.

Kimi fica para trás

O GP da China do finlandês não foi particularmente emocionante, mas certamente não foi ajudado pela péssima escolha estratégica da Ferrari. A equipe o manteve na pista muito mais que seus concorrentes diretos antes da segunda parada, enquanto seus pneus macios sofriam no final do stint, proporcionando a perda de alguns segundos por volta. Essa decisão da escuderia colocou Kimi em extrema desvantagem na briga pelo pódio, perdendo a oportunidade de brigar com as Red Bulls no final da prova.

Um pouco demais

Os macios e super macios provaram ser bem resistentes durante as sessões de sábado, o que essencialmente significava que o médio não seria usado durante a corrida. Após o primeiro stint curto de intermediários no domingo, ficou claro que algumas equipes estavam contemplando a ideia de apenas uma parada.

Entretanto, isso era pedir um pouco demais dos pneus macios e as equipes desistiram da estratégia durante o primeiro stint de slicks, parando pela segunda vez. Marcus Ericsson foi o único a terminar o GP com apenas uma parada, mas a estratégia não proporcionou vantagem alguma. Alguns que pararam durante o VSC inclusive tiveram que retornar aos boxes pela terceira vez, como Perez e Grosjean.

Texto Original Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Stints mais longos

Intermediários: Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Bottas (4 voltas)
Super Macios: Palmer (30 voltas)
Macios: Ocon (40 voltas)

29 Mar 2017

Race 1 – 57 Laps – 5.303km per lap – 302.271km race distance – low tyre wear

Australian GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Rob James from Box of Neutrals.

Formula 1 is officially back, and it looks like we’ve got a real fight on our hands between Mercedes and Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton may have taken pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, but couldn’t hold onto the lead in the race.

A brave strategy call helped Sebastian Vettel leap-frog Hamilton to give Ferrari its first victory since Singapore 2015. F1’s new era didn’t start in particularly dramatic style, but it certainly threw up an interesting result and plenty of exciting moments.

Despite Pirelli’s new, wider tyres being more durable, strategy still played a crucial role in the race. Here are the major strategy headlines to emerge from the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne:

Mercs burning up?

Obviously it’s early days, but the Mercedes W08 does seem to burn up the tyres a bit more than rivals – especially in traffic. Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas both reported a lot of sliding and some overheating on the ultra-soft tyre in the opening stint, especially towards the end. They fared better on the softs but by that time it was tough to recover the lost ground.

Kvyat goes long

We knew from winter testing that the ultra-soft tyre could rack up a lot of laps, but we didn’t expect someone to do a 34-lap stint on them in the race. Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso looked after the ultras beautifully for almost two-thirds of the race, but his strategy and a potential seventh place were derailed when he had to make an unscheduled second stop.

This was due to the team having to top his car up with air. Actually, they had to do that at the first stop too, which cost him time, before bringing him in again with eight laps to go. It shows just how quick the STR12 is that he still managed to finish 9^th.

Durable tyres

As promised from Pirelli, the tyres were much harder and more durable in 2017. It may have caused most to go for a one-stop, but we still saw some good racing. Kvyat’s 34 lap-stint was the longest on the ultra-softs, Kevin Magnussen did 43 on super-softs and Stoffel Vandoorne managed 46 on the softs. Those are quite a bit bigger than the longest stints we saw last year, particularly with the softer compounds.

Overcut works (for some)

Will we be talking more about the overcut, compared to the undercut, in 2017? That could well be the case. The highest profile case of the overcut working as Vettel, who pitted six laps after Hamilton on ultra-softs. His pace was still pretty strong before he pitted and despite having to negotiate some traffic, the advantage gained was still good enough for him to emerge in the lead.

Traffic plays a part

But, he didn’t have as much traffic to pass as Hamilton and the Mercedes couldn’t follow other cars through corners quite as well as the Ferrari. Traffic actually had a big impact on the lead battle. Hamilton got caught behind lapped and slower cars, including Max Verstappen – the Red Bull racer stayed out for a few laps longer than Vettel.

Hamilton quickly got caught behind slower cars, including Max Verstappen, who stayed out a few laps longer than Vettel. This caused the Mercedes racer to lose crucial seconds in the pit stop phase and helped Vettel establish an initial lead.

Overcut doesn’t work (for others)

But while the overcut did work well for Vettel, it didn’t for Kimi Raikkonen. He stayed out one lap longer than Bottas and Verstappen – the cars in front and behind him. But this was later in the stint, perhaps when the tyres were starting to lose performance and didn’t quite have the edge to make it work. He didn’t lose any places, but he didn’t gain much time either.

Hoping for a safety car?

It was truly heartbreaking to see Daniel Ricciardo climb out of his stuck-in-gear car on the formation lap, in front of his home crowd. Red Bull worked fast to repair his car for a pit lane start and did an amazing job repairing it, but by the time the RB13 was ready and emerged on track, Ricciardo was two laps down.

It seems Red Bull were just using it as a test session and possible were waiting for a safety car to help him make up some of the ground, but – surprisingly, for Albert Park – we didn’t see one and Ricciardo retired with an engine failure anyway.

Two stop not the way to go

Most drivers finished the race with only one trip through the pits but a few tried a two-stop strategy, including Nico Hulkenberg. However, he got stuck behind Fernando Alonso early on and then there was a weirdly short middle stint on the softs, which clearly didn’t work well. So, he moved onto scrubbed ultra-softs for the run to the flag but he couldn’t make inroads and finished 11^th.

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Ultrasoft: Kvyat (34 laps!)
Supersoft: Magnussen (43 laps)
Soft: Vandoorne (46 laps)

29 Nov 2016

Race 21 – 55 Laps – 5.554km per lap – 305.355km race distance – low tyre wear

Abu Dhabi GP F1 Strategy Report Podcast – our host Michael Lamonato is joined by Nathan Harper from Beermogul Games (Apex Race Manager).

The 2016 Formula 1 season came to a close in tense style at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton winning the race in controversial style after employing tactics to try and snatch the title away from Nico Rosberg.

But second place for Rosberg was enough to take the championship, holding off Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages to become a first-time title winner. The 2016 finale threw up plenty of interesting strategy stories, here are the main headlines:

Verstappen bounces back

Facing the wrong way at the exit of Turn 1 on the opening lap isn’t the ideal situation, but few drivers could go from 22^nd to fourth like Max Verstappen did – at the Yas Marina Circuit of all places, too.

Having clashed with Nico Hulkenberg and dropped to last place, Verstappen put his super-soft tyres (which clearly weren’t badly damaged after his spin) to good use and quickly advanced up the order through the midfield runners, proving how strong the Red Bull car was compared to those further down the grid.

Running long on the super-soft tyre ended up putting Verstappen back into contention, as he was able to lap for longer at a fast pace. It brought him into the play and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, but Vettel’s charge meant he lost out on a possible third place – in part due to Verstappen’s soft tyres fading, as he was one of only two drivers on a one-stop strategy.

Employing the undercut

There were a few interesting strategy points from the first round of stops, in particular the tactics of Ferrari and Red Bull with Kimi Raikkonen and Ricciardo. On ultra-softs, Ferrari pitted Raikkonen on lap seven, giving him two extra laps on fresh Pirelli rubber before Ricciardo stopped.

The two had been close on the track before the stops and Red Bull seemingly pitted Ricciardo on lap nine to not lose too much time against Raikkonen, which proved to be right because he came out just behind the Ferrari. The overcut (if you can call it that) almost worked for Ricciardo.

But he eventually got the jump when Red Bull stopped Ricciardo first on lap 24, going from old softs to new softs. Ferrari reacted but it wasn’t enough and the Red Bull was through.

It all works out for Vettel

After the first round of stops, it wasn’t looking all that great for Vettel. He was running in sixth place, a little way off those ahead of him. But Ferrari actually got their strategy right in the end, despite some feeling a long second stint on softs was a mistake.

In the end, the softs ended up working well for a long stint, helped by the cooler conditions in the night. Vettel briefly held the lead when he stayed out and then pitted later on, for super-softs. This put him on the attack for the final part of the race and he put the tyre advantage to good use from the get-go.

He was quickly able to pass Raikkonen, Ricciardo and Verstappen, moving into third place. But one step higher on the podium wasn’t possible due to Rosberg’s strong top speed, while Vettel’s tyres also went off towards the end. Surprisingly, considering it wasn’t expected to be a good race tyre, the super-softs held up well in the end.

Hamilton does his own thing

This was the main event. Rosberg vs Hamilton for the title and after the first stops, it was Hamilton leading from Rosberg. The title was Rosberg’s at that point and Hamilton knew he had to do something if he wanted to swing it in his favour. But he had few options at his disposal.

The route he chose to take didn’t go down well with Mercedes. He tried to back Rosberg into the chasing pack in the final part of the race, helping Vettel and the Red Bulls to catch up. Mercedes told him several times to speed up but he continued to run at his own pace, which has caused a huge debate.

In the end, Hamilton won from Rosberg, so the plan didn’t quite work. But it was fascinating to see Hamilton putting his own strategy call into play. He spiced up and added a splash of tension into the race, which was welcome from a viewing point of view, but obviously it put Mercedes in a tricky situation. It’ll surely be talked about for quite some time…

Super-soft saves it

Many thought the super-soft tyre should’ve been avoided all weekend but in the race, it actually worked very well. Verstappen used it on his long first stint, with Ricciardo also running it early on as Red Bull gambled in its qualifying strategy. Vettel also put on the super-softs to end the race.

Quite a few drivers also went onto the super-soft tyre for the final stint, seemingly mimicking Vettel. It put them in a stronger position for the run to the flag, but it didn’t have quite the same impact for the likes of Esteban Ocon and Romain Grosjean.

Going long

One driver who did something VERY different was Marcus Ericsson. Because, what did he have to lose? Sauber put him on a ridiculously long first stint on the softs, going all the way to lap 38. By that time he was struggling a lot and fell down the field, but a super-soft stint to end the race helped him make up a bit of ground.

Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1

Longest Stints

Ultrasoft: Perez (9 laps)
Supersoft: Verstappen (21 laps)
Soft: Ericsson (38 laps)