Button will pit two laps before Vettel (Spanish GP fuel weights and pit stops)
If Vettel can keep up with Button he's in a strong position to win
Jenson Button may be on pole position but he’ll have to pull away quickly at the start as four cars behind him on the grid are all carrying more fuel.
Sebastian Vettel looks set to stop two laps later and Felipe Massa has around four more laps of fuel on board.
| Grid | Qualifying | Name | Weight | Fuel (kg) | First stint (laps) |
| 1 | 1 | Jenson Button | 646 | 41 | 17 |
| 2 | 2 | Sebastian Vettel | 651.5 | 46.5 | 19 |
| 3 | 3 | Rubens Barrichello | 649.5 | 44.5 | 18 |
| 4 | 4 | Felipe Massa | 655 | 50 | 21 |
| 5 | 5 | Mark Webber | 651.5 | 46.5 | 19 |
| 6 | 6 | Timo Glock | 646.5 | 41.5 | 17 |
| 7 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | 655.5 | 50.5 | 21 |
| 8 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | 645 | 40 | 16 |
| 9 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | 668 | 63 | 26 |
| 10 | 10 | Robert Kubica | 660 | 55 | 23 |
| 11 | 11 | Kazuki Nakajima | 676.6 | 71.6 | 30 |
| 12 | 12 | Nelson Piquet Jnr | 677.4 | 72.4 | 30 |
| 13 | 13 | Nick Heidfeld | 676.3 | 71.3 | 30 |
| 14 | 14 | Lewis Hamilton | 683 | 78 | 33 |
| 15 | 15 | Sebastien Buemi | 678 | 73 | 31 |
| 16 | 16 | Kimi Raikkonen | 673 | 68 | 28 |
| 17 | 17 | Sebastien Bourdais | 669 | 64 | 27 |
| 18 | 18 | Heikki Kovalainen | 657 | 52 | 21 |
| 19 | 19 | Adrian Sutil | 675 | 70 | 29 |
| 20 | 20 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 656 | 51 | 21 |
How the pit stop predictions were calculated: 1. Deduct minimum weight of 605kg. 2. Divide fuel load by average of 2.271kg per lap (source: Williams) 3. Deduct one lap of fuel to cover the drivers driving to the grid and doing their formation lap.
Other factors may alter the lap a driver pits such as changes in weather conditions, safety car deployment, variation in fuel use between different engines and cars, changes in setup, drivers’ ability to save fuel and reduced fuel use as the load decreases and a car becomes lighter.
Other points to note include:
- Both Red Bulls are carrying the same fuel load
- Heikki Kovalainen has fuelled lightly in a bid to make up places
- Kimi Raikkonen has chosen the opposite tactic in a bid to make up places and is carrying a lot of fuel instead
Read more: Last-second lap puts Button on pole (Spanish Grand Prix qualifying)
Spanish Grand Prix pit stop strategies (click to enlarge)
Andrew White said on 9th May 2009, 21:14
I can’t help but think that Massa will suffer from either a strategical error or a mechanical problem tomorrow. The car may be quick enough to challenge for the win but are the team good enough?
Wesley said on 10th May 2009, 0:34
Good point Andrew,even if Massa has a good charge the Ferrari guys seem to bungle things up as of lately.Massa seems to be the one who has his head on tightest in the Ferrari garage at the moment.
dmw said on 10th May 2009, 1:47
According to Bob, Steve, and David, only RAI was running the “b-spec” 15kg lighter chassis. And RAI was nowhere. So the story about Ferrari’s great leap forward seems more complex. I think Massa has found balance and motivation. He’s actually a remarkable driver on his day.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 10th May 2009, 10:13
That was as much a tactical failure as a lack of pace.
martinb said on 10th May 2009, 9:34
What’s interesting to me is that most teams are running two different strategies for their two drivers. This tells me that the optimum strategy isn’t clear, and there’s quite a bit of uncertainty in the outcome.
Drivers 1- and 2-stopping: McLaren, Ferrari, BMW, Williams.
Drivers 2- and 3-stopping: Toyota, Force India.
Drivers 1- and 3-stopping: Renault.
Toro Rosso: Both drivers 1-stopping.
RBR and Brawn: Both drivers 2-stopping, short first stint.
Maurice Henry said on 10th May 2009, 12:34
“And it’s another reason why it’s a good thing that refuelling is going next year. What more proof could you need that refuelling mitigates against on-track racing than to know Vettel had turned his engine down and was saving fuel while behind Trulli?”
Keith – And you don’t think that will happen next year?
martinb said on 10th May 2009, 16:03
Actual pit stops (hope this works):
Grid . . kg . .Est . Actual . . . . Fin
. . . . . . . . . T LL T LL T LL T 66L
01 BUT 41.0 17 s -- - 19 s 49 h 01
02 VET 46.5 19 s -- - 20 s 44 h 04
03 BAR 44.5 18 s 20 s 32 s 50 h 02
04k MAS 50.0 21 s -- - 20 s 44 h 06
05 WEB 46.5 19 s -- - 20 - 50 - 03
06 GLO 41.5 17 s -- - 18 s 48 - 10
07 TRU 50.5 21 s 01!- -- - -- - RET
08 ALO 40.0 16 s -- - 19 - 45 - 05
09 ROS 63.0 26 s -- - 26 s 50 h 08
10 KUB 55.0 23 s -- - 24 s 47 - 11
11 NAK 71.6 30 s 02 - 37 - 52 - 13
12 PIQ 72.4 30 s -- - 22 - 47 h 12
13 HEI 71.3 30 s -- - 32 s 51 - 07
14k HAM 78.0 33 s -- - 32 s 50 h 09
15 BUE 73.0 31 s 01!- -- - -- - RET
16k RAI 68.0 28 s -- - 19*- -- - RET
17 BOU 64.0 27 s 01!- -- - -- - RET
18k KOV 52.0 21 s 07*- -- - -- - RET
19 SUT 70.0 29 s 01!- -- - -- - RET
20 FIS 51.0 21 s 01*- 31 - 53 - 14
Safety Car lap 1 to lap 5.
Lap 1 crashes: Trulli and Sutil; Buemi and Bourdais
Unscheduled: Fisichella (1) fuel; Nakajima (2) wing
Retirements: Kovalainen (7) gearbox; Raikkonen (19) throttle linkage
Amalkumar.V said on 19th May 2009, 17:13
Go back to renault engine and dark blue colour.
Amalkumar.V said on 19th May 2009, 17:29
Williams were almost invincible with renault engines and lucky with dark blue colour.They should try this combination again.