Unusually, both Toro Rosso drivers made two pits stops during the Turkish Grand Prix.
The gamble almost allowed Jaime Alguersuari to capitalise on the struggling Saubers to claim the final point of the race.
| Sebastien Buemi | Jaime Alguersuari | |
| Qualifying position | 14 | 16 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q2) | 1’28.273 (-0.267) | 1’28.540 |
| Race position | 16 | 12 |
| Average race lap | 1’34.468 (+1.444) | 1’33.024 |
| Laps | 57/58 | 58/58 |
| Pit stops | 2 | 2 |
Open lap times interactive chart in new window
Sebastien Buemi
Not for the first time in 2010, Buemi’s race was compromised by a first-lap collision, this time with Nico Hulkenberg.
He had out-qualified his team mate for the sixth time this year but his first-lap pit stop ruined his race:
The start was good, but then De La Rosa made a poor exit to Turn 2 so going into Turn 3 I tried to go round him on the outside. But I went a bit wide and when I came back onto the track, Hulkenberg got past me and as I tried to retake him at Turn 7 on the outside, I think he might have lost the front end of the car and he clipped my right rear, which punctured the tyre and I had to pit immediately.
Sebastien Buemi
Compare Sebastien Buemi’s form against his team mate in 2010
Jaime Alguersuari
Benefited from his team mate’s demise to move up to 14th at the start. Built up enough of a gap over Vitantonio Liuzzi to have the space to make a second pit stop without losing track position.
He took it on lap 42 and began to catch the Saubers. That progress was accelerated when Kamui Kobayashi began to struggle with his tyres, backing up Pedro de la Rosa.
Over the final five laps the gap was 8.7 seconds, then 7.2, 3.8, 1.4 and 1.8. With a lap or two more he might have made it past – or at least pressured the Sauber duo into a Red Bull-style gaffe.
Alguersuari thought it was a gamble worth taking:
The decision to make two stops for tyres was the correct one, so that I could attack de la Rosa and Kobayashi at the end. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite do it in the number of laps remaining, but this has been an encouraging weekend and I really hope we can again push in Canada, getting back to scoring points again.
Jaime Alguersuari
It’s a pity we don’t see more variation in strategy like this which can produce exciting racing. The only reason Toro Rosso felt able to try it here was because Alguersuari could make his pit stop without falling behind Liuzzi.
It’s very unlikely a team would choose to take an extra pit stop and surrender track position – remember how badly that worked out for Lewis Hamilton in Australia.
Compare Jaime Alguersuari’s form against his team mate in 2010
2010 Turkish Grand Prix
sumedh
31st May 2010, 15:34
Alonso could have tried this strategy at Spain, but he didn’t.
Strategy variation is dead in Formula 1 now.
DaveW
31st May 2010, 16:01
Indeed. The refueling ban has really paid dividends in mixing up strategy and forcing people to pass on track, no? And in this race we saw one of the supposed great evils of refueling, “fuel-economy racing,” where the cars were “hyper-miling” in the last third just to make it to the end.
thestig84
31st May 2010, 16:34
If thats an evil then bring it on!! I dont think we would have seen the race we saw yesterday. In between the stints the top 4 would have dropped off each other to try and edge out the 1 extra lap and pass each other in the pits.
Wow that would have been fun to watch. Not!!
Mike
1st June 2010, 3:10
I agree with the stig, although the fuel saving slows racing a bit at the end, It is definetly the lesser of two evils.
Now they just need cars that can pass each other.
Could it be possible to design an engine that becomes less powerful when wind is directed to it?
I mean, then an engine could be designed that will naturally go faster when one car is behind another, It would also mean that top speeds would be limited for safety.
Christian
31st May 2010, 20:14
The refueling ban has meant we are seeing proper overtaking on the track and not in the pitlane. Win.
The issue you have is caused by the rule stating the top 10 qualifiers must start on those tyres. It destroys any real tactics and levels the top 10 out for a stop in the first 15 laps. Lose.
Mike
1st June 2010, 3:23
I don’t think the qually tyre rule destroys the tactics, the tyre rule is just a alme piece of artificial uselessness.
What destroys strategy is the commercial interests of the tyre manufacturer, They want their tyres to be seen lasting a long time, ergo, the softs last longer than the hards should.
Hards should last about half distance and have limited grip, and ussually wear out prior to half. And softs should last between 1/4 and 1/3 of the race distance on average.
but have considerably more grip.
Both tyres should be supplied to every team each race, tracks like Monaco will favour the softs, and Istanbul will favour the hards due to tyre wear characteristics.
Teams should be provided a appropriate number of sets each as they are now, with some sets taken away after each season, and two sets of special qualifying tyres.
I like the idea of qually tyres to be honest.
Obviously many will disagree, but I think I have the principle right, and variation of this would easily be workable.
Mr draw
31st May 2010, 20:21
I thought the refuelling-ban would be the end of pitstops in F1, so overtaking would be on track. The mandatory pitstop is really a shame, because of the in-pits overtaking and the inflexible pitstop-strategies. Why isn’t the driver allowed to choose only “soft” of “hard” tyres for the race, so he can choose the number of tyre-changes in the race. Then perhaps drivers will develop two different strategies: being quick in the opening-stage, but needing a tyre-change and being slow all race long, but no need for a pitstop.
PS. I like Toro Rosso’s “pitstop-gambles”. Unfortunately, this time it didn’t pay off, but sometimes it does.
Bullfrog
1st June 2010, 13:54
Good on them for trying two stops – Jaime seemed to go quicker on his fresh tyres, and it might work on a different day, another track, different tyres…
Webber’s unintended new set of tyres didn’t make a lot of lap-time difference (although he was probably carrying accident damage), and anyone else would have lost too many places in the stop to try it.