2012 Monaco Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

2012 Monaco Grand Prix

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Mercedes did the fastest pit stop of the day in Monaco while trying to get Nico Rosberg into the lead. Here’s all the data.

Monaco Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1Stint 2Stint 3
Mark WebberSuper soft (29)Soft (49)
Nico RosbergSuper soft (27)Soft (51)
Lewis HamiltonSuper soft (29)Soft (49)
Romain GrosjeanSuper soft
Fernando AlonsoSuper soft (30)Soft (48)
Michael SchumacherSuper soft (34)Soft (29)
Felipe MassaSuper soft (31)Soft (47)
Kimi RaikkonenSuper soft (29)Soft (49)
Sebastian VettelSoft (46)Super soft (32)
Nico HulkenbergSuper soft (29)Soft (49)
Kamui KobayashiSuper soft (1)Soft (4)
Jenson ButtonSoft (38)Super soft (32)
Bruno SennaSuper soft (29)Soft (49)
Paul di RestaSoft (35)Super soft (43)
Daniel RicciardoSuper soft (40)Soft (25)
Jean-Eric VergneSuper soft (17)Soft (53)Intermediate (7)
Heikki KovalainenSuper soft (30)Soft (43)Super soft (4)
Vitaly PetrovSoft (3)Soft (12)
Timo GlockSuper soft (30)Soft (24)Soft (23)
Pedro de la RosaSoft
Charles PicSuper soft (33)Soft (31)
Narain KarthikeyanSuper soft (29)Super soft (45)Soft (2)
Sergio PerezSuper soft (34)Soft (43)
Pastor MaldonadoSuper soft

Vettel’s strategy was counter to that used by most of the front runners, beginning with a long stint on the soft tyres.

Early in his stint on soft tyres Hamilton expressed concern at how long he had to make them last. When told Vettel had run for 45 laps on his Hamilton replied, “he had a little more grip than me, guys.”

Monaco Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Nico RosbergMercedes24.87427
2Felipe MassaFerrari24.9930.11931
3Sebastian VettelRed Bull25.0790.20546
4Michael SchumacherMercedes25.1170.24334
5Jenson ButtonMcLaren25.2190.34538
6Fernando AlonsoFerrari25.2200.34630
7Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso25.3350.46140
8Mark WebberRed Bull25.5660.69229
9Timo GlockMarussia25.5670.69330
10Paul di RestaForce India25.6420.76835
11Sergio PerezSauber25.6660.79234
12Lewis HamiltonMcLaren25.7480.87429
13Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso26.0631.18917
14Heikki KovalainenCaterham26.0661.19230
15Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso26.1571.28370
16Kimi RaikkonenLotus26.3801.50629
17Bruno SennaWilliams26.4101.53629
18Nico HulkenbergForce India26.4471.57329
19Narain KarthikeyanHRT26.9732.09974
20Charles PicMarussia27.1862.31233
21Narain KarthikeyanHRT27.3062.43229
22Kamui KobayashiSauber28.3903.5161
23Heikki KovalainenCaterham31.2936.41973
24Timo GlockMarussia36.50311.62954
25Vitaly PetrovCaterham39.39114.5173

When Mercedes brought Nico Rosberg in after 27 laps, trying to wrest the lead from Mark Webber, they turned around the quickest pit stop of the day.

But despite their best efforts Rosberg had to settle for second.

2012 Monaco Grand Prix

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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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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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17 comments on “2012 Monaco Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops”

  1. Another race and another mess by Mclaren.
    Hamilton after a clutch setting change in the formation lap – “I took the team’s advice — I have to rely on them — and let the clutch out and it just didn’t go. There was no torque, no drive. I said to them afterwards ‘we can’t have everyone else making great starts and us not’. I was lucky not to lose third.”

    Hamilton on Vettel getting ahead and his message to the team about no being informed – “I was conserving my tyres,” Hamilton explained. “I could easily have pushed.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/9293321/Monaco-Grand-Prix-2012-Lewis-Hamilton-left-to-rue-McLaren-errors-as-Mark-Webber-wins-from-pole.html

    It’s getting ridiculous really. Not to mention they failed to manage to get Button ahead of Kovalanien after the pits.

    1. You failed to mention the loss of time to Alonso in the pits. .5s matters now and for mclaren it might as well be a day. Its out of reach under their current methods.

      1. Yeah i don’t count that. Alonso would have jumped him even if they made the same pit stop time. Ferrari had more tyre than everybody in-frond and could have made comfortably fast laps. New tyres needed quite a few laps to get temperature too because of how kindly Monaco treats them.

  2. Only 25 pit stops! That’s been a rarity of late…

    1. Just 25 to many in my opinion.

      1. @HoHum – I thought the Monaco GP was a good example of why people should cut the tyres some slack. Reminds us a little of what processional racing is like and why the new way of doing things is great.

        1. Monaco has a very low average speed. You can’t overtake. Take Kimi for example, his tyres were completely gone but he could still manage to hold other drivers behind him for several laps.
          In monaco, given the option, drivers will not change tyres.

          1. Just like Bridgestone. Drivers would never change the tyres if they were given the option too. Hamilton and Webber did in Australia, and they couldn’t get passed Alonso who was on tyres some 30 laps older. The Monaco GP was a perfect example of why people should cut the tyres bashing. With 2010 regulations, nearly every dry race would be like Monaco, with drivers driving on the edge, but as boring as watching paint dry.

        2. Hi @cornflakes, I see it differently, I understand what you mean but I think you are misunderstanding what is happening, the cars are very even in performance this year and while it is difficult to pass at Monaco it has been done before if the drivers did not have to nurse their tyres they could have run much closer and tried to force the car in front into error, this was the traditional method of passing on tight tracks in the days when tyres lasted from start to finish.
          My comment, was flippant but has a basis in past eras of F1.

  3. Another strategy blunder by Lotus, whats new….

    1. Yeah, looked like a hopeless “ooh-it-might-rain” strategy, leaving him out there on knackered tyres – I was surprised to see it was still way before the leaders came in.

      He looked like James Hunt…in 1979!

  4. Fernando could have pipped Mark and Nico if he’d stayed out a few more laps..I was surprised they brought him when he was posting healthy 1:19’s on the Super Softs while Nico had already shown that he was struggling with the softs out of the box.

    Like he said in the Press Conference…it was too hard to predict.

  5. Blaming your team sounds lame Why are the other drivers not doing the same

    1. Maybe because other teams are not screwing races up? Not telling to push for one lap when Vettel pitted and losing place beacuse of that sounds like a fair reason to me. He should congratulate team for NOT screwing any pitstops up today – 3 last GP’s there has been blunder with Button or Hami.

      1. To be fair to Hamilton, it is Hamilton fans who are criticizing Mclaren, not Hamilton.

        And drivers do not blame their team, because F1 is a team sport. You win together, lose together.

  6. Knowing how long the tyres lasted, and how long it took to get heat into a new set; Mercedes should’ve waited to pit Nico after Webber if they wanted to jump him.

  7. Pretty strange this race really. Weird seeing Vettel go to 46 laps on a set of tyres but really impressive as well. Plus, being able to set faster times while doing so. It was a great display of the sort of winning characteristics he displayed last year, just not in the right place.

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