2012 Belgian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

2012 Belgian Grand Prix

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The top two finishers in the Belgian Grand Prix made just a single stop for tyres each, while most of their rivals made two.

Here’s all the tyre strategies from the Belgian Grand Prix:

Belgian Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1Stint 2Stint 3Stint 4
Jenson ButtonMedium (20)Hard (24)
Kamui KobayashiMedium (1)Hard (6)Hard (17)Hard (20)
Kimi RaikkonenMedium (11)Hard (17)Hard (16)
Sergio PerezMedium
Fernando AlonsoMedium
Pastor MaldonadoMedium (1)
Lewis HamiltonMedium
Romain GrosjeanMedium
Paul di RestaMedium (10)Hard (16)Hard (18)
Sebastian VettelMedium (21)Hard (23)
Nico HulkenbergHard (13)Medium (14)Hard (17)
Mark WebberMedium (11)Hard (16)Hard (17)
Michael SchumacherMedium (19)Hard (16)Medium (9)
Felipe MassaMedium (12)Hard (15)Hard (17)
Jean-Eric VergneMedium (15)Hard (14)Hard (15)
Daniel RicciardoMedium (12)Hard (16)Hard (16)
Bruno SennaMedium (16)Hard (23)Hard (5)
Heikki KovalainenMedium (14)Medium (13)Hard (16)
Vitaly PetrovMedium (12)Medium (14)Hard (17)
Timo GlockMedium (11)Medium (14)Hard (18)
Pedro de la RosaMedium (1)Hard (14)Medium (12)Hard (16)
Charles PicMedium (18)Hard (25)
Nico RosbergHard (20)Medium (16)Medium (8)
Narain KarthikeyanMedium (14)Medium (14)Hard (1)

Belgian Grand Prix pit stop times

With Lewis Hamilton retiring at the first corner the McLaren crew were only called into service once during the race.

But they got their job done superbly, producing the quickest complete pit stop for the fourth time in five races.

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Jenson ButtonMcLaren19.66820
2Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso20.2870.61912
3Kimi RaikkonenLotus20.2890.62128
4Felipe MassaFerrari20.3060.63812
5Kimi RaikkonenLotus20.3830.71511
6Mark WebberRed Bull20.3850.71727
7Nico RosbergMercedes20.5340.86636
8Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso20.6600.99215
9Timo GlockMarussia20.6600.99225
10Nico HulkenbergForce India20.6961.02827
11Sebastian VettelRed Bull20.8111.14321
12Michael SchumacherMercedes20.8351.16735
13Mark WebberRed Bull20.9081.24011
14Felipe MassaFerrari21.0491.38127
15Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso21.0601.39228
16Nico RosbergMercedes21.0621.39420
17Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso21.0771.40929
18Paul di RestaForce India21.1151.44726
19Vitaly PetrovCaterham21.1801.51226
20Paul di RestaForce India21.4021.73410
21Charles PicMarussia21.6111.94318
22Michael SchumacherMercedes21.6641.99619
23Kamui KobayashiSauber21.6692.0017
24Bruno SennaWilliams21.6902.02216
25Pastor MaldonadoWilliams21.8422.1741
26Heikki KovalainenCaterham21.9312.26327
27Bruno SennaWilliams22.0302.36239
28Pedro de la RosaHRT22.0642.39627
29Kamui KobayashiSauber22.1062.43824
30Nico HulkenbergForce India22.1522.48413
31Timo GlockMarussia22.4632.79511
32Narain KarthikeyanHRT22.5232.85528
33Narain KarthikeyanHRT23.9534.28514
34Pedro de la RosaHRT25.0275.35915
35Vitaly PetrovCaterham25.9726.30412
36Kamui KobayashiSauber27.2487.5801
37Pedro de la RosaHRT29.1079.4391
38Heikki KovalainenCaterham52.20632.53814

2012 Belgian 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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11 comments on “2012 Belgian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops”

  1. Didn’t Hulkenberg start on the harder compound? I didn’t see it myself but I remember hearing a radio message (I think to Kimi) before the start that both Nicos were on the hards.

    1. I do believe he was – I remember Martin Brundle commenting on it.

    2. @enigma Sorry, he did.

    3. I remember the same thing; Rosberg and Hülkenberg were the only ones to start on the harder tyres.

  2. Looks like Lotus have improved on their pit stops, 3rd and 5th fastest.

  3. Looks like Mercedes had the worsth strategy. Why the hell they stayed so long out on their first tyre set when they know all season that the car is a tyre destroyer. ppfff!

    1. Right. They should have chosen a very aggressive strategy, as they had great overtaking potential due to their high top speeds.

    2. For sure Mercedes GP had the worst strategy. I was baffled in the first part of the race to see they kept Schumacher out. Especially when Railkkonen came out after his first pit stop. I knew right there and then, he has enough pace to catch MSC and pass him later on. By now, everybody and their grandmothers know that Mercedes shreds those tires, but Mercedes have yet to figure that one out.
      The car was good, MSC had good pace, the sensible thing would have been to put him on two stops, and let him drive the heck out of that car. Running in 2nd place and ending on 7th, big shame and a big slap in the face of all Mercedes GP staff.

  4. What was wrong with the softer (medium) tyre-compound? Many drivers were struggling in the opening stage on medium tyres (most notably Di Resta, but most drivers choose the hard tyre over the medium tyre.) It looked like the harder tyre-compound was more durable and faster.

  5. Thank god Lotus went for 2 stop, tyres just didn’t hold for them this race. I was surprised how fast Rosbergs tyres gave up too.

  6. .6s is another impressive gap from McLaren with regards to their pit-stop. I wonder how easy it is for other teams to replicate this? Obviously not very easy as no one can touch them.

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