2014 Spanish Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

2014 Spanish Grand Prix

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The pit lane at the Circuit de Catalunya was much less busy than it was 12 months ago. There were 48 pit stops during today’s race, down from 77 last year.

Most drivers opted for two pit stops where four was not uncommon last year.

Sebastian Vettel was one of the drivers who made three visits and he enjoyed two of the fastest stops of the race thanks to his Red Bull team.

But Jenson Button’s lap 36 stop proved costly – he had to be held in his pit box, costing him over two seconds, which meant he came out behind race leader Lewis Hamilton who on older tyres was lapping slightly slower than Button’s pace.

Red Bull were undoubtedly the star performers of the day in the pits, as all five of their stops ranked among the top ten times.

Spanish Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1Stint 2Stint 3Stint 4
Lewis HamiltonMedium (18)Medium (25)Hard (23)
Nico RosbergMedium (21)Hard (24)Medium (21)
Daniel RicciardoMedium (14)Medium (31)Hard (21)
Sebastian VettelMedium (12)Hard (21)Medium (19)Medium (14)
Valtteri BottasMedium (20)Medium (25)Hard (21)
Fernando AlonsoMedium (16)Medium (19)Hard (18)Medium (13)
Kimi RaikkonenMedium (17)Medium (26)Hard (22)
Romain GrosjeanMedium (15)Medium (19)Hard (31)
Sergio PerezMedium (18)Hard (19)Medium (28)
Nico HulkenbergMedium (17)Medium (19)Hard (29)
Jenson ButtonMedium (17)Medium (19)Hard (29)
Kevin MagnussenMedium (19)Medium (22)Hard (24)
Felipe MassaMedium (15)Medium (13)Hard (18)Hard (19)
Daniil KvyatMedium (18)Medium (18)Hard (17)Medium (12)
Pastor MaldonadoMedium (15)Medium (22)Hard (28)
Esteban GutierrezMedium (18)Medium (18)Hard (16)Medium (13)
Adrian SutilMedium (17)Medium (18)Hard (30)
Jules BianchiMedium (21)Medium (20)Hard (23)
Max ChiltonMedium (17)Medium (14)Medium (11)Hard (22)
Marcus EricssonMedium (18)Medium (22)Hard (24)
Kamui KobayashiMedium (23)Medium (11)
Jean-Eric VergneHard (16)Medium (8)

Spanish Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Sebastian VettelRed Bull21.59933
2Sebastian VettelRed Bull21.6080.00952
3Fernando AlonsoFerrari21.6640.06553
4Kevin MagnussenMcLaren21.7680.16941
5Jenson ButtonMcLaren21.8100.21117
6Daniel RicciardoRed Bull21.8300.23145
7Kevin MagnussenMcLaren21.8940.29519
8Daniel RicciardoRed Bull21.9690.37014
9Fernando AlonsoFerrari21.9700.37116
10Sebastian VettelRed Bull21.9740.37512
11Fernando AlonsoFerrari22.0140.41535
12Pastor MaldonadoLotus22.0240.42537
13Kimi RaikkonenFerrari22.0560.45717
14Romain GrosjeanLotus22.0780.47934
15Romain GrosjeanLotus22.1260.52715
16Nico RosbergMercedes22.2540.65521
17Sergio PerezForce India22.2820.68337
18Felipe MassaWilliams22.3040.70546
19Nico RosbergMercedes22.3090.71045
20Nico HulkenbergForce India22.3550.75617
21Sergio PerezForce India22.3670.76818
22Felipe MassaWilliams22.3810.78228
23Jules BianchiMarussia22.5680.96941
24Valtteri BottasWilliams22.7011.10245
25Daniil KvyatToro Rosso22.7031.10418
26Nico HulkenbergForce India22.7241.12536
27Kimi RaikkonenFerrari22.7271.12843
28Kamui KobayashiCaterham22.7891.19023
29Valtteri BottasWilliams22.8241.22520
30Daniil KvyatToro Rosso22.8411.24236
31Felipe MassaWilliams22.8901.29115
32Jules BianchiMarussia22.9281.32921
33Lewis HamiltonMercedes22.9511.35218
34Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso22.9761.37716
35Daniil KvyatToro Rosso22.9841.38553
36Esteban GutierrezSauber23.0251.42652
37Esteban GutierrezSauber23.0631.46418
38Marcus EricssonCaterham23.0911.49218
39Max ChiltonMarussia23.2321.63331
40Adrian SutilSauber23.3781.77935
41Max ChiltonMarussia23.5861.98742
42Lewis HamiltonMercedes23.5901.99143
43Max ChiltonMarussia24.3372.73817
44Jenson ButtonMcLaren24.4082.80936
45Esteban GutierrezSauber24.7803.18136
46Marcus EricssonCaterham26.6715.07240
47Pastor MaldonadoLotus27.8516.25215
48Adrian SutilSauber28.0136.41417

2014 Spanish Grand Prix

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Image © Red Bull/Getty

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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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14 comments on “2014 Spanish Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops”

  1. …and look at how much more entertaining the race was for it.

    Spain was the second worst race of the year (behind Britain) last year I think, and this year it was certainly second best (thus far).

    1. Also, this is one of the few tracks where I advocate the use of DRS. Along with Suzuka and possibly a couple more. Since I do believe that because it only gives the chance of an overtake it is actually an effective means of improving the spectacle.

      1. Well most overtakes were quite easy. Appart from one or two from VET

        1. That’s why Nico flew by Lewis on the last lap.

          1. Well the race ended before he had to take his chance at overtaking him.

      2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        12th May 2014, 5:25

        I agree Max.
        DRS is needed at Barcelona because it doesn’t have any low speed corners followed by long straights, which makes overtaking very tough.

  2. Interesting how n1 drivers seem to get better pit stops.
    Is it psychologic?

    1. @moumny When the gaps are as small as this, and looking at the data from just one race, I don’t think you can draw that conclusion.

      But if it was the case remember this isn’t just the stationary time we are looking out: it includes the driver stopping on his marks and pulling away. So would it be that great a surprise if the ‘number one’ drivers were doing that better to the tune of a few hundredths of a second? Not really.

  3. Incredible pic. The color and definition is simply amazing!

  4. Nice job by Ricciardo to get 31 laps out of the Medium tires on his 2nd stint. Most laps on Medium in a stint by any driver and he still was best of the rest behind the Mercs. Grosjean matched most laps (31) on a stint, but with Hard tires.

    Where Kimi really lost position to Alonso was on his 2nd stint doing 7 more laps than his teammate. He came out way behind Alonso after the 2nd stop whereas he came out just ahead of Alonso after the first stop. The alternate strategy didn’t work out too well for him.

  5. I think the drive of the weekend was Vettel, 15 to 4th.

  6. i wondered if rosberg was going to try a one-stopper. he seemed quite comfortable on the mediums in the first stint, so maybe he could have gone a bit longer and then eked out the hards until the end of the race. i imagine he would have been passed near the end by hamilton, but the 20 seconds saved wouldn’t be that easy to overturn. just a thought.

    if the tyre rules were a bit freer then we might see more inventive strategies (i.e. hard-hard, or soft-soft-soft).

  7. The last medium tyres put at Alonso and Vettel car was new or used?

  8. Seeing how awful the stationary times were for Hamilton, It’s amazing that the actual pit time differences were so small. Rosberg apparently left a couple seconds on the table at least due to his entry and exit procedures. Lewis lost 1.2 on the first stop to him, but if I recall, Hamilton’s stationary time was like 4.3 and Rosberg’s was “normal.” If Rosberg had a comparable entry/exit maybe he even jumps Hamilton, considering he was about 1.63s behind when Hamilton stopped. When it’s this close between them, every little thing like this could decided the title.

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