2016 Belgian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

2016 Belgian Grand Prix

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The stoppage during the Belgian Grand Prix handed some teams the chance to gain an advantage by making a ‘free’ tyre change. However only a handful of them took advantage of the opportunity.

All three podium finishers were able to do so and Fernando Alonso also used the stoppage to make one of his tyre changes. That put him in a stronger position later in the race, allowing him to take seventh position.

However the Force India pair both made their pit stops during the Safety Car period before the race was red-flagged, perhaps not expecting the race was going to be red-flagged. This was a setback for Nico Hulkenberg, who had run in second place early on but fell to fourth behind Hamilton.

Williams were back on top as the quickest team in the pit lane, producing the two fastest pit stops of the race for Valtteri Bottas.

2016 Belgian Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1Stint 2Stint 3Stint 4
Nico RosbergSoft (9)Medium (17)Medium (18)
Daniel RicciardoSoft (9)Soft (16)Medium (19)
Lewis HamiltonMedium (9)Soft (12)Soft (11)Medium (12)
Nico HulkenbergSuper soft (6)Soft (3)Medium (14)
Sergio PerezSuper soft (6)Soft (18)Medium (20)
Sebastian VettelSoft (1)Soft (22)Soft (21)
Fernando AlonsoMedium (9)Soft (14)Medium (21)
Valtteri BottasSuper soft (7)Soft (16)Medium (21)
Kimi RaikkonenSoft (1)Super soft (4)Soft (19)Medium (20)
Felipe MassaSuper soft (2)Soft (20)Medium (22)
Max VerstappenSuper soft (1)Medium (15)Soft (11)Soft (17)
Esteban GutierrezSoft (7)Soft (15)Medium (22)
Romain GrosjeanSoft (6)Soft (17)Medium (21)
Daniil KvyatSoft (9)Soft (21)Medium (14)Super soft (9)
Jolyon PalmerSoft (6)Soft (16)Medium (12)Super soft (10)
Esteban OconSoft (6)Medium (18)Medium (19)
Felipe NasrSoft (1)Medium (8)Soft (14)Medium (20)
Kevin MagnussenSoft (5)
Marcus EricssonSoft (3)
Carlos Sainz JnrSoft (1)
Jenson ButtonSuper soft (1)
Pascal WehrleinSoft (0)

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2016 Belgian Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Valtteri BottasWilliams22.1907
2Valtteri BottasWilliams22.3180.12823
3Sebastian VettelFerrari22.4030.2131
4Lewis HamiltonMercedes22.4320.24232
5Fernando AlonsoMcLaren22.4510.26123
6Felipe MassaWilliams22.4840.2942
7Felipe MassaWilliams22.5150.32522
8Daniel RicciardoRed Bull22.5310.34125
9Jolyon PalmerRenault22.5780.38834
10Nico RosbergMercedes22.5960.40626
11Sergio PerezForce India22.6520.46224
12Jolyon PalmerRenault22.6980.5086
13Max VerstappenRed Bull22.7270.53727
14Sebastian VettelFerrari22.7620.57223
15Kimi RaikkonenFerrari23.0560.86624
16Kimi RaikkonenFerrari23.0610.8715
17Romain GrosjeanHaas23.1070.91723
18Max VerstappenRed Bull23.2311.04116
19Jolyon PalmerRenault23.3331.14322
20Daniil KvyatToro Rosso23.3591.16921
21Daniil KvyatToro Rosso23.3631.17335
22Esteban GutierrezHaas23.4861.2967
23Esteban GutierrezHaas23.5611.37122
24Nico HulkenbergForce India23.5641.3746
25Romain GrosjeanHaas23.7051.5156
26Sergio PerezForce India23.7831.5936
27Nico HulkenbergForce India24.0151.82523
28Esteban OconManor24.2082.01824
29Lewis HamiltonMercedes24.3432.15321
30Felipe NasrSauber26.3904.2001
31Esteban OconManor28.7186.5286
32Felipe NasrSauber30.2388.04823
33Max VerstappenRed Bull31.2359.0451
34Kimi RaikkonenFerrari87.08464.8941
35Nico RosbergMercedes996.150973.9609
36Fernando AlonsoMcLaren998.234976.0449
37Daniel RicciardoRed Bull998.401976.2119
38Nico HulkenbergForce India998.468976.2789
39Lewis HamiltonMercedes1000.478978.2889
40Felipe NasrSauber1001.198979.0089

2016 Belgian Grand Prix

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Author information

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 “2016 Belgian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops”

  1. Sebastian Vettel Soft (1) Soft (22) Soft (21)

    @keithcollantine That must be an error, right? I thought they had to put on at least two different types of tyres.

    Also, you gotta wonder if Ferrari didn’t screw up their strategy by only bringing one sets of mediums to the race.

    1. I didn’t see Sebastian on super-soft. I don’t know if he went on to mediums at any stage. If not, and if @keithcollantine is correct in the table above, then surely Vettel would have to be disqualified.

      1. Seems like Vettel did his last stint on mediums. https://twitter.com/pirellisport/status/769931729008222209

    2. Nope, 20 laps on mediums is indicated on the last column, which was a stint shared by other drivers as well, hence the common column.

  2. Hulkenburg: Super Soft (6), Soft (3), Medium (14). I don’t that’s 44 laps worth of tyre life there

    1. It has to be a mistake.

  3. The second that Magnussen obliterated that barrier I was convinced that there would be a red flag, so spent the next 5 minutes angrily shouting at everyone who stopped under the safety car!

    1. Yep, Mercedes had a masterclass compared to everyone else with that one.

  4. I like how the pit times for the drivers that made changes at the red flag are counted. Nothing like a nice quick quarter of an hour tyre change!!

  5. Re Soft, Soft, soft, during live commentary on Canadian GP I recall Paul Di Resta having an disagreement with David Croft in which he said that you could use the same tyres throughout, as long as (I think) the soft was used. This seemed against everything I’ve previously heard but Di Resta restated this and Croft changed the subject. Skimming the back of British GP programme seemed to agree with Di Resta, but this is against everything I’ve ever heard before during the years of these regs….

  6. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    30th August 2016, 22:00

    Well, no matter how much worse the Williams car is getting, it is quite clear that the Williams team are the best at quick pit stops this year. That at least is good to know. They have improved massively since last year.

Comments are closed.