2017 United States Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

2017 United States Grand Prix

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The United States Grand Prix was one of the more varied races we’ve had this year in terms of pit stop strategy.

2017 United States GP in pictures
While Lewis Hamilton used a typical 2017 one-stop strategy to take victory, three of the top five finishers pitted twice. They included his team mate, who had fallen to the rear of the front-running train and had a sufficient gap to pit for fresh tyres without losing a position.

Max Verstappen’s move to a two-stopper provoked Ferrari to do the same with Sebastian Vettel even though, unlike the Red Bull driver, he did not have a fresh set of super-softs for the final stint. Ferrari’s move came close to backfiring as Verstappen drew within striking range of Vettel at one point, but his well-timed pass on Bottas allowed him to draw free of the Red Bull, after which Kimi Raikkonen let him back through into second place.

Carlos Sainz Jnr had excellent pace on the soft tyres in his second stint and used them to attacked the Force Indias. However despite the advantage of starting on new tyres Felipe Massa was unable to take the fight to the pink cars.

2017 United States Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1Stint 2Stint 3
Lewis HamiltonUltra soft (19)Soft (37)
Sebastian VettelUltra soft (16)Soft (22)Super soft (18)
Kimi RaikkonenUltra soft (20)Soft (36)
Max VerstappenSuper soft (24)Soft (13)Super soft (19)
Valtteri BottasUltra soft (18)Soft (34)Ultra soft (4)
Esteban OconUltra soft (14)Soft (42)
Carlos Sainz JnrUltra soft (19)Soft (37)
Sergio PerezUltra soft (12)Soft (43)
Felipe MassaSuper soft (29)Ultra soft (26)
Daniil KvyatUltra soft (17)Soft (38)
Lance StrollSuper soft (10)Soft (26)Ultra soft (19)
Stoffel VandoorneSuper soft (25)Ultra soft (30)
Brendon HartleyUltra soft (8)Super soft (27)Super soft (20)
Romain GrosjeanUltra soft (16)Soft (39)
Marcus EricssonSuper soft (21)Soft (34)
Kevin MagnussenSuper soft (1)Soft (48)Ultra soft (6)
Fernando AlonsoUltra soft (14)Soft (10)
Daniel RicciardoUltra soft (12)Super soft (2)
Pascal WehrleinSoft (3)Soft (2)
Nico HulkenbergUltra soft (3)

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2017 United States Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Valtteri BottasMercedes23.25452
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes23.4020.14819
3Max VerstappenRed Bull23.4230.16937
4Valtteri BottasMercedes23.4590.20518
5Kimi RaikkonenFerrari23.5750.32120
6Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren23.5780.32425
7Daniel RicciardoRed Bull23.6040.35012
8Sebastian VettelFerrari23.6200.36638
9Felipe MassaWilliams23.7720.51829
10Fernando AlonsoMcLaren23.7960.54214
11Brendon HartleyToro Rosso24.2290.97535
12Sebastian VettelFerrari24.3001.04616
13Max VerstappenRed Bull24.3251.07124
14Sergio PerezForce India24.3261.07212
15Brendon HartleyToro Rosso24.4001.1468
16Lance StrollWilliams24.4971.24336
17Esteban OconForce India24.5021.24814
18Carlos Sainz JnrRenault24.5251.27119
19Daniil KvyatToro Rosso24.8831.62917
20Romain GrosjeanHaas24.8971.64316
21Lance StrollWilliams24.9491.69510
22Kevin MagnussenHaas25.1121.8581
23Kevin MagnussenHaas25.2682.01449
24Marcus EricssonSauber25.8412.58721
25Pascal WehrleinSauber31.3348.0803

2017 United States 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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