The Australian Grand Prix 2015 was the 1st round of the 2015 F1 season, and took place at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, on March 15th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Nico Rosberg, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 17 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 23-27: 8 stops
The fastest pit stop was Nico Hülkenberg's, stopping the clock at 21.612 seconds during his pit stop on lap 44, while the slowest one was was Carlos Sainz's, who stopped the clock at 55.789 seconds, 34.177 seconds slower than Hülkenberg, during his pit stop on lap 24.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only 2 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
1Felipe Massa
-
-Daniel Ricciardo
-
1Sebastian Vettel
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2Carlos Sainz
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-Lewis Hamilton
-
5Felipe Nasr
-
-Nico Rosberg
-
5Jenson Button
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2Max Verstappen
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4Sergio Pérez
2 stops
-
7Kimi Räikkönen
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6Nico Hülkenberg
3 stops
-
7Marcus Ericsson
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.33 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 6 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 7 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option, even if Lewis Hamilton managed to win the race making 1 stop.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
The reace did not end without incidents... 7 drivers out of the original 18 who started did not managed to cross the finish line.
These included, Kimi Räikkönen, who had a wheel problem on lap 40, Max Verstappen, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 32, Romain Grosjean, who suffered a power loss on lap 0, Pastor Maldonado, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 0, and Daniil Kvyat, Kevin Magnussen, and Valtteri Bottas, all of whom withdrew.
Wheel
-
Kimi RäikkönenLap 40
Engine
-
Max VerstappenLap 32
Power loss
-
Romain GrosjeanLap 0
Accident
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Pastor MaldonadoLap 0
Withdrew
-
Daniil KvyatLap 0
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Kevin MagnussenLap 0
-
Valtteri BottasLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.594 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:26.327. Nico Rosberg was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.