The Australian Grand Prix 2016 was the 1st round of the 2016 F1 season, and took place at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, on March 20th.
Nico Rosberg won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Lewis Hamilton, who originally had the pole position, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 45 pit stops during the race, although only 27 which can be considered "normal". A red flag on lap 18 caused all drivers to pit on that lap.
The most popular pit stop windows, considering that these were affected by the red flag, were:
- Laps 10-13: 11 stops
- Laps 15-17: 7 stops
- Laps 30-32: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Marcus Ericsson's, stopping the clock at 16.936 seconds during his pit stop on lap 27, while the slowest one was was Max Verstappen's, who stopped the clock at 29.066 seconds, 12.130 seconds slower than Ericsson, during his pit stop on lap 32.
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
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 1 to 3 stops.
The race winner, Nico Rosberg, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
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10Fernando Alonso
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3Rio Haryanto
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13Romain Grosjean
2 stops
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2Felipe Nasr
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1Felipe Massa
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1Nico Rosberg
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2Jolyon Palmer
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14Kimi Räikkönen
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1Lewis Hamilton
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3Nico Hülkenberg
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4Sergio Pérez
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8Valtteri Bottas
3 stops
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2Kevin Magnussen
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2Carlos Sainz
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5Pascal Wehrlein
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2Marcus Ericsson
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4Daniel Ricciardo
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-Sebastian Vettel
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5Max Verstappen
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2Jenson Button
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 13 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.5 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.29 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option, even if Nico Rosberg managed to win the race making 2 stops.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 18, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Marcus Ericsson, and Kimi Räikkönen, both suffered an engine malfunction, Rio Haryanto, who suffered from an unidentified mechanical problem on lap 17, Esteban Gutiérrez, and Fernando Alonso, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, and Daniil Kvyat, who had to retire on lap 0.
Engine
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Marcus EricssonLap 38
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Kimi RäikkönenLap 21
Mechanical
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Rio HaryantoLap 17
Collision
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Esteban GutiérrezLap 16
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Fernando AlonsoLap 16
Retired
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Daniil KvyatLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.36 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:23.837. Nico Rosberg was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Ferrari, with Sebastian Vettel in third position, and Kimi Räikkönen in fourth.
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 13 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
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 8 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.