The Australian Grand Prix 2017 was the 1st round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, on March 26th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Lewis Hamilton, who originally had the pole position, and Valtteri Bottas completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 20 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 15-18: 7 stops
The fastest pit stop was Valtteri Bottas's, stopping the clock at 21.440 seconds during his pit stop on lap 25, while the slowest one was was Stoffel Vandoorne's, who stopped the clock at 39.562 seconds, 18.122 seconds slower than Bottas, during his pit stop on lap 9.
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 Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll, Nico Hülkenberg and Daniil Kvyat decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
5Stoffel Vandoorne
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3Esteban Ocon
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4Antonio Giovinazzi
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2Fernando Alonso
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1Lewis Hamilton
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3Sergio Pérez
-
-Carlos Sainz
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1Felipe Massa
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1Sebastian Vettel
-
-Valtteri Bottas
-
-Max Verstappen
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
2 stops
-
2Kevin Magnussen
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4Lance Stroll
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-Nico Hülkenberg
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-Daniil Kvyat
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.45 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average.
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.
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 20 who started did not managed to cross the finish line.
These included, Fernando Alonso, who suffered from unhandable vibrations on lap 50, Kevin Magnussen, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 46, Lance Stroll, and Jolyon Palmer, both saw the breaks of the car give up, Daniel Ricciardo, who had a power unit failure on lap 25, Marcus Ericsson, who experienced an hydraulic malfunction on lap 21, and Romain Grosjean, who suffered a water leak on lap 13.
Vibrations
-
Fernando AlonsoLap 50
Suspension
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Kevin MagnussenLap 46
Brakes
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Lance StrollLap 40
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Jolyon PalmerLap 15
Power Unit
-
Daniel RicciardoLap 25
Hydraulics
-
Marcus EricssonLap 21
Water leak
-
Romain GrosjeanLap 13
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.268 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:22.188. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Sebastian Vettel.
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 12 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.