The Austrian Grand Prix 2017 was the 9th round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, on July 9th.
Valtteri Bottas won the race from the pole, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Daniel Ricciardo 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 33-36: 8 stops
The fastest pit stop was Daniil Kvyat's, stopping the clock at 16.139 seconds during his pit stop on lap 9, while the slowest one was was Daniil Kvyat's, who stopped the clock at 33.607 seconds, 17.468 seconds slower than Kvyat, during his pit stop on lap 1.
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 1 driver tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Valtteri Bottas, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
2Nico Hülkenberg
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4Lewis Hamilton
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1Daniel Ricciardo
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-Sebastian Vettel
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5Jolyon Palmer
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4Marcus Ericsson
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-Sergio Pérez
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8Lance Stroll
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6Pascal Wehrlein
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-Romain Grosjean
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7Carlos Sainz
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-Valtteri Bottas
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1Esteban Ocon
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2Kimi Räikkönen
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8Felipe Massa
2 stops
-
1Stoffel Vandoorne
3 stops
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2Daniil Kvyat
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 2.36 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 2 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.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Red Bull Ring, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 4 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Carlos Sainz, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 44, Kevin Magnussen, who experienced an hydraulic malfunction on lap 29, and Fernando Alonso, and Max Verstappen, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Engine
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Carlos SainzLap 44
Hydraulics
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Kevin MagnussenLap 29
Collision damage
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Fernando AlonsoLap 1
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Max VerstappenLap 0
Qualifying
Valtteri Bottas managed to get the pole position by 0.042 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:04.251. 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 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 5 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.