The Austrian Grand Prix 2019 was the 9th round of the 2019 F1 season, and took place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, on June 30th.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Charles Leclerc, who originally had the pole position, and Valtteri Bottas completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 23 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 21-28: 11 stops
The fastest pit stop was Kevin Magnussen's, stopping the clock at 16.224 seconds during his pit stop on lap 13, while the slowest one was was Lewis Hamilton's, who stopped the clock at 30.067 seconds, 13.843 seconds slower than Magnussen, during his pit stop on lap 30.
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, Max Verstappen, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
3Robert Kubica
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-Valtteri Bottas
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1Charles Leclerc
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3Kimi Räikkönen
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3Antonio Giovinazzi
-
-Lance Stroll
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1Pierre Gasly
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1Lando Norris
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2Nico Hülkenberg
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18George Russell
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2Sergio Pérez
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1Lewis Hamilton
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1Max Verstappen
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1Daniil Kvyat
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5Romain Grosjean
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3Alexander Albon
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11Carlos Sainz
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-Daniel Ricciardo
2 stops
-
5Sebastian Vettel
3 stops
-
9Kevin Magnussen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.89 positions, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 5 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 9 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option, even if Max Verstappen 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 Red Bull Ring, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
This was a clean race. There might have been some minor incidents, but in the end all drivers managed to cross the finish line, and none were disqualified after the race ended..
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.259 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:03.003. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Lewis Hamilton.
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 7 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.