The Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2017 was the 8th round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, on June 25th.
Daniel Ricciardo won the race after starting in the 10th position, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and Lance Stroll completing the podium.
Lewis Hamilton started from the pole position, but only managed to finish 5th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 63 pit stops during the race, although only 46 which can be considered "normal". Several red flags on laps 20 and 22 forced all drivers to pit on those laps.
The most popular pit stop windows, considering that these were affected by the red flag, were:
- Laps 11-14: 17 stops
- Laps 17-17: 17 stops
- Laps 33-33: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Kimi Räikkönen's, stopping the clock at 14.943 seconds during his pit stop on lap 33, while the slowest one was was Valtteri Bottas's, who stopped the clock at 36.262 seconds, 21.319 seconds slower than Räikkönen, 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
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 3 to 5 stops.
The race winner, Daniel Ricciardo, was on a 4 stops strategy.
3 stops
-
7Felipe Massa
-
5Kevin Magnussen
-
10Fernando Alonso
-
7Carlos Sainz
-
6Marcus Ericsson
-
5Lance Stroll
-
4Nico Hülkenberg
4 stops
-
-Valtteri Bottas
-
9Daniel Ricciardo
-
6Stoffel Vandoorne
-
4Lewis Hamilton
-
-Sebastian Vettel
-
9Sergio Pérez
-
11Kimi Räikkönen
-
1Esteban Ocon
5 stops
-
3Romain Grosjean
-
4Pascal Wehrlein
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 3 stops strategy gained 6.6 positions on average, the ones on a 4 stops strategy gained 2 positions on average, while those on a 5 stops strategy gained 3.5 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 Daniel Ricciardo managed to win the race making 4 stops.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 20, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
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, Kimi Räikkönen, who had a loss of water pressure on lap 46, Sergio Pérez, who had an issue with the seat of the car on lap 39, Felipe Massa, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 25, Nico Hülkenberg, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 24, Max Verstappen, who suffered a loss in oil pressure on lap 12, Daniil Kvyat, who had a battery failure on lap 9, and Jolyon Palmer, who had a power unit failure on lap 7.
Water pressure
-
Kimi RäikkönenLap 46
Seat
-
Sergio PérezLap 39
Suspension
-
Felipe MassaLap 25
Accident
-
Nico HülkenbergLap 24
Oil pressure
-
Max VerstappenLap 12
Battery
-
Daniil KvyatLap 9
Power Unit
-
Jolyon PalmerLap 7
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.434 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:40.593. Valtteri Bottas 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 Kimi Räikkönen in third position, and Sebastian Vettel 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 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 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.