The Bahrain Grand Prix 2014 was the 3rd round of the 2014 F1 season, and took place at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, on April 6th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Nico Rosberg, who originally had the pole position, and Sergio Pérez completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 57 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 10-19: 23 stops
- Laps 24-28: 9 stops
- Laps 33-35: 7 stops
- Laps 37-41: 13 stops
The fastest pit stop was Jules Bianchi's, stopping the clock at 18.989 seconds during his pit stop on lap 18, while the slowest one was was Adrian Sutil's, who stopped the clock at 40.747 seconds, 21.758 seconds slower than Bianchi, during his pit stop on lap 13.
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 2 to 5 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.
2 stops
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7Jean-Éric Vergne
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-Adrian Sutil
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-Marcus Ericsson
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4Esteban Gutiérrez
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6Nico Hülkenberg
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3Kamui Kobayashi
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1Sergio Pérez
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4Sebastian Vettel
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11Jenson Button
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9Daniel Ricciardo
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1Lewis Hamilton
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1Nico Rosberg
3 stops
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5Valtteri Bottas
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1Daniil Kvyat
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8Max Chilton
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-Fernando Alonso
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-Felipe Massa
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5Kimi Räikkönen
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4Romain Grosjean
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10Kevin Magnussen
4 stops
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3Pastor Maldonado
5 stops
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3Jules Bianchi
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 3.29 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.43 positions, the ones on a 4 stops strategy gained 3 positions on average, while those on a 5 stops strategy gained 3 positions on average.
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.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Bahrain International Circuit, 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 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Jenson Button, and Kevin Magnussen, both had a problem with the clutch, Esteban Gutiérrez, and Adrian Sutil, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, and Marcus Ericsson, and Jean-Éric Vergne, both had to retire.
Clutch
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Jenson ButtonLap 55
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Kevin MagnussenLap 40
Collision
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Esteban GutiérrezLap 39
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Adrian SutilLap 17
Retired
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Marcus EricssonLap 33
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Jean-Éric VergneLap 18
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg managed to get the pole position by 0.279 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:33.185. Lewis Hamilton was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
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 15 out of the 16 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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.