The Belgian Grand Prix 2016 was the 13th round of the 2016 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, on August 28th.
Nico Rosberg won the race from the pole, followed by Daniel Ricciardo, and Lewis Hamilton completing the podium with an expectacular comeback, all the way from the 21st position of the grid.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 51 pit stops during the race, although only 34 which can be considered "normal". A red flag on lap 9 caused all drivers to pit on that lap.
The most popular pit stop windows, considering that these were affected by the red flag, were:
- Laps 1-2: 5 stops
- Laps 5-7: 8 stops
- Laps 21-27: 17 stops
The fastest pit stop was Valtteri Bottas's, stopping the clock at 22.190 seconds during his pit stop on lap 7, while the slowest one was was Kimi Räikkönen's, who stopped the clock at 1 minutes, 27.084 seconds, 1 minutes, 4.894 seconds slower than Bottas, 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 3 stops. Only 3 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 3 drivers tried a 4 stops.
The race winner, Nico Rosberg, was on a 2 stops strategy.
2 stops
-
-Nico Rosberg
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3Daniel Ricciardo
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15Fernando Alonso
3 stops
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1Felipe Nasr
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2Sebastian Vettel
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-Felipe Massa
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3Nico Hülkenberg
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1Sergio Pérez
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2Romain Grosjean
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1Esteban Ocon
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-Valtteri Bottas
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6Esteban Gutiérrez
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18Lewis Hamilton
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5Daniil Kvyat
4 stops
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9Max Verstappen
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6Kimi Räikkönen
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2Jolyon Palmer
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 6 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy gained 2.64 positions on average, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 5.67 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.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 9, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Kevin Magnussen, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 5, Marcus Ericsson, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 3, Carlos Sainz, who had a puncture that could not be repaired on lap 1, and Jenson Button, and Pascal Wehrlein, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Accident
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Kevin MagnussenLap 5
Gearbox
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Marcus EricssonLap 3
Puncture
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Carlos SainzLap 1
Collision damage
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Jenson ButtonLap 1
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Pascal WehrleinLap 0
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg managed to get the pole position by 0.149 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:46.744. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
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 13 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 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.