The Belgian Grand Prix 2017 was the 12th round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, on August 27th.
Lewis Hamilton 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 40 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 8-15: 15 stops
- Laps 17-19: 4 stops
- Laps 29-30: 17 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lewis Hamilton's, stopping the clock at 22.037 seconds during his pit stop on lap 12, while the slowest one was was Kimi Räikkönen's, who stopped the clock at 30.373 seconds, 8.336 seconds slower than Hamilton, during his pit stop on lap 17.
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 2 stops. Only 1 driver tried a 1 stop, and 5 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
8Fernando Alonso
2 stops
-
1Jolyon Palmer
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4Lance Stroll
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4Romain Grosjean
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1Nico Hülkenberg
-
8Felipe Massa
-
-Lewis Hamilton
-
2Valtteri Bottas
-
-Sebastian Vettel
-
3Daniel Ricciardo
-
7Daniil Kvyat
-
6Stoffel Vandoorne
-
3Carlos Sainz
3 stops
-
1Marcus Ericsson
-
3Kevin Magnussen
-
-Esteban Ocon
-
9Sergio Pérez
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 2.92 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.5 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.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, 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, Sergio Pérez, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 42, Fernando Alonso, and Max Verstappen, both suffered an engine malfunction, and Pascal Wehrlein, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 2.
Gearbox
-
Sergio PérezLap 42
Engine
-
Fernando AlonsoLap 25
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Max VerstappenLap 7
Collision
-
Pascal WehrleinLap 2
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.242 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:42.553. 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 13 out of the 14 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.