The Brazilian Grand Prix 2015 was the 18th round of the 2015 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 15th.
Nico Rosberg won the race from the pole, followed by Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 49 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 9-15: 17 stops
- Laps 31-35: 10 stops
- Laps 38-41: 6 stops
- Laps 46-49: 4 stops
- Laps 51-55: 8 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lewis Hamilton's, stopping the clock at 22.936 seconds during his pit stop on lap 49, while the slowest one was was Pastor Maldonado's, who stopped the clock at 30.082 seconds, 7.146 seconds slower than Hamilton, during his pit stop on lap 44.
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 3 stops.
The race winner, Nico Rosberg, was on a 3 stops strategy.
2 stops
-
1Nico Hülkenberg
-
1Daniil Kvyat
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2Valtteri Bottas
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-Kimi Räikkönen
-
-Felipe Nasr
-
1Alexander Rossi
-
1Will Stevens
-
5Pastor Maldonado
3 stops
-
8Daniel Ricciardo
-
12Felipe Massa
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1Sergio Pérez
-
6Romain Grosjean
-
-Max Verstappen
-
2Jenson Button
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4Marcus Ericsson
-
-Nico Rosberg
-
-Sebastian Vettel
-
5Fernando Alonso
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-Lewis Hamilton
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.63 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 1.6 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.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, 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, Carlos Sainz, who had to retire on lap 0, and Felipe Massa, who was excluded on lap 70.
Retired
-
Carlos SainzLap 0
Excluded
-
Felipe MassaLap 70
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg managed to get the pole position by 0.078 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:11.282. 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 10 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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.