The Brazilian Grand Prix 2016 was the 20th round of the 2016 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 13th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Nico Rosberg, and Max Verstappen completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 62 pit stops during the race, although only 26 which can be considered "normal". Several red flags on laps 20 and 28 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 7-10: 9 stops
The fastest pit stop was Esteban Gutiérrez's, stopping the clock at 17.835 seconds during his pit stop on lap 47, while the slowest one was was Sebastian Vettel's, who stopped the clock at 29.981 seconds, 12.146 seconds slower than Gutiérrez, during his pit stop on lap 10.
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 1 to 5 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
1Marcus Ericsson
2 stops
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3Jolyon Palmer
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-Lewis Hamilton
-
-Nico Rosberg
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5Sergio Pérez
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9Carlos Sainz
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12Felipe Nasr
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10Esteban Ocon
3 stops
-
-Fernando Alonso
-
-Sebastian Vettel
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1Nico Hülkenberg
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4Pascal Wehrlein
4 stops
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4Kevin Magnussen
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-Valtteri Bottas
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5Felipe Massa
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1Daniil Kvyat
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5Esteban Gutiérrez
5 stops
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1Jenson Button
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1Max Verstappen
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2Daniel Ricciardo
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 1.25 positions on average, the ones on a 4 stops strategy gained 1.67 positions on average, while those on a 5 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any 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.
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
There were some incidents during the race, with 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Esteban Gutiérrez, who had to retire on lap 60, Felipe Massa, Kimi Räikkönen, and Marcus Ericsson, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Jolyon Palmer, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 20, and Romain Grosjean, who withdrew on lap 0.
Retired
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Esteban GutiérrezLap 60
Collision
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Felipe MassaLap 46
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Kimi RäikkönenLap 19
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Marcus EricssonLap 11
Collision damage
-
Jolyon PalmerLap 20
Withdrew
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Romain GrosjeanLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.102 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:10.736. Nico Rosberg 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 14 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.