The Brazilian Grand Prix 2017 was the 19th round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 12th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Valtteri Bottas, who originally had the pole position, and Kimi Räikkönen completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 69 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 1-3: 51 stops
- Laps 27-31: 10 stops
- Laps 43-44: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Fernando Alonso's, stopping the clock at 17.716 seconds during his pit stop on lap 3, while the slowest one was was Romain Grosjean's, who stopped the clock at 34.438 seconds, 16.722 seconds slower than Alonso, during his pit stop on lap 48.
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 4 stops. Only 1 driver tried a 3 stops, and 2 drivers tried a 5 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 4 stops strategy.
3 stops
-
1Pascal Wehrlein
4 stops
-
1Sebastian Vettel
-
1Valtteri Bottas
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
-
2Fernando Alonso
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2Felipe Massa
-
4Sergio Pérez
-
3Nico Hülkenberg
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3Carlos Sainz
-
7Pierre Gasly
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4Marcus Ericsson
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1Brendon Hartley
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4Romain Grosjean
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16Lewis Hamilton
-
8Daniel Ricciardo
5 stops
-
1Max Verstappen
-
-Lance Stroll
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions, the ones on a 4 stops strategy gained 1.62 positions on average, while those on a 5 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 4 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, Brendon Hartley, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 40, and Esteban Ocon, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Kevin Magnussen, all of whom had to retire due to an accident.
Engine
-
Brendon HartleyLap 40
Accident
-
Esteban OconLap 0
-
Stoffel VandoorneLap 0
-
Kevin MagnussenLap 0
Qualifying
Valtteri Bottas managed to get the pole position by 0.038 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:08.322. 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
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.