The Brazilian Grand Prix 2019 was the 20th round of the 2019 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 17th.
Max Verstappen won the race from the pole, followed by Pierre Gasly, and Carlos Sainz completing the podium with an expectacular comeback, all the way from the 20th position of the grid.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 45 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 20-29: 18 stops
- Laps 43-47: 8 stops
- Laps 53-54: 8 stops
- Laps 65-66: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was George Russell's, stopping the clock at 22.441 seconds during his pit stop on lap 66, while the slowest one was was Daniel Ricciardo's, who stopped the clock at 30.760 seconds, 8.319 seconds slower than Russell, during his pit stop on lap 8.
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, 4 drivers tried a 3 stops, and 1 driver tried a 4 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
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17Carlos Sainz
2 stops
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5Daniel Ricciardo
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6Sergio Pérez
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7Antonio Giovinazzi
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4Kimi Räikkönen
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4Pierre Gasly
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6Daniil Kvyat
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9Alexander Albon
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15Sebastian Vettel
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6Romain Grosjean
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16Valtteri Bottas
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2Kevin Magnussen
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2Lando Norris
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2Lance Stroll
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4Charles Leclerc
3 stops
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4Lewis Hamilton
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-Max Verstappen
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6George Russell
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2Nico Hülkenberg
4 stops
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3Robert Kubica
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 17 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.7 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average, while those on a 4 stops strategy gained 3 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option, even if Max Verstappen managed to win the race making 3 stops.
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, Sebastian Vettel, and Charles Leclerc, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Lance Stroll, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 65, and Valtteri Bottas, who had a power unit failure on lap 51.
Collision
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Sebastian VettelLap 65
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Charles LeclercLap 65
Suspension
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Lance StrollLap 65
Power Unit
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Valtteri BottasLap 51
Qualifying
Max Verstappen dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.123 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:07.508. 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 5 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.