The Canadian Grand Prix 2014 was the 7th round of the 2014 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada, on June 8th.
Daniel Ricciardo won the race after starting in the 6th position, followed by Nico Rosberg, who originally had the pole position, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 33 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 13-19: 12 stops
- Laps 34-41: 9 stops
- Laps 44-46: 6 stops
The fastest pit stop was Daniel Ricciardo's, stopping the clock at 23.274 seconds during his pit stop on lap 37, while the slowest one was was Felipe Massa's, who stopped the clock at 27.949 seconds, 4.675 seconds slower than Ricciardo, during his pit stop on lap 15.
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 2 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Daniel Ricciardo, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
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2Sergio Pérez
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6Nico Hülkenberg
2 stops
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1Romain Grosjean
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5Daniel Ricciardo
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3Valtteri Bottas
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5Jenson Button
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-Sebastian Vettel
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7Felipe Massa
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-Jean-Éric Vergne
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3Kevin Magnussen
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3Adrian Sutil
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1Fernando Alonso
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-Kimi Räikkönen
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1Nico Rosberg
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15Lewis Hamilton
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1Daniil Kvyat
3 stops
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8Esteban Gutiérrez
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 6 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.3 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 Daniel Ricciardo managed to win the race making 2 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
The reace did not end without incidents... 11 drivers out of the original 22 who started did not managed to cross the finish line.
These included, Sergio Pérez, Felipe Massa, Max Chilton, and Jules Bianchi, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Esteban Gutiérrez, who experienced an ERS failure on lap 64, Romain Grosjean, who took damage to the rear wing of the car on lap 59, Daniil Kvyat, who had a mechanical issue related to the drivetrain on lap 47, Lewis Hamilton, who saw the breaks of the car give up on lap 46, Kamui Kobayashi, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 23, Pastor Maldonado, who had a power unit failure on lap 21, and Marcus Ericsson, who had a turbo failure on lap 7.
Collision
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Sergio PérezLap 69
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Felipe MassaLap 69
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Max ChiltonLap 0
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Jules BianchiLap 0
ERS
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Esteban GutiérrezLap 64
Rear wing
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Romain GrosjeanLap 59
Drivetrain
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Daniil KvyatLap 47
Brakes
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Lewis HamiltonLap 46
Suspension
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Kamui KobayashiLap 23
Power Unit
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Pastor MaldonadoLap 21
Turbo
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Marcus EricssonLap 7
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg managed to get the pole position by 0.079 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:14.874. 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 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.