The Canadian Grand Prix 2015 was the 7th round of the 2015 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada, on June 7th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Nico Rosberg, and Valtteri Bottas completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 23 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 26-31: 11 stops
The fastest pit stop was Jenson Button's, stopping the clock at 18.057 seconds during his pit stop on lap 1, while the slowest one was was Max Verstappen's, who stopped the clock at 36.105 seconds, 18.048 seconds slower than Button, during his pit stop on lap 39.
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 1 stop. Only Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
1Pastor Maldonado
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4Daniel Ricciardo
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1Sergio Pérez
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2Felipe Nasr
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5Romain Grosjean
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1Daniil Kvyat
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1Carlos Sainz
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1Nico Hülkenberg
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1Valtteri Bottas
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2Marcus Ericsson
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-Lewis Hamilton
-
-Nico Rosberg
-
7Fernando Alonso
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-Will Stevens
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2Roberto Merhi
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9Felipe Massa
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4Max Verstappen
2 stops
-
1Jenson Button
-
13Sebastian Vettel
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1Kimi Räikkönen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.27 positions, while those on a 2 stops strategy gained 6 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, even if Lewis Hamilton managed to win the race making 1 stop.
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
There were some incidents during the race, with 4 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Roberto Merhi, and Jenson Button, both had to retire, and Fernando Alonso, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 44.
Retired
-
Roberto MerhiLap 57
-
Jenson ButtonLap 54
Engine
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Fernando AlonsoLap 44
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.309 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:14.393. 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 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.