The Chinese Grand Prix 2017 was the 2nd round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China, on April 9th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen completing the podium with an expectacular comeback, all the way from the 16th position of the grid.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 82 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 1-2: 12 stops
- Laps 4-6: 54 stops
- Laps 32-36: 7 stops
The fastest pit stop was Jolyon Palmer's, stopping the clock at 17.291 seconds during his pit stop on lap 4, while the slowest one was was Nico Hülkenberg's, who stopped the clock at 40.144 seconds, 22.853 seconds slower than Palmer, during his pit stop on lap 33.
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 6 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 4 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
1Antonio Giovinazzi
4 stops
-
8Daniil Kvyat
-
3Fernando Alonso
-
1Marcus Ericsson
-
3Stoffel Vandoorne
-
-Lewis Hamilton
-
3Valtteri Bottas
-
1Daniel Ricciardo
-
1Kimi Räikkönen
-
13Max Verstappen
-
4Carlos Sainz
-
7Jolyon Palmer
5 stops
-
5Nico Hülkenberg
-
-Sebastian Vettel
-
4Kevin Magnussen
-
7Esteban Ocon
-
8Romain Grosjean
6 stops
-
8Felipe Massa
-
1Sergio Pérez
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 4 stops strategy gained 2.5 positions on average, the ones on a 5 stops strategy gained 2.8 positions on average, while those on a 6 stops strategy lost an average of 4.5 positions.
Despite of the average possitons gained or lost, and considering a deeper analysis of the performance of each strategy, we consider the 4 stops strategy as the optimal for this race.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Shanghai International Circuit, 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 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Fernando Alonso, who suffered a driveshaft problem on lap 33, Daniil Kvyat, who experienced an hydraulic malfunction on lap 18, Stoffel Vandoorne, who suffered a fuel pressure loss on lap 17, Antonio Giovinazzi, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 3, and Lance Stroll, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 0.
Driveshaft
-
Fernando AlonsoLap 33
Hydraulics
-
Daniil KvyatLap 18
Fuel pressure
-
Stoffel VandoorneLap 17
Accident
-
Antonio GiovinazziLap 3
Collision
-
Lance StrollLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.186 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:31.678. 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 12 out of the 14 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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.