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The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 2021 was the 2nd round of the 2021 F1 season, and took place at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy, during the weekend of the 16th to the 18th of April.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Lewis Hamilton, who originally had the pole position, and Lando Norris completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 56 pit stops during the race, although only 39 which can be considered "normal". A red flag on lap 32 caused all drivers to pit on that lap.
The most popular pit stop windows, considering that these were affected by the red flag, were:
- Laps 20-23: 4 stops
- Laps 25-28: 16 stops
- Laps 31-33: 13 stops
The fastest pit stop was Antonio Giovinazzi's, stopping the clock at 29.742 seconds during his pit stop on lap 40, while the slowest one was was Lewis Hamilton's, who stopped the clock at 1 minutes, 5.870 seconds, 36.128 seconds slower than Giovinazzi, 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 5 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
7George Russell
-
10Valtteri Bottas
2 stops
-
-Daniel Ricciardo
-
2Max Verstappen
-
6Carlos Sainz
-
9Sergio Pérez
-
-Charles Leclerc
-
4Lando Norris
3 stops
-
8Yuki Tsunoda
-
3Kimi Räikkönen
-
2Lance Stroll
-
5Fernando Alonso
4 stops
-
2Mick Schumacher
-
2Nikita Mazepin
-
2Pierre Gasly
-
3Antonio Giovinazzi
-
1Lewis Hamilton
5 stops
-
-Esteban Ocon
-
15Sebastian Vettel
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.5 positions, the ones on a 3 stops strategy gained 4.5 positions on average, the ones on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 0.8 positions, while those on a 5 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option, even if Max Verstappen managed to win the race making 2 stops.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 32, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 4 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Sebastian Vettel, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 61, and Valtteri Bottas, George Russell, and Nicholas Latifi, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Gearbox
-
Sebastian VettelLap 61
Collision
-
Valtteri BottasLap 30
-
George RussellLap 30
-
Nicholas LatifiLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.035 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:14.411. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Sergio Pérez.
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 14 out of the 15 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 7 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.