The Italian Grand Prix 2017 was the 13th round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy, on September 3rd.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 21 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 15-21: 7 stops
- Laps 30-34: 6 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lewis Hamilton's, stopping the clock at 23.725 seconds during his pit stop on lap 32, while the slowest one was was Max Verstappen's, who stopped the clock at 39.888 seconds, 16.163 seconds slower than Hamilton, during his pit stop on lap 3.
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 Romain Grosjean and Max Verstappen decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
1Nico Hülkenberg
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2Kevin Magnussen
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1Carlos Sainz
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-Kimi Räikkönen
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3Esteban Ocon
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5Lance Stroll
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7Marcus Ericsson
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4Daniil Kvyat
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4Pascal Wehrlein
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1Felipe Massa
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3Jolyon Palmer
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2Fernando Alonso
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3Sebastian Vettel
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-Lewis Hamilton
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1Sergio Pérez
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2Valtteri Bottas
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12Daniel Ricciardo
2 stops
-
5Romain Grosjean
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3Max Verstappen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.07 positions, while those on a 2 stops strategy gained 4 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 Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, 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, Fernando Alonso, and Marcus Ericsson, both experienced issues with the gearbox, and Stoffel Vandoorne, and Jolyon Palmer, both suffered an engine malfunction.
Gearbox
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Fernando AlonsoLap 50
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Marcus EricssonLap 49
Engine
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Stoffel VandoorneLap 33
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Jolyon PalmerLap 29
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 1.148 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:35.554. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
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. That being said, the changing conditions of the track made it difficult to find these limits, and only 1 driver was able to improve his Q2 times.