The Japanese Grand Prix 2013 was the 15th round of the 2013 F1 season, and took place at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan, on October 13th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Mark Webber, who originally had the pole position, and Romain Grosjean completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 48 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 7-14: 17 stops
- Laps 23-32: 16 stops
- Laps 37-40: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Daniel Ricciardo's, stopping the clock at 17.801 seconds during his pit stop on lap 32, while the slowest one was was Sergio Pérez's, who stopped the clock at 27.707 seconds, 9.906 seconds slower than Ricciardo, during his pit stop on lap 30.
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 4 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
17Lewis Hamilton
2 stops
-
4Valtteri Bottas
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8Adrian Sutil
-
7Esteban Gutiérrez
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1Pastor Maldonado
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1Nico Hülkenberg
-
1Paul di Resta
-
4Kimi Räikkönen
-
1Max Chilton
-
1Romain Grosjean
-
4Fernando Alonso
-
1Sebastian Vettel
3 stops
-
2Charles Pic
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5Jean-Éric Vergne
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1Jenson Button
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1Mark Webber
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5Felipe Massa
-
4Sergio Pérez
-
3Daniel Ricciardo
4 stops
-
2Nico Rosberg
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.91 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.14 positions, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 2 positions.
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.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Suzuka Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Lewis Hamilton, who had a puncture that could not be repaired on lap 7, and Giedo van der Garde, and Jules Bianchi, both had to retire due to an accident.
Puncture
-
Lewis HamiltonLap 7
Accident
-
Giedo van der GardeLap 0
-
Jules BianchiLap 0
Qualifying
Mark Webber managed to get the pole position by 0.174 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:30.915. Sebastian Vettel was right behind him, helping Red Bull 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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.