The Japanese Grand Prix 2014 was the 15th round of the 2014 F1 season, and took place at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan, on October 5th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Nico Rosberg, who originally had the pole position, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 79 pit stops during the race, although only 57 which can be considered "normal". A red flag on lap 2 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 11-15: 20 stops
- Laps 21-26: 11 stops
- Laps 31-40: 17 stops
- Laps 42-43: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 23.443 seconds during his pit stop on lap 29, while the slowest one was was Kevin Magnussen's, who stopped the clock at 33.215 seconds, 9.772 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 15.
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, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
17Fernando Alonso
3 stops
-
1Lewis Hamilton
-
1Nico Rosberg
-
3Felipe Massa
-
6Sebastian Vettel
-
2Daniel Ricciardo
-
11Jean-Éric Vergne
-
3Max Chilton
-
2Esteban Gutiérrez
-
3Valtteri Bottas
-
2Jules Bianchi
4 stops
-
7Adrian Sutil
-
3Jenson Button
-
5Nico Hülkenberg
-
6Pastor Maldonado
-
1Sergio Pérez
-
1Daniil Kvyat
-
-Marcus Ericsson
5 stops
-
2Kimi Räikkönen
-
1Romain Grosjean
-
-Kamui Kobayashi
-
7Kevin Magnussen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 3 stops strategy gained 2 positions on average, the ones on a 4 stops strategy gained 2.67 positions on average, while those on a 5 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 4 stops strategy was the best option, even if Lewis Hamilton managed to win the race making 3 stops.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 2, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
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, Jules Bianchi, and Adrian Sutil, both had to retire due to an accident, and Fernando Alonso, who experienced problems with the electornics of the car on lap 2.
Accident
-
Jules BianchiLap 41
-
Adrian SutilLap 40
Electronics
-
Fernando AlonsoLap 2
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg managed to get the pole position by 0.197 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:32.506. Lewis Hamilton was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Williams, with Valtteri Bottas in third position, and Felipe Massa in fourth.
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 16 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 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.