The Japanese Grand Prix 2015 was the 14th round of the 2015 F1 season, and took place at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan, on September 27th.
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 45 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 8-16: 16 stops
- Laps 26-34: 17 stops
The fastest pit stop was Kimi Räikkönen's, stopping the clock at 22.584 seconds during his pit stop on lap 28, while the slowest one was was Carlos Sainz's, who stopped the clock at 39.345 seconds, 16.761 seconds slower than Räikkönen, during his pit stop on lap 27.
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 2 stops. Only Sergio Pérez, Felipe Massa, Daniil Kvyat, Nico Hülkenberg and Will Stevens decided to try something different with a 3 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.
2 stops
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8Daniel Ricciardo
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1Fernando Alonso
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8Max Verstappen
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4Felipe Nasr
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2Jenson Button
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2Valtteri Bottas
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1Romain Grosjean
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3Pastor Maldonado
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1Sebastian Vettel
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1Marcus Ericsson
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2Kimi Räikkönen
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-Carlos Sainz
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1Nico Rosberg
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1Lewis Hamilton
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1Alexander Rossi
3 stops
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3Sergio Pérez
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12Felipe Massa
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7Daniil Kvyat
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7Nico Hülkenberg
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1Will Stevens
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.43 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.4 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 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, .
Retired
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Felipe NasrLap 49
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg managed to get the pole position by 0.076 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:32.584. Lewis Hamilton was right behind him, helping Mercedes 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.