The Japanese Grand Prix 2017 was the 16th round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan, on October 8th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Max Verstappen, and Daniel Ricciardo completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 22 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 19-23: 7 stops
The fastest pit stop was Max Verstappen's, stopping the clock at 22.620 seconds during his pit stop on lap 21, while the slowest one was was Jolyon Palmer's, who stopped the clock at 25.618 seconds, 2.998 seconds slower than Verstappen, during his pit stop on lap 39.
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 3 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
2Felipe Massa
-
4Kevin Magnussen
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1Esteban Ocon
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2Max Verstappen
-
-Sergio Pérez
-
-Lewis Hamilton
-
4Romain Grosjean
-
-Daniel Ricciardo
-
9Fernando Alonso
-
5Kimi Räikkönen
-
2Valtteri Bottas
-
6Nico Hülkenberg
-
6Jolyon Palmer
2 stops
-
1Lance Stroll
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5Stoffel Vandoorne
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1Pierre Gasly
3 stops
-
2Pascal Wehrlein
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 2.42 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 2 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 2 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop 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 were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Lance Stroll, who had a wheel problem on lap 45, Nico Hülkenberg, who took damage to the front wing on lap 40, Marcus Ericsson, and Carlos Sainz, both had to retire due to an accident, and Sebastian Vettel, who had a problem with the park plugs on lap 4.
Wheel
-
Lance StrollLap 45
Front wing
-
Nico HülkenbergLap 40
Accident
-
Marcus EricssonLap 7
-
Carlos SainzLap 0
Spark plugs
-
Sebastian VettelLap 4
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.332 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:27.319. Valtteri Bottas 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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.