The Japanese Grand Prix 2019 was the 17th round of the 2019 F1 season, and took place at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan, on October 13th.
Valtteri Bottas won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, who originally had the pole position, and Lewis Hamilton completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 31 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 15-19: 11 stops
- Laps 25-27: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sergio Pérez's, stopping the clock at 22.880 seconds during his pit stop on lap 19, while the slowest one was was Charles Leclerc's, who stopped the clock at 30.502 seconds, 7.622 seconds slower than Pérez, 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
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 1 to 3 stops.
The race winner, Valtteri Bottas, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
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3Romain Grosjean
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3Lance Stroll
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2Pierre Gasly
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5Nico Hülkenberg
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2George Russell
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2Carlos Sainz
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4Daniil Kvyat
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3Daniel Ricciardo
2 stops
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3Lando Norris
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1Kimi Räikkönen
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2Alexander Albon
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1Sebastian Vettel
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2Valtteri Bottas
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4Kevin Magnussen
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3Antonio Giovinazzi
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9Sergio Pérez
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1Lewis Hamilton
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17Robert Kubica
3 stops
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4Charles Leclerc
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.67 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.5 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 4 positions.
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, even if Valtteri Bottas managed to win the race making 2 stops.
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, .
Brakes
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Max VerstappenLap 14
There was also action outise of the track itself, and the stwearts decided to disqualify 2 drivers.
Disqualified
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Daniel RicciardoLap 51
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Nico HülkenbergLap 51
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.189 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:27.064. Charles Leclerc was right behind him, helping Ferrari score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Mercedes, with Valtteri Bottas in third position, and Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
But the team pairings didn't stop there, as the two Red Bulls were right behind them, with Max Verstappen in fith position, and Alexander Albon in sixth.
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 15 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.