The Mexican Grand Prix 2015 was the 17th round of the 2015 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico, on November 1st.
Nico Rosberg won the race from the pole, followed by Lewis Hamilton, and Valtteri Bottas completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 38 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 8-13: 8 stops
- Laps 24-28: 6 stops
- Laps 50-53: 13 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 22.156 seconds during his pit stop on lap 35, while the slowest one was was Alexander Rossi's, who stopped the clock at 30.442 seconds, 8.286 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 50.
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 1 driver tried a 1 stop, and 3 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Nico Rosberg, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
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1Sergio Pérez
2 stops
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15Sebastian Vettel
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3Valtteri Bottas
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1Felipe Massa
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3Nico Hülkenberg
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2Pastor Maldonado
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2Romain Grosjean
-
-Daniil Kvyat
-
-Daniel Ricciardo
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1Max Verstappen
-
-Nico Rosberg
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1Will Stevens
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1Alexander Rossi
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-Lewis Hamilton
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6Jenson Button
3 stops
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2Marcus Ericsson
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2Felipe Nasr
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2Carlos Sainz
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 1 positions, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.38 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average.
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 Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 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 4 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Felipe Nasr, who saw the breaks of the car give up on lap 57, Sebastian Vettel, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 50, Kimi Räikkönen, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 21, and Fernando Alonso, who had to retire on lap 1.
Brakes
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Felipe NasrLap 57
Accident
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Sebastian VettelLap 50
Collision
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Kimi RäikkönenLap 21
Retired
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Fernando AlonsoLap 1
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg managed to get the pole position by 0.188 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:19.480. 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 13 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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.