The Mexican Grand Prix 2016 was the 19th round of the 2016 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico, on October 30th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Nico Rosberg, and Daniel Ricciardo completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 28 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 11-17: 12 stops
- Laps 19-20: 4 stops
- Laps 47-51: 6 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lewis Hamilton's, stopping the clock at 21.709 seconds during his pit stop on lap 17, while the slowest one was was Marcus Ericsson's, who stopped the clock at 32.608 seconds, 10.899 seconds slower than Hamilton, during his pit stop on lap 1.
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 Daniel Ricciardo, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen, Esteban Gutiérrez, Daniil Kvyat, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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7Jolyon Palmer
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4Marcus Ericsson
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1Max Verstappen
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6Carlos Sainz
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2Nico Hülkenberg
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-Felipe Massa
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1Esteban Ocon
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-Lewis Hamilton
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1Jenson Button
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-Valtteri Bottas
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-Nico Rosberg
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2Sergio Pérez
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2Sebastian Vettel
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4Felipe Nasr
2 stops
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1Daniel Ricciardo
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2Romain Grosjean
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3Kevin Magnussen
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2Esteban Gutiérrez
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-Daniil Kvyat
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2Fernando Alonso
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-Kimi Räikkönen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.71 positions, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.57 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.
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 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, .
Collision
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Pascal WehrleinLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.254 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:18.704. Nico Rosberg 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 Red Bull, with Max Verstappen in third position, and Daniel Ricciardo 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 13 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.