The Monaco Grand Prix 2015 was the 6th round of the 2015 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, on May 24th.
Nico Rosberg won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton, who originally had the pole position, 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 35-39: 10 stops
- Laps 64-65: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Kimi Räikkönen's, stopping the clock at 24.177 seconds during his pit stop on lap 37, while the slowest one was was Max Verstappen's, who stopped the clock at 52.821 seconds, 28.644 seconds slower than Räikkönen, during his pit stop on lap 29.
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, Nico Rosberg, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
10Carlos Sainz
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3Romain Grosjean
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1Daniil Kvyat
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6Fernando Alonso
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1Will Stevens
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3Roberto Merhi
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1Sebastian Vettel
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1Nico Rosberg
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
2 stops
-
-Nico Hülkenberg
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2Valtteri Bottas
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5Felipe Nasr
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9Max Verstappen
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2Jenson Button
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1Daniel Ricciardo
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-Sergio Pérez
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2Lewis Hamilton
3 stops
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3Felipe Massa
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4Marcus Ericsson
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.86 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.5 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, even if Nico Rosberg managed to win the race making 1 stop.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit de Monaco, 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, Max Verstappen, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 62, Fernando Alonso, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 41, and Pastor Maldonado, who saw the breaks of the car give up on lap 5.
Accident
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Max VerstappenLap 62
Gearbox
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Fernando AlonsoLap 41
Brakes
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Pastor MaldonadoLap 5
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.342 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:15.098. Nico Rosberg 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 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 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.