The Monaco Grand Prix 2017 was the 6th round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, on May 28th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Kimi Räikkönen, who originally had the pole position, 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 32-43: 18 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lewis Hamilton's, stopping the clock at 24.155 seconds during his pit stop on lap 46, while the slowest one was was Sergio Pérez's, who stopped the clock at 35.485 seconds, 11.330 seconds slower than Hamilton, during his pit stop on lap 72.
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 5 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 2 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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1Pascal Wehrlein
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1Valtteri Bottas
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1Kimi Räikkönen
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2Marcus Ericsson
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5Daniil Kvyat
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-Carlos Sainz
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2Daniel Ricciardo
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1Sebastian Vettel
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-Romain Grosjean
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5Jolyon Palmer
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4Stoffel Vandoorne
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6Lewis Hamilton
2 stops
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2Jenson Button
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1Max Verstappen
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1Kevin Magnussen
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5Felipe Massa
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2Lance Stroll
3 stops
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6Sergio Pérez
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3Esteban Ocon
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.5 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.67 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 1.5 positions.
Despite of the average possitons gained or lost, and considering a deeper analysis of the performance of each strategy, we consider the 1 stop strategy as the optimal for this race.
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
The reace did not end without incidents... 7 drivers out of the original 20 who started did not managed to cross the finish line.
These included, Daniil Kvyat, and Jenson Button, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Lance Stroll, who saw the breaks of the car give up on lap 71, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Marcus Ericsson, both had to retire due to an accident, Pascal Wehrlein, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 57, and Nico Hülkenberg, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 15.
Collision damage
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Daniil KvyatLap 71
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Jenson ButtonLap 57
Brakes
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Lance StrollLap 71
Accident
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Stoffel VandoorneLap 66
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Marcus EricssonLap 63
Collision
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Pascal WehrleinLap 57
Gearbox
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Nico HülkenbergLap 15
Qualifying
Kimi Räikkönen managed to get the pole position by 0.043 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:12.178. Sebastian Vettel was right behind him, helping Ferrari 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 12 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 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.