The Russian Grand Prix 2016 was the 4th round of the 2016 F1 season, and took place at the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Russia, on May 1st.
Nico Rosberg won the race from the pole, followed by Lewis Hamilton, and Kimi Räikkönen completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 26 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 1-1: 5 stops
- Laps 11-14: 4 stops
- Laps 16-18: 5 stops
- Laps 20-22: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Esteban Gutiérrez's, stopping the clock at 25.037 seconds during his pit stop on lap 9, while the slowest one was was Pascal Wehrlein's, who stopped the clock at 57.151 seconds, 32.114 seconds slower than Gutiérrez, during his pit stop on lap 39.
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 Daniil Kvyat, Daniel Ricciardo, Marcus Ericsson, Sergio Pérez, Esteban Gutiérrez, Pascal Wehrlein and Felipe Massa decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Nico Rosberg, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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1Carlos Sainz
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3Felipe Nasr
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5Jolyon Palmer
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2Valtteri Bottas
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10Kevin Magnussen
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8Lewis Hamilton
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7Romain Grosjean
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-Kimi Räikkönen
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2Jenson Button
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-Nico Rosberg
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8Fernando Alonso
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10Max Verstappen
2 stops
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7Daniil Kvyat
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6Daniel Ricciardo
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8Marcus Ericsson
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3Sergio Pérez
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1Esteban Gutiérrez
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2Pascal Wehrlein
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1Felipe Massa
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 3.64 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1.14 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 Sochi Autodrom, 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 4 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Max Verstappen, who had a power unit failure on lap 33, and Sebastian Vettel, Nico Hülkenberg, and Rio Haryanto, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Power Unit
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Max VerstappenLap 33
Collision
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Sebastian VettelLap 0
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Nico HülkenbergLap 0
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Rio HaryantoLap 0
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg managed to get the pole position by 0.706 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:35.417. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Sebastian Vettel.
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 15 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 7 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.