The Singapore Grand Prix 2015 was the 13th round of the 2015 F1 season, and took place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore, on September 20th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Daniel Ricciardo, and Kimi Räikkönen completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 42 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 9-14: 21 stops
- Laps 26-29: 5 stops
- Laps 36-37: 11 stops
The fastest pit stop was Felipe Massa's, stopping the clock at 24.415 seconds during his pit stop on lap 29, while the slowest one was was Jenson Button's, who stopped the clock at 1 minutes, 5.317 seconds, 40.902 seconds slower than Massa, during his pit stop on lap 13.
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 3 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 5 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
5Fernando Alonso
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9Nico Hülkenberg
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13Lewis Hamilton
2 stops
-
3Romain Grosjean
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2Daniil Kvyat
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-Max Verstappen
-
-Sebastian Vettel
-
-Daniel Ricciardo
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
-
2Nico Rosberg
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2Valtteri Bottas
-
6Sergio Pérez
-
6Felipe Nasr
-
6Alexander Rossi
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4Will Stevens
3 stops
-
5Carlos Sainz
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6Marcus Ericsson
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6Pastor Maldonado
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10Felipe Massa
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1Jenson Button
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 2.18 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 5.67 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option, even if Sebastian Vettel managed to win the race making 2 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, 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 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Romain Grosjean, who experienced issues with a tyre on lap 59, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, and Felipe Massa, all of whom experienced issues with the gearbox, Lewis Hamilton, who had a throttle issue on lap 32, and Nico Hülkenberg, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 12.
Tyre
-
Romain GrosjeanLap 59
Gearbox
-
Jenson ButtonLap 52
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Fernando AlonsoLap 33
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Felipe MassaLap 30
Throttle
-
Lewis HamiltonLap 32
Collision
-
Nico HülkenbergLap 12
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.543 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:43.885. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Daniel Ricciardo.
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 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.