The Singapore Grand Prix 2017 was the 14th round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore, on September 17th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 5th position, followed by Daniel Ricciardo, and Valtteri Bottas completing the podium.
Sebastian Vettel started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he had to retire due to an accident, and had to retire on lap 0th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 82 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 1-3: 51 stops
- Laps 11-13: 8 stops
- Laps 26-29: 13 stops
- Laps 37-38: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lewis Hamilton's, stopping the clock at 24.337 seconds during his pit stop on lap 3, while the slowest one was was Nico Hülkenberg's, who stopped the clock at 1 minutes, 8.357 seconds, 44.020 seconds slower than Hamilton, during his pit stop on lap 38.
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 3 to 6 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 4 stops strategy.
3 stops
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3Daniil Kvyat
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9Fernando Alonso
4 stops
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4Lewis Hamilton
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3Valtteri Bottas
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6Carlos Sainz
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10Lance Stroll
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6Romain Grosjean
5 stops
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1Daniel Ricciardo
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7Sergio Pérez
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5Jolyon Palmer
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2Stoffel Vandoorne
6 stops
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7Nico Hülkenberg
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4Esteban Ocon
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3Kevin Magnussen
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6Felipe Massa
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5Marcus Ericsson
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7Pascal Wehrlein
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 4 stops strategy gained 5.8 positions on average, the ones on a 5 stops strategy gained 3.75 positions on average, while those on a 6 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 4 stops strategy was the best option.
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
The reace did not end without incidents... 8 drivers out of the original 20 who started did not managed to cross the finish line.
These included, Kevin Magnussen, and Nico Hülkenberg, both suffered an engine malfunction, Marcus Ericsson, Daniil Kvyat, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, and Kimi Räikkönen, all of whom had to retire due to an accident, and Fernando Alonso, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 8.
Engine
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Kevin MagnussenLap 50
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Nico HülkenbergLap 48
Accident
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Marcus EricssonLap 35
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Daniil KvyatLap 10
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Sebastian VettelLap 0
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Max VerstappenLap 0
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Kimi RäikkönenLap 0
Collision damage
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Fernando AlonsoLap 8
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.323 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:39.491. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
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 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.