The Spanish Grand Prix 2021 was the 4th round of the 2021 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain, during the weekend of the 7th to the 9th of May.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Max Verstappen, and Valtteri Bottas completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 37 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 21-25: 11 stops
- Laps 27-28: 5 stops
- Laps 37-39: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sergio Pérez's, stopping the clock at 21.345 seconds during his pit stop on lap 57, while the slowest one was was Antonio Giovinazzi's, who stopped the clock at 54.673 seconds, 33.328 seconds slower than Pérez, during his pit stop on lap 8.
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 2 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
4Esteban Ocon
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5Kimi Räikkönen
2 stops
-
1Antonio Giovinazzi
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1George Russell
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2Pierre Gasly
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7Fernando Alonso
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-Sebastian Vettel
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1Carlos Sainz
-
-Lance Stroll
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1Nikita Mazepin
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-Valtteri Bottas
-
1Lando Norris
-
-Mick Schumacher
-
-Max Verstappen
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1Daniel Ricciardo
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3Sergio Pérez
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-Lewis Hamilton
-
-Charles Leclerc
3 stops
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3Nicholas Latifi
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.5 positions, the ones on a 2 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 3 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 Lewis Hamilton 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 Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 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 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, .
Electrical
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Yuki TsunodaLap 6
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.036 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:16.741. 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 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.