The United States Grand Prix 2014 was the 17th round of the 2014 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, USA, on November 2nd.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Nico Rosberg, who originally had the pole position, and Daniel Ricciardo completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 36 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 1-2: 6 stops
- Laps 14-17: 10 stops
- Laps 26-35: 11 stops
- Laps 40-43: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Jenson Button's, stopping the clock at 23.546 seconds during his pit stop on lap 28, while the slowest one was was Nico Hülkenberg's, who stopped the clock at 33.427 seconds, 9.881 seconds slower than Button, during his pit stop on lap 1.
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 1 driver tried a 1 stop, 3 drivers tried a 3 stops, and 1 driver tried a 4 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
3Nico Hülkenberg
2 stops
-
1Kevin Magnussen
-
-Jenson Button
-
-Felipe Massa
-
2Daniel Ricciardo
-
1Nico Rosberg
-
2Valtteri Bottas
-
1Pastor Maldonado
-
4Jean-Éric Vergne
-
1Lewis Hamilton
-
-Fernando Alonso
-
5Romain Grosjean
3 stops
-
1Esteban Gutiérrez
-
5Kimi Räikkönen
-
2Daniil Kvyat
4 stops
-
11Sebastian Vettel
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.82 positions, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.67 positions, while those on a 4 stops strategy gained 11 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, 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 of the Americas, 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 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Nico Hülkenberg, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 16, Sergio Pérez, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 1, and Adrian Sutil, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 0.
Engine
-
Nico HülkenbergLap 16
Collision damage
-
Sergio PérezLap 1
Collision
-
Adrian SutilLap 0
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg managed to get the pole position by 0.376 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:36.067. Lewis Hamilton was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Williams, with Valtteri Bottas in third position, and Felipe Massa in fourth.
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 14 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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.