The United States Grand Prix 2016 was the 18th round of the 2016 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, USA, on October 23rd.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Nico Rosberg, and Daniel Ricciardo completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 43 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 8-11: 11 stops
- Laps 13-15: 5 stops
- Laps 24-31: 17 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sergio Pérez's, stopping the clock at 23.350 seconds during his pit stop on lap 10, while the slowest one was was Daniil Kvyat's, who stopped the clock at 37.837 seconds, 14.487 seconds slower than Pérez, during his pit stop on lap 21.
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 1 to 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
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7Esteban Gutiérrez
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2Marcus Ericsson
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2Daniil Kvyat
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6Felipe Nasr
2 stops
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8Valtteri Bottas
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-Daniel Ricciardo
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16Max Verstappen
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-Nico Rosberg
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10Jenson Button
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7Romain Grosjean
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3Sergio Pérez
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-Lewis Hamilton
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4Carlos Sainz
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7Fernando Alonso
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3Pascal Wehrlein
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2Jolyon Palmer
3 stops
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14Kimi Räikkönen
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2Felipe Massa
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6Kevin Magnussen
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2Sebastian Vettel
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4Esteban Ocon
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 3.33 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 2.55 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 3.5 positions on average.
Despite of the average possitons gained or lost, and considering a deeper analysis of the performance of each strategy, we consider the 2 stops strategy as the optimal for this race.
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 4 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Kimi Räikkönen, who had a wheel problem on lap 38, Max Verstappen, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 28, Esteban Gutiérrez, who saw the breaks of the car give up on lap 16, and Nico Hülkenberg, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 1.
Wheel
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Kimi RäikkönenLap 38
Gearbox
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Max VerstappenLap 28
Brakes
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Esteban GutiérrezLap 16
Collision
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Nico HülkenbergLap 1
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.216 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:34.999. Nico Rosberg 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 Red Bull, with Daniel Ricciardo in third position, and Max Verstappen in fourth.
But the team pairings didn't stop there, as the two Ferraris were right behind them, with Kimi Räikkönen in fith position, and Sebastian Vettel in sixth.
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 12 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 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.