2016 Monaco Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

2016 Monaco Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

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For the second year in a row the early leader of the Monaco Grand Prix lost their chance for victory in the pits.

While 12 months ago Lewis Hamilton made an unnecessary visit to the pits during a Safety Car period, this time Red Bull weren’t ready in time to get Daniel Ricciardo back on track in the lead.

The RB12 sat in the pit box for an agonising ten seconds while the mechanics hurried to get super-soft tyres on Ricciardo’s car. He rejoined the track just asHamilton was passing by.

The Mercedes driver avenged his lost win of last year, but it was a cruel outcome for Ricciardo.

2016 Monaco Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1Stint 2Stint 3Stint 4Stint 5
Lewis HamiltonWet (31)Ultra soft (47)
Daniel RicciardoWet (23)Intermediate (9)Super soft (46)
Sergio PerezWet (21)Intermediate (9)Soft (48)
Sebastian VettelWet (13)Intermediate (18)Soft (47)
Fernando AlonsoWet (14)Intermediate (18)Super soft (46)
Nico HulkenbergWet (15)Intermediate (16)Soft (47)
Nico RosbergWet (20)Intermediate (11)Ultra soft (47)
Carlos Sainz JnrWet (21)Intermediate (10)Super soft (46)
Jenson ButtonWet (8)Intermediate (22)Super soft (47)
Felipe MassaWet (20)Intermediate (12)Super soft (45)
Valtteri BottasWet (15)Intermediate (15)Super soft (19)Ultra soft (28)
Esteban GutierrezWet (16)Intermediate (16)Ultra soft (45)
Pascal WehrleinWet (31)Ultra soft (45)
Romain GrosjeanWet (15)Intermediate (15)Ultra soft (46)
Rio HaryantoWet (11)Intermediate (23)Ultra soft (13)Ultra soft (27)
Marcus EricssonWet (11)Intermediate (18)Ultra soft (20)Ultra soft (2)
Felipe NasrWet (8)Intermediate (24)Ultra soft (16)
Max VerstappenWet (12)Intermediate (19)Soft (3)
Kevin MagnussenWet (7)Intermediate (14)Intermediate (8)Super soft (3)
Daniil KvyatWet (7)Intermediate (11)
Kimi RaikkonenWet (10)
Jolyon PalmerWet (7)

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2016 Monaco Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Valtteri BottasWilliams24.67349
2Felipe MassaWilliams24.9340.26120
3Daniel RicciardoRed Bull25.0540.38123
4Romain GrosjeanHaas25.1110.43830
5Sebastian VettelFerrari25.1140.44113
6Felipe MassaWilliams25.1820.50932
7Nico HulkenbergForce India25.2150.54215
8Jenson ButtonMcLaren25.4500.77730
9Max VerstappenRed Bull25.4590.78631
10Valtteri BottasWilliams25.4780.80530
11Fernando AlonsoMcLaren25.5120.83914
12Sebastian VettelFerrari25.5610.88831
13Kevin MagnussenRenault25.5830.9107
14Max VerstappenRed Bull25.6040.93112
15Sergio PerezForce India25.6080.93530
16Sergio PerezForce India25.7141.04121
17Jenson ButtonMcLaren25.7661.0938
18Kevin MagnussenRenault25.8791.20629
19Esteban GutierrezHaas26.0441.37116
20Rio HaryantoManor26.2921.61947
21Lewis HamiltonMercedes26.3151.64231
22Marcus EricssonSauber26.4351.76229
23Pascal WehrleinManor26.5171.84431
24Nico RosbergMercedes26.6982.02520
25Fernando AlonsoMcLaren26.8362.16332
26Nico HulkenbergForce India27.0642.39131
27Felipe NasrSauber27.1662.49332
28Marcus EricssonSauber27.1762.50311
29Valtteri BottasWilliams27.3642.69115
30Rio HaryantoManor27.3802.70734
31Esteban GutierrezHaas27.4072.73432
32Nico RosbergMercedes27.6803.00731
33Daniil KvyatToro Rosso27.6983.0257
34Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso27.7383.06521
35Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso28.1123.43931
36Felipe NasrSauber28.2423.5698
37Rio HaryantoManor29.1174.44411
38Kevin MagnussenRenault31.2416.56832
39Marcus EricssonSauber33.3428.66949
40Romain GrosjeanHaas33.4908.81715
41Daniel RicciardoRed Bull35.32710.65432
42Kevin MagnussenRenault38.81114.13821

2016 Monaco Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “2016 Monaco Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops”

  1. Red Bull are (deservedly) getting a lot of stick for their pitstop balls-up with Ricciardo. I think that a lot of people are overlooking the fact that these things do happen from time to time and always have (across all teams), preferring to come up with ridiculous conspiracy theories involving Red Bull deliberately mucking up Dan’s race.

    I’m sure Red Bull will investigate and try to reduce the risk of it happening again, but in all likelihood there is probably some very specific reason why it happened which might never crop up again. More concerning for me is that Mercedes did three pitstops which were all very poor (though not as costly as RB’s). It was quite clear on TV and from the times above that Mercedes stops were not up to scratch – Rosberg’s switch from inters to slicks cost him 3 seconds relative to Bottas. Had it been a dry race with Rosberg nipping into the lead at the start it’s likely that Red Bull could have won the race through poor stops by Mercedes – and with three out of three Merc stops being poor it looks like an issue much more likely to affect Merc’s races in future.

    1. I also noticed that @jerseyf1; rather being safe than sorry with pitstops is one thing, but all three of their pitstops were in the bottom half of the table. And with Rosberg dropping behind Alonso and Vettel in the pitstops, it could have cost him 3 places (he probably wouldn’t have spent the rest of the race stuck behind somebody so much, even if still a bit slow).

      1. I noticed that. Also, looking at the lap charts, Rosberg went from being 3.5s ahead of Vettel, in 3rd, the lap before, to 6th after his stop. Vettel took him in the pits, while Perez and Alonso zippered in between them.. Only saw this happen in a quick replay at the end of the race. Rosberg should’ve finished 3rd!

  2. Why are the Toro Rosso pitstops so slow? Their stops are consistently 3 seconds slower than what they should be. Sainz was ahead of Pérez before the first stops and they pitted together, but while Pérez finished 3rd, Sainz only finished 8th. That’s hugely disappointing.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      30th May 2016, 16:27

      @f1infigures yeah Sainz was ahead of Perez on lap 20, then he was behind on lap 21 and fell to P7 on lap 22. What happened there? Did Perez overtake Sainz or did the pitstops cost Sainz a shot at the podium?

      1. He was a second or so ahead of Pérez before the stops and maybe 3 seconds behind after the stop, while he lost over 2 seconds with the stop itself. Vettel and Hülkenberg then got between Pérez and him, which cost him even more time.

        “Honestly there were a lot more points on the table for us,” said Sainz. “But every time we did a pitstop we exit two places behind, so not happy at all.

        “Perez showed that [we could have done much better], he was behind us before the first pitstop and he ended up third, and we ended up eighth. It’s not good enough.”
        http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sainz-says-toro-rosso-s-pitstops-not-good-enough-742073/

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          31st May 2016, 14:10

          @f1infigures So Perez didn’t overtake Sainz on track? Wow, then Sainz should have been on the podium. That’s insane… In my book much worse than what happened to Ricciardo and surprisingly not mention by anyone but you.

          That was a carreer altering opportunity for Sainz wasted by his team…

          1. Yes, the order in the top 8 was largely decided by quick and slow pitstops. Apart from Ricciardo, Rosberg and Sainz lost vital positions and were relegated to the Alonso train.

  3. Massa turned out to be the ultimate party pooper for a lot of driversm Not sure why the setup was so jacked up. i guess rain isn’t Wil is strong at.

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