Belgium – Race: Summary of Strategies

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) secured the 31st victory of his career at the Belgian Grand Prix, on the longest track of the 2013 season. This latest success for the German, achieved with a two-stop strategy, allows him to join Nigel Mansell in terms of the number of Grand Prix wins. The 26-year-old driver also set the fastest lap of the race on hard tires, after taking the lead from the second position on the grid. He extends his lead in the world championship to 46 points over Fernando Alonso (Ferrari).

Alonso, on the other hand, used the same strategy to climb from ninth on the grid to second place at the finish. The Spaniard made two pit stops, using the medium compound for his first two stints, before switching to hard tires on the 28th lap during a stop that lasted only 2.6 seconds.

The race took place with an ambient temperature of 19°C (25°C on track). Despite estimates of a 60% chance of rain for the race, conditions remained stable from start to finish. All drivers started on medium tires, except for the two Marussia cars of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi, the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo, and the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez. The first driver to make a pit stop was Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber), on lap 9, to switch to his first set of hard tires. Vettel stopped five laps later, while leading the pack, and switched to medium compound, rejoining the track in second place. The German regained the lead before his final stop for a set of hard tires on lap 30. This strategy allowed the Red Bull driver to lead the race from start to finish.

At the wheel of the other Red Bull, Mark Webber also adopted a two-stop strategy, switching to hard tires during his first stop and finishing the race on medium compound tires. The Australian completed the race in fifth place.

The only driver to have attempted a one-stop strategy is Romain Grosjean, whose Lotus finished 8th. The best-placed driver who started on hard tires is Daniel Ricciardo, 10th after starting from the 19th position on the grid. The Toro Rosso driver also finished the race on medium compound.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: With qualifying having concluded on a wet track yesterday, the drivers were allowed to choose the tire compound of their choice for the start of the race, thus opening up an even wider range of possible strategies. Some drivers and teams chose to take full advantage of this opportunity today, especially Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel, who controlled the race. We also saw very good strategies from the back of the grid, allowing many drivers to improve their starting positions. After the rather uncertain weather conditions of the weekend, we witnessed a rather straightforward Belgian Grand Prix, with dry conditions from start to finish and no safety car intervention. But Spa probably remains the ultimate tire test in Formula 1, with its long laps and high energy loads. This weekend, the performance and durability of our tires in a very competitive race, on one of the most iconic circuits in the world, perfectly met our expectations.

The best times of the day by compound:

– Mediums: Ricciardo en 1.50.967 devant Webber en 1.51.397 et Gutiérrez en 1.51.849

– Durs: Vettel en 1.50.756 devant Button en 1.50.823 et Alonso en 1.51.383

Longest race stint:

– Mediums: 22 tours par Romain Grosjean (Lotus)

– Durs: 26 tours par Sergio Pérez (McLaren)

[From the official press release published by Pirelli]

To better understand this graph, you can use the FIA’s lap-by-lap by clicking here.