Red Bull and Mercedes the fastest in the pits
The Mercedes GP team likes to calculate and reveal statistics related to Formula 1 - particularly with overtaking and DRS. This time they decided to share their statistics on pit stops. It turns out that they are the fastest, along with Red Bull Racing, in the tire-changing exercise.
Pirelli has been the sole manufacturer for Formula 1 since the beginning of the year and has decided to provide Formula 1 teams with tires that degrade faster than the previously used Bridgestones. This has resulted in a greater number of pit stops for the teams but has also allowed for more interesting races at times.
The Mercedes GP team has therefore looked into the statistics related to pit stops of the 24 drivers on the grid since the start of the season – during 17 races. There have been 1013 pit stops according to the German team, subdivided as follows:
1013 pit stops
* 988 tire changes
* 21 drive-through
* 4 stop-and-go
Some races have seen significantly more pit stops, notably in Hungary, where there were the most stops this season – 85 pit stops, while at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, there were “only” 35 – which is the fewest number of stops in a race so far this year.
In the penalties department, since the first race in Australia, 25 penalties have been handed out by the stewards – 21 drive-through and 4 stop-and-go as previously specified. The most common sanction has been “penalty for causing a collision,” imposed by the stewards 12 times since the start of the season.
Mercedes has recorded the fastest pit stops during the 17 Grand Prix races held so far. Red Bull was the fastest 8 times, Mercedes GP 7 times, McLaren and Ferrari once each. However, Mercedes decided not to only consider this parameter, ignoring pit stops involving more than a tire change and also the stops made during the intervention of the safety car if a driver was stuck behind his teammate.
Mercedes GP also considered the total time of a pit stop and not just the tire changes performed by the mechanics. With this parameter, Red Bull still leads, achieving the fastest average pit stop time 9 times, followed by Mercedes with 5 best average times, McLaren with 2 best average times, and Force India with the best average time in Monaco.
In the end, Mercedes conducted a ranking and it turns out that it is the fastest in the pits, tied with Mercedes. A small surprise in this ranking is the presence of Force India in 4th position ahead of Scuderia Ferrari. A great performance also by Team Lotus, which this season is as fast on average in the pits as the teams Sauber and Toro Rosso.
Ranking of the fastest pit crews after 17 races in 2011
Red Bull Racing
Mercedes GP
3. McLaren Mercedes + 0.3s
4. Force India + 0.4s
5. Scuderia Ferrari + 0.5s
6. Lotus Renault GP + 0.9s
7. Williams F1 + 1.1s
8. Team Lotus + 1.3s
Sauber F1 + 1.3s
Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1.3s
11. Virgin + 1.6s
12. HRT + 3.2s
