FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[expat]

First post, can somebody please explain how when F1 cars are only seperated by 10ths of a second in performance terms and lap times it is possible for a car to pit three times and still finish ahead of a car that only pits twice ?? I thought the average pit stop from entering to leaving the pit lane added about 10-20 seconds to the overall time....

[Denthúl]

First post, can somebody please explain how when F1 cars are only seperated by 10ths of a second in performance terms and lap times it is possible for a car to pit three times and still finish ahead of a car that only pits twice ?? I thought the average pit stop from entering to leaving the pit lane added about 10-20 seconds to the overall time....

By running the shorter stints of a three-stop strategy your car is lighter than one on a two-stop strategy, allowing you to put in faster lap times earlier into the stint. This allows you to build up a gap whilst your opponent, on a different strategy, is running heavier and thus slower. It is also dependent on the length of the pit-lane. On tracks with a shorter pit-lane, a three-stop strategy is more feasible than it is on tracks with a long pit-lane.

[7UpJordan]

Also running in clear air is a factor like Hamilton was, once he cleared Massa he rocketed off into the distance.

[expat]

Fine, I understand all that , but I do not believe that Hamilston was that much faster during the period that he led, not to put him 10-15 seconds ahead of the ferraris anyway...

[AKR]

I remeber Michael Schumacher doing this in the 1998 Hungarian GP. Schumi did a 3 stopped and the 2 McLarens did a 2 stopper. The McLaren cars were faster but Schumi was able to win because of his quickness and skill with the 3 stop strategy. Lewis Hamilton almost pulled off the same thing in Istanbull. McLaren slower than Ferraris and his 3 stopper almost got him the win.

[Denthúl]

I remeber Michael Schumacher doing this in the 1998 Hungarian GP. Schumi did a 3 stopped and the 2 McLarens did a 2 stopper. The McLaren cars were faster but Schumi was able to win because of his quickness and skill with the 3 stop strategy. Lewis Hamilton almost pulled off the same thing in Istanbull. McLaren slower than Ferraris and his 3 stopper almost got him the win.

Not to mention Ross Brawn being a genius and getting him out in clear air. If only that race hadn't been quite so boring :/

[racechick]

Fine, I understand all that , but I do not believe that Hamilston was that much faster during the period that he led, not to put him 10-15 seconds ahead of the ferraris anyway...

Bridgestone sai they had to run 3 stops because they were worried about safety-tyre failed there last year

[expat]

Spot on AKR, "Mclaren slower than the Ferrari", so how can stopping more often get you in front, Schumacher used to do it by getting upto 20 seconds in front before making the extra pitstop ISTR

[racechick]

Spot on AKR, "Mclaren slower than the Ferrari", so how can stopping more often get you in front, Schumacher used to do it by getting upto 20 seconds in front before making the extra pitstop ISTR

see my previous post

[AKR]

Spot on AKR, "Mclaren slower than the Ferrari", so how can stopping more often get you in front, Schumacher used to do it by getting upto 20 seconds in front before making the extra pitstop ISTR

Fuel weighs. Lighter car goes faster. If you can pull a 20 to 30 second lead, (Depending on lengh of pit lane) you will come out of the lead every time. Thus a slower car can be quicker on a 3 stopper as long as the track is suited and the driver quick.

[expat]

Bridgestone sai they had to run 3 stops because they were worried about safety-tyre failed there last year

How does that make him faster ?

[AKR]

Bridgestone sai they had to run 3 stops because they were worried about safety-tyre failed there last year

How does that make him faster ?

It doesn't, it is a load of balomey. My analysis is correct that is the answer to your question. And all the teams use Bridgestone anyway so even if that crap were true, would it not apply to all teams as well? Ferrari included?

[Denthúl]

Bridgestone sai they had to run 3 stops because they were worried about safety-tyre failed there last year

How does that make him faster ?

It doesn't, it is a load of balomey. My analysis is correct that is the answer to your question. And all the teams use Bridgestone anyway so even if that crap were true, would it not apply to all teams as well? Ferrari included?

It would depend on how the car and tyres work together. On cars that don't push their tyres as hard, it would be much less of a concern than for those that do.

[AKR]

Bridgestone sai they had to run 3 stops because they were worried about safety-tyre failed there last year

How does that make him faster ?

It doesn't, it is a load of balomey. My analysis is correct that is the answer to your question. And all the teams use Bridgestone anyway so even if that crap were true, would it not apply to all teams as well? Ferrari included?

It would depend on how the car and tyres work together. On cars that don't push their tyres as hard, it would be much less of a concern than for those that do.

But last years McLaren car was different to this years car. For one thing last years McLaren had Ferrari parts in it. *LOL*

[woody2goody]

I was watching the lap times throughout the race with the live timing. He came out 1.5 sec behind Felipe when he came in for his first stop.

During the second stint, Hamilton caught and passed Massa. He then pulled out around 1sec per lap over 7 or 8 laps. When he came in he was 8.3 infront of Massa and 21sec infront of Kimi, who had been behind first Alonso, then Kubica.

Hamilton and the Ferraris now had one stop each to make, but Hamilton had a shorter final stint than Raikkonen. Thus Lewis used the laps prior to his stop, 5 or 6 laps later than Kimi, to gain just enough time to leapfrog Raikkonen. Despite struggling with the soft tyres at the end, Lewis was still fairly well matched with Ferrari, with all cars with virtually equal fuel.

The main reason that Kimi finished behind Lewis was due to the traffic he had in his first stint. He was around 10-15sec behind Massa, who had clear air. Kimi closed up to less than 5 sec at the end, proving that he would have challenged for the win if he had gotten a better first lap. Once he got by Kubica, Kimi was easily a match for Felipe. he may not have had enough to beat the Brazilian, but he would have put him under a lot of pressure. i don't think Kimi would have been as close to Lewis if Kovalainen had been there.