Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton
won the Russian Grand Prix from second on the grid with one pit stop, moving
from the medium to the soft tyre under a virtual safety car. His team mate
Valtteri Bottas, who finished second, adopted the same strategy. Behind them
there was a wide variety of tactics seen throughout the 53-lap race, which
featured two safety cars: one straight after the start, and one just over
the halfway point.
KEY MOMENTS
* Mercedes was the only team in the top 10 of the grid to start on the
medium tyres. Ferrari adopted a different tactic, starting on the soft.
* Both Mercedes drivers ran a longer first stint than Ferrari, and made
their sole pit stops consecutively under a virtual safety car, switching to
the soft tyres.
* With Charles Leclerc ending up behind the two Mercedes following their
stops, Ferrari switched strategy to bring him in for a second stop to soft
tyres under a full safety car, two laps after the Mercedes drivers had
pitted.
* The driver to make up most places was Red Bull’s Alex Albon, who started
from the pit lane and made a single stop from medium to soft tyres on his
way to fifth at the finish.
* There was an equal mixture of soft and medium tyres seen at the start with
only Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat starting his home race on the hard tyre from
the back of the grid.
* Although a one-stopper was predicted as being the fastest strategy, four
of the 15 classified finishers ended up stopping twice: including Leclerc,
on the podium. This was heavily influenced by the safety cars..
HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED
HARD C2: This was predicted as a workable option for the second stint, but
in the end only three drivers used it, with the medium and soft resisting
well.
MEDIUM C3: A key element to Hamilton’s win. With low degradation, the
drivers using this at the start were able to maximise their stint and keep
their options open.
SOFT C4: Also used for some long stints, notably by Red Bull’s Max
Verstappen, who completed a long first run to move from ninth on the grid to
fourth at the finish. Hamilton used the soft to set the fastest lap towards
the end of the race.
MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING
“ITactics were an important element to the race, with opposite strategies
being selected by Mercedes and Ferrari that resulted in an exciting finish,
as Charles Leclerc tried to get past his rivals. The medium tyres selected
by Mercedes gave them an advantage in terms of flexibility, but what was
perhaps more of a surprise was the life of the soft. This worked better in
today’s warmer conditions, being less susceptible to graining at higher
temperatures. The two safety car periods were a key factor in the grand
prix, minimising wear and degradation during important phases in the race,
as well as providing opportunities to make pit stops at the right moment to
minimise time loss. We came to Russia with a harder tyre choice than last
year: this enabled drivers to push hard from the start to finish of each
stint, rather than manage their pace.” |