Formula Legend British Grand Prix Strategy Report

Lewis Hamilton stormed to a clear victory in tricky conditions, with Nico Rosberg second and Sebastian Vettel third after making up places in the second pit stop phase. The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas led early on but slipped to fourth and fifth. Here are the main strategy stories from the British Grand Prix:

Team Orders

Lightning starts from the Williams duo saw Massa and Bottas lead the race early on. The latter felt faster but was initially told to stay in second, before the team changed its mind and said that if he could get close enough and pass cleanly, he could have a go.

Many questioned the decision by Williams to not allow Bottas past. He may well have felt faster but he did have DRS, which helped him stay on the back of Massa. However, did the team leave it too long to give the command to try and make a move? Did it cost them a stronger result?

At the time, Williams didn’t know when the rain would arrive, but the FW37 would always be slower in the wet conditions, so a win would have been unlikely anyway. The biggest problem for Grove-based outfit was the slow decision to switch to intermediates. Leaving the drivers out an extra lap cost them track position in the fight for third, but to be honest, Vettel would have passed them anyway.

Many criticised Williams for not letting Massa and Bottas race earlier on and the strategy the team chose – the lead was lost at the first pit stops when they didn’t pit Massa or Bottas when Hamilton changed tyres – but nevertheless it was still a positive race and whilst the result wasn’t what was desired, the wet weather put pay to any hopes of more.

The Undercut

Often during the 2015 F1 season so far, we have seen the undercut fail to work, either because the tyres took too long to heat up in cooler conditions or drivers made mistakes on their out laps. However, it worked quite well at Silverstone, and there were plenty of examples of this throughout the British Grand Prix.

The most obvious example was Hamilton’s early stop to pit for a new set of hard tyres on lap 19. This gave him fresh rubber and a strong first lap back out on track meant he stormed back into the lead and ahead of the two Williams drivers. It worked out perfectly and leaving Massa out one extra lap and Bottas two really cost the Williams drivers.

It was admittedly quite difficult for Williams to pit their drivers at the same time as Hamilton when the Silverstone pit entry is so long and both were running ahead of him at the time. Rosberg stopped on the same lap as Massa and Bottas came in one lap later, but strangely the Finn managed to only lose one place to Hamilton – many expected him to emerge from the pit lane well behind the other three.

We also saw the undercut take place when the rain started to arrive, with Hamilton and Vettel being the first front-runners to stop for intermediates and making up a lot of ground on their rivals as they struggled for grip on slicks. Hamilton eked out his gap to Rosberg, who had been rapidly closing in on the two-time world champion, as he seemingly struggled more on the slippery track, while Vettel jumped the Williams drivers.

The timing of Hamilton and Vettel’s pit stop was perfect, and the former was the one who made the call – claiming it is the best pit decision he has ever made. Just as they emerged onto the circuit, the rain returned, but heavier than before. It caught the others out and handed them the advantage.

Virtual Safety Car

We haven’t seen this new system very often in F1 so far this season, although it has been properly trialled in GP2. The drivers have to slow and stay above a minimum time while an incident or stranded car is cleared – in the British Grand Prix’s case, the broken Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz Jr.

It was odd to see the drivers running so slowly and speeding up in sections, but overall it worked very well and didn’t prove to alter the order – unlike the normal Safety Car, it doesn’t bunch up the field, and the gaps should stay the same. It is a good step forward for F1 safety.

Rain shakes things up

We all love a race that starts in the dry and ends in wet conditions. A one-stopper looked to be the norm before the British GP and the Safety Car early on helped drivers to save the tyres and fuel, and elongate the first stints. However, the rain forced many to pit for the second, third or even a fourth time – the latter being the cases of Marcus Ericsson (who switched to dry tyres just as more rain arrived) and Kimi Raikkonen (who burnt out his intermediates with an early stop).

Timings of stops were scattered, with some diving into the pits as soon as rain arrived and others braving the light initial shower and stopping when the heavier downpour arrived. The early stoppers suffered overheating intermediate tyres and some stopped again, others struggled on. The long circuit helped those completing the undercut and it really helped to mix up the order, and give a couple of people opportunities to make progress.

Jack Leslie

Longest Stints

Hard: Vettel (29 laps)
Medium: Stevens & Merhi (36 laps)
Intermediate: Alonso (14 laps)

Most Stops

Ericsson (4)

Extreme Pitstops (time in pit lane)

Longest: Alonso/McLaren (1:11.178s)
Shortest: Kvyat/Red Bull (28.347s)

Pirelli Strategy Infographics thanks to @pirellisport (click for detail)