normadoughty71: 2012 Hungarian GP tyre strategies and pit stops

2012 Hungarian GP tyre strategies and pit stops is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Lewis Hamilton’s dominant pole position on Saturday allowed him to save new tyres for the race which was crucial to his strategy.

Hungarian Grand Prix tyre strategies

On a day when overtaking was nigh-on impossible, tyre strategy took on utmost importance.

For the front runners the key was avoiding the seductive but deadly trap of the three-stop strategy, because even with the advantage of new tyres overtaking was terrifically difficult.

Hamilton’s superb performance in qualifying yesterday allowed him to stockpile fresh tyres and run the best strategy available to him. He started on his used softs from Saturday, and then two sets of new medium tyres saw him to the end of the race.

Soft-medium-medium was the preferred strategy, chosen by almost half the competitors. A significant exception was the Lotus drivers, who preferred soft tyres for their middle stint

McLaren opted to break up Jenson Button’s two medium-tyre stints with a short stint on softs. This was a disaster: he got stuck behind Bruno Senna and a potential podium finish turned into a disappointing sixth.

Here are the tyre strategies for each driver:

	Stint 1	Stint 2	Stint 3	Stint 4	Stint 5
Lewis Hamilton	Soft (18)	Medium (22)	Medium (29)
Romain Grosjean	Soft (19)	Soft (20)	Medium (30)
Sebastian Vettel	Soft (17)	Soft (21)	Medium (20)	Soft (11)
Jenson Button	Soft (15)	Medium (19)	Soft (11)	Medium (24)
Kimi Raikkonen	Soft (20)	Soft (25)	Medium (24)
Fernando Alonso	Soft (17)	Medium (26)	Medium (26)
Felipe Massa	Soft (18)	Medium (25)	Medium (26)
Pastor Maldonado	Soft (15)	Medium (26)	Medium (28)
Bruno Senna	Soft (16)	Medium (26)	Medium (27)
Nico Hulkenberg	Soft (15)	Medium (24)	Medium (30)
Mark Webber	Medium (20)	Medium (19)	Soft (16)	Soft (14)
Paul di Resta	Soft (16)	Medium (22)	Medium (31)
Nico Rosberg	Soft (16)	Medium (24)	Medium (29)
Sergio Perez	Soft (21)	Medium (26)	Medium (22)
Kamui Kobayashi	Soft (8)	Medium (32)	Soft (27)
Jean-Eric Vergne	Soft (12)	Soft (18)	Soft (16)	Medium (18)	Medium (4)
Michael Schumacher	Soft (1)	Medium (31)	Medium (26)
Daniel Ricciardo	Soft (14)	Soft (20)	Soft (13)	Medium (21)
Heikki Kovalainen	Soft (17)	Medium (19)	Medium (20)	Soft (12)
Vitaly Petrov	Soft (18)	Medium (17)	Medium (16)	Medium (16)
Charles Pic	Medium (20)	Soft (19)	Medium (28)
Timo Glock	Medium (18)	Soft (22)	Medium (26)
Pedro de la Rosa	Medium (22)	Medium (19)	Soft (25)
Narain Karthikeyan	Soft (18)	Medium (21)	Soft (21)

Hungarian Grand Prix pit stop times

For only the second time this year Red Bull were the fastest team in the pits. They were also supremely consistent – all six of their pit stops ranked within the top 11 times.

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

	Driver	Team	Pit stop time	Gap	On lap
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	18.964		58
2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	19.059	0.095	40
3	Jenson Button	McLaren	19.083	0.119	34
4	Mark Webber	Red Bull	19.175	0.211	39
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	19.331	0.367	38
6	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	19.365	0.401	43
7	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	19.380	0.416	17
8	Mark Webber	Red Bull	19.386	0.422	55
9	Jenson Button	McLaren	19.408	0.444	15
10	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	19.600	0.636	64
11	Mark Webber	Red Bull	19.611	0.647	20
12	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	19.630	0.666	34
13	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	19.644	0.680	46
14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	19.669	0.705	17
15	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	19.755	0.791	41
16	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	19.772	0.808	45
17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	19.858	0.894	30
18	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	19.917	0.953	43
19	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	19.981	1.017	18
20	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	20.027	1.063	47
21	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	20.065	1.101	40
22	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	20.087	1.123	20
23	Bruno Senna	Williams	20.213	1.249	16
24	Sergio Perez	Sauber	20.216	1.252	47
25	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	20.231	1.267	39
26	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	20.234	1.270	8
27	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	20.304	1.340	15
28	Sergio Perez	Sauber	20.320	1.356	21
29	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	20.352	1.388	16
30	Paul di Resta	Force India	20.352	1.388	38
31	Jenson Button	McLaren	20.355	1.391	45
32	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	20.363	1.399	12
33	Timo Glock	Marussia	20.383	1.419	40
34	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	20.436	1.472	18
35	Paul di Resta	Force India	20.460	1.496	16
36	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	20.503	1.539	32
37	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	20.510	1.546	14
38	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	20.515	1.551	51
39	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	20.567	1.603	56
40	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	20.592	1.628	35
41	Bruno Senna	Williams	20.604	1.640	42
42	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	20.607	1.643	39
43	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	20.632	1.668	40
44	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	20.736	1.772	15
45	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	20.780	1.816	17
46	Charles Pic	Marussia	20.915	1.951	20
47	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	21.070	2.106	18
48	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	21.259	2.295	18
49	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	21.336	2.372	1
50	Timo Glock	Marussia	21.337	2.373	18
51	Charles Pic	Marussia	21.378	2.414	39
52	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	21.855	2.891	36
53	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	21.877	2.913	41
54	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	22.031	3.067	39
55	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	22.151	3.187	19
56	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	22.332	3.368	22

2012 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei

2012 Hungarian GP tyre strategies and pit stops is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.