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Mercedes driver
Nico Rosberg has closed the gap in the drivers’ championship to his team
mate Lewis Hamilton after winning the Brazilian Grand Prix from pole, using
a three-stop strategy. Rosberg did an opening stint on the soft tyre and
then completed the race with the medium tyre, in high temperatures that were
in contrast to the expected rain.
Hamilton adopted a similar strategy to finish runner-up, 1.5 seconds behind
his team mate, after losing some time when he ran wide earlier in the race.
After both made their final pit stops, Hamilton was able to use tyres that
were one lap fresher to challenge Rosberg for the lead, setting up an
exciting finale. In the end, Rosberg sealed his eighth career victory and
his fifth win of 2014.
Most drivers started on the soft tyre, which was up to a second per lap
faster around Interlagos than the medium compound. Force India’s Nico
Hulkenberg adopted an alternative three-stop strategy, using the medium tyre
from the start until his final stint on the soft. The extra speed at the end
of the race helped him to finish eighth, making up four places from his grid
position. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) used a similar strategy to finish just
outside the points from the penultimate place on the grid.
As expected in the high track temperatures of more than 50 degrees – the
highest seen at the Brazilian Grand Prix in recent years – the theoretically
fastest three-stop strategy was used by nearly all the drivers. The
highest-placed driver to stop only twice was Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who
finished seventh after a thrilling battle that was just as intense as that
which took place at the very front of the field. The drivers’ championship
will now be decided at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, with
double points on offer.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “We saw a mesmerising
battle between the two Mercedes drivers, during which they had to balance
their desire to beat each other with the need to get the most out of the
tyres in these very high temperatures. Ambient and track temperatures were
certainly higher than everybody anticipated, which caused some degree of
blistering and graining, particularly at the start of the race with heavy
fuel, soft tyres and the hottest temperatures of the day. This did not
however affect tyre performance. The new surface created a number of
challenges for everyone all weekend, including the teams, the drivers and
ourselves. Most drivers went for a three-stop strategy, which we predicted
to be the fastest around Interlagos. However, Kimi Raikkonen made a two-stop
strategy work as well, at one of the most demanding races of the year. ”
Truth-O-Meter:
We predicted three stops as theoretically the fastest strategy for the
71-lap race, and because of the high degree of tyre wear as well, this was
adopted by all but one of the competitors. Our prediction was a short stint
on soft before changing to medium; medium again on lap 21 and a final stint
on the medium from lap 46. Rosberg followed this pattern exactly, stopping
on laps seven, 26 and 50. |
