A rain-affected race at Imola would have seen virtually no variation in the strategies had Ferrari not tried to put Red Bull under pressure in the closing stages.
The whole field took the start on intermediates and Daniel Ricciardo was the first to gamble on a switch to slicks. The lower tyre blanket temperature limits this year make this a particularly risky decision, but McLaren timed it well, and when it became clear Ricciardo’s tyres were working the rest of the field immediately followed him.
After the field switched to medium rubber together, they could have reached the end of the race without pitting again. But Ferrari thought they saw an opportunity to aid Leclerc’s pursuit of second place. Lying behind the Red Bull pair, they brought him in with 14 laps to go to take a set of soft tyres.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believed they did so because of the state of his tyres.
“I think that their front tyre was starting to get into a bit of trouble for them, so I think they needed to pit,” he said. “They could see the traffic and I think they thought they’d take the opportunity while Checo was in traffic.
“But it didn’t play out like that. So we were able to respond with Checo and then cover with Max [Verstappen] and maintain track position on better tyres with both drivers.”
However Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said the pit stop had been a purely tactical move to put more pressure on Perez.
“We were not running out of front tyres,” he said. “At that time in the race the pace with Sergio Perez was very, very similar or slightly better.
“But because we believed that there was no opportunity for us to attack and overtake Perez with those tyres any more we did the pit stops to hope at least that they would have stopped as well. Which was the case, so they were both on new tyres resetting the race 15 laps to go and on soft tyres.”
Unfortunately for Ferrari, Leclerc spun into a barrier while trying to line Perez up for a pass. Nonetheless Binotto said the tactic paid off until that point. “It worked pretty well because Charles was very close to Sergio, he tried to attack before he made the mistake.”
Trying to take the bonus point for fastest lap was only a secondary consideration, Binotto added. “For us, I think at that stage it was more important to attack and to [get] ahead of Sergio. We thought it would have been an opportunity and a possibility and went for it.”
While the Red Bull drivers also took extra soft tyres to cover off the threat of Leclerc, the only other driver to deviate from the standard strategy was Daniel Ricciardo. McLaren put him on a set of hards in the hope they might catch a lucky break, to no avail.
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The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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Lewis Hamilton
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George Russell
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Max Verstappen
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Sergio Perez
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Charles Leclerc
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Carlos Sainz Jnr
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Lando Norris
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Daniel Ricciardo
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Esteban Ocon
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Fernando Alonso
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Pierre Gasly
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Yuki Tsunoda
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Lance Stroll
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Sebastian Vettel
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Alexander Albon
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Nicholas Latifi
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Valtteri Bottas
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Zhou Guanyu
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Mick Schumacher
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Kevin Magnussen
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The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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Lewis Hamilton
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George Russell
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Max Verstappen
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Sergio Perez
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Charles Leclerc
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Carlos Sainz Jnr
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Lando Norris
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Daniel Ricciardo
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Esteban Ocon
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Fernando Alonso
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Pierre Gasly
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Yuki Tsunoda
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Lance Stroll
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Sebastian Vettel
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Alexander Albon
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Nicholas Latifi
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Valtteri Bottas
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Zhou Guanyu
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Mick Schumacher
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Kevin Magnussen
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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Lewis Hamilton
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George Russell
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Max Verstappen
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Sergio Perez
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Charles Leclerc
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Carlos Sainz Jnr
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Lando Norris
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Daniel Ricciardo
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Esteban Ocon
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Fernando Alonso
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Pierre Gasly
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Yuki Tsunoda
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Lance Stroll
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Sebastian Vettel
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Alexander Albon
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Nicholas Latifi
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Valtteri Bottas
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Zhou Guanyu
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Mick Schumacher
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Kevin Magnussen
Each driver’s fastest lap:
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The tyre strategies for each driver:
Stint 1 Stint 2 Stint 3 Stint 4 Max Verstappen Intermediate (19) C3 (32) C4 (12) Sergio Perez Intermediate (18) C3 (32) C4 (13) Lando Norris Intermediate (19) C3 (44) George Russell Intermediate (18) C3 (45) Valtteri Bottas Intermediate (18) C3 (45) Charles Leclerc Intermediate (19) C3 (30) C4 (4) C4 (10) Yuki Tsunoda Intermediate (18) C3 (45) Sebastian Vettel Intermediate (17) C3 (46) Kevin Magnussen Intermediate (18) C3 (45) Lance Stroll Intermediate (18) C3 (44) Esteban Ocon Intermediate (18) C3 (44) Alexander Albon Intermediate (17) C3 (45) Pierre Gasly Intermediate (17) C3 (45) Lewis Hamilton Intermediate (18) C3 (44) Zhou Guanyu Intermediate (18) C3 (44) Nicholas Latifi Intermediate (18) C3 (44) Mick Schumacher Intermediate (18) C3 (34) C4 (10) Daniel Ricciardo Intermediate (2) C3 (14) C2 (14) Fernando Alonso Intermediate (6) Carlos Sainz Jnr Intermediate (1)How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Driver Team Pit stop time Gap On lap 1 Sergio Perez Red Bull 29.627 50 2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 29.942 0.315 51 3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 30.001 0.374 19 4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 30.042 0.415 49 5 Lando Norris McLaren 30.070 0.443 19 6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 30.155 0.528 30 7 Sergio Perez Red Bull 30.366 0.739 18 8 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 30.372 0.745 18 9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 30.405 0.778 17 10 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 30.422 0.795 16 11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 30.484 0.857 17 12 Alexander Albon Williams 30.793 1.166 17 13 Mick Schumacher Haas 30.984 1.357 52 14 George Russell Mercedes 31.079 1.452 18 15 Nicholas Latifi Williams 31.125 1.498 18 16 Mick Schumacher Haas 31.320 1.693 18 17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 31.409 1.782 18 18 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 31.794 2.167 19 19 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 32.203 2.576 18 20 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 32.362 2.735 2 21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 32.667 3.040 18 22 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 32.740 3.113 18 23 Kevin Magnussen Haas 33.765 4.138 18 24 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 36.560 6.933 53 25 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 40.957 11.330 18RaceFans is run thanks in part to the generous support of its readers. By contributing £1 per month or £12 per year (or the same in whichever currency you use) you can help cover the costs of creating, hosting and developing RaceFans today and in the future.
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