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🇺🇸 F1'22: R19 - Stop the clocks

For a sport that prides itself on speed, the race in Austin hinged on the few seconds where the drivers aren’t moving. 


Pit stops allowed other teams to challenge Red Bull for a bit, but ultimately, it was Max Verstappen who took the chequered flag for a record 13th time, and before we get into the stops, we should talk about Tim Cook’s flag waving, which was about as energetic as an old Apple phone’s battery levels.

And imagine if Google-sponsored McLaren had won! Unlike Apple guy, there was plenty of effort from the drivers on the Texan track, and the teams of mechanics that make up the pit stop crews. Pit stops are a highly choreographed segment of a Formula 1 race, with the driver burning through as much grip on their tyres as possible before hitting their marks accurately, allowing 20+ people get to work.

Lift the car, remove four tyres, fit new ones and let the rest of the team know they’re good to go again. All in 2-3 seconds with anything else being the subject of an intensive inquiry after the event. Red Bull are normally among the fastest pit crews, servicing a car closer to two seconds more often than not. In 2021, they had the fastest stop at 13 races. So far this season, they have eight of those accolades. So a Red Bull error is a collectors’ item and that’s what happened in Austin. 

A bad wheel gun caused Max Verstappen to have an 11-second stop, which gave not just Lewis Hamilton, but also Charles Leclerc to get ahead of the two-time World Champion. Sebastian Vettel, who had driven brilliantly all race, held up Lewis Hamilton a bit, but pitted in before Verstappen and Leclerc approached him (more on that stop later). 

  
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The Dutch driver cleared Leclerc and chased down Hamilton showing that an 11-second tyre change wasn’t going to stop him, cruelly denying Hamilton a first win of the season with just three races to go. 

It shows how amazing Verstappen and Red Bull have been in parts this season. Spin and still win a race (Hungary), start 14th and win (Spa), win the sprint race and convert that to a Grand Prix victory (Austria), have a bad pit stop and win (Austin). Like some twisted version of F1 Taskmaster, it has been a complete season by almost any definition and while there are cost cap judgements to come, this will not be a season Red Bull will forget any time soon. 

The role of stops has changed over the years in F1. *Nostalgic harp* When I first started watching in the 90s, cars would also refuel, adding a layer of strategy to proceedings. But for various reasons, refuelling stopped in 2010, putting extra emphasis on the tyres. Now, the undercut and overcut are primary tactics for teams to overtake a driver without killing their tyres, pitting 1-2 laps earlier than an opponent and using that extra edge to get ahead when the car directly in front of them goes into the pits a lap later. 

It was powerful in Austin, and Mercedes took full advantage with Hamilton, putting him on hards for the final part of the race before Verstappen had his disaster stop. As one point, Vettel was leading. No, you haven’t time-warped back a decade. The retiring Aston Martin driver (see, not a time-warp), even let the race at one point, crossing the 3,500 laps led barrier and smartly realised that P1 was not his race, looking more like a season-best of fifth might have been achievable, but certainly a sixth was on the cards.

Until the pit stop happened. 

16 seconds without moving is not where you want to be (not a shocking insight), and while it’s not an exact science, a sixth-place was well within his grasp, which would have put Aston Martin in sixth in the Constructors’ championship. Vettel rallied back for eighth and took driver of the day. 

They had chances with Lance Stroll too, who finished the first lap in third and was driving brilliantly until he was largely at fault for a collision with his teammate next year. Moving slightly left slightly too late caused a big collision with Fernando Alonso. 

Coming after a safety car restart, It’s a wonder how more drivers didn’t get collected and both drivers were ok. Despite getting launched into the air, Alonso carried on, and after a pit stop, eventually finished seventh, showing the other role of stops - mechanical changes. Yes, the odd second isn’t going to matter in the 15-16 it takes to change a front wing, but Alpine’s ability to make major mechanical changes in seconds saved their race as they try to hold off the McLaren challenge. 

There are just three races left, with Mexico acting as the second part of this particular leg of the season. Max Verstappen seems to be running out of ways to win races, and could well shatter the single-season victory record. Not even a rare bad stop can slow him down. 

RELATED:

🏁 The role of tyres in F1, as demonstrated by Qatar 2021 
🏁 Undercuts, overcuts and tactics
🏁 F1 should have majors. COTA should absolutely be one of them

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