Italy – Race: Strategy Summary
casinoenligne.uk.com offers you the opportunity to discover, in graphic form, the strategies employed by each during the 2012 Italian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton concluded a dominant weekend by securing McLaren’s third consecutive victory in Italy. The Brit chose a one-stop strategy to win ahead of Sergio Perez in the Sauber (starting 12th on the grid), who opted for a different one-stop strategy.
Pirelli had chosen the hard P Zero Silver and the medium P Zero White tires for Monza. The two hardest compounds in the F1 range demonstrated exemplary performance and longevity. Hamilton won after driving 30 laps on the hard tire at the end of the race, while Perez relied on the speed of the medium tire during a final stint of 24 laps to lap nearly two seconds faster per lap than his closest rivals at the end of the Grand Prix.
The race started under dry and hot conditions, with the temperature reaching 39°C on the track (27°C in the air), slightly higher than on Friday and Saturday afternoon. The top ten on the grid started on medium tires, with the highest-qualified driver starting on hard tires being Sergio Perez, 12th. Jérôme d’Ambrosio (Lotus), Pastor Maldonado (Williams), and Nico Hülkenberg (Force India) – who started last on the grid – followed the Mexican’s choice.
At the 18th lap, Perez was in 6th place. He took the lead on the 25th lap before pitting to change tires to mediums on the 29th lap. On the 46th lap, the Mexican overtook Alonso to match the best result of his career, achieved in Malaysia, with second place.
Hamilton, winner with a margin of four seconds, stopped on the 23rd lap to switch to hard tires and regained the lead of the race ahead of Perez when the latter pitted. Ferrari also opted for a single stop, with Fernando Alonso completing a long final stint of 33 laps on hard tires and finishing the race in third place, having started from 10th position.
The best driver on a two-stop strategy was Michael Schumacher, finishing 6th ahead of his Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg. He adopted the same strategy of starting the race on mediums and having two stints on hards. This is how Rosberg secured the fastest lap in the race with the hard compound.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: « We witnessed a demonstration of performance and durability from our two P Zero compounds today. Performance was shown through Sergio Perez and Sauber’s explosive driving on the medium compound; durability through the long runs on hards made by the top drivers. The top 5 only stopped on one occasion at the fastest circuit of the season. Teams had to be flexible in their approach when making a decision about the number of stops. Although tire degradation is low at Monza, certain places like the Parabolica place significant energy loads on the front tires in particular.
Once again, McLaren did an excellent job, and we witnessed very good tire management from Ferrari, with Alonso gaining eight places. Perez again demonstrated Sauber’s ability to make the most of the tires.
We wish to thank all the Italian fans present, whose passion and enthusiasm made this race a unique event. We truly appreciate their support and hospitality, and are proud to be able to call this race our home event.
[From the official statement released by Pirelli]
To better understand this chart, you can use the FIA’s lap-by-lap summary by clicking here.
