Bahrain – Race: Strategy Summary

The reigning World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, used a three-stop strategy to win the Bahrain Grand Prix and extend his lead in the world championship to 10 points. Starting from the grid with the Pirelli P Zero White medium compound and completing two stints with hard P Zero Orange tires, Vettel secured the 28th victory of his career with a lead of more than nine seconds.

A wide variety of strategies was observed in the heat of Bahrain, with some cars stopping only twice; others choosing four stops. The tire strategy played a significant role in the battle for the top positions, with Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) and his teammate Romain Grosjean making two and three stops respectively. Grosjean overtook Paul di Resta’s Force India, also on a two-stop strategy, towards the end of the Grand Prix, completing an identical podium to last year’s!

Most of the drivers started on medium tires, except for Massa’s Ferrari, Grosjean’s Lotus, Hülkenberg’s Sauber, Bottas’ Williams, Vergne’s Toro Rosso, and Gutierrez’s second Sauber (all started on hard tires).

Paul Hembery, Director of Pirelli Motorsport: « It was fantastic to see such a tight race at all levels of the grid, from the start to the finish of the Grand Prix. In some way, this is due to the small performance difference between the two compounds, which resulted in very varied strategies. On this occasion, there was no clear advantage in starting with a particular compound in terms of pure performance during the race. The high temperatures – the highest seen so far this year – made managing the thermal degradation of the tires particularly challenging, rewarding drivers with the best strategy and the smoothest driving style. There was clearly an issue with the tire on Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, which is currently under investigation. We have seen cuts on the sidewall at the top of the tread and are currently trying to determine the cause of these cuts ».

The best times of the day by compound:

– Mediums: Sutil en 1:37.070 devant Rosberg en 1:37.588 et Grosjean en 1:37.627

– Durs: Vettel en 1:36.961 davant Alonso en 1:37.204 et Pérez en 1:37.913

Longest stint in the race:

– Mediums: 21 tours par Massa (Ferrari)

– Durs: 24 tours par Sutil (Force India)

[From the official press release published by Pirelli]

In order to have a better understanding of this graph, you can use our pit stop summary below, as well as the FIA lap-by-lap information by clicking here.

Summary of Pit Stops at the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix: