At some Grand Prix, the team has to stick to a plan. others ask that they choose one of many plans. With exclusive insights from McLaren F1 Director, Strategy and Sporting Randy Singh, we dissect the Spanish Grand Prix.
One of the charms of an evolving Formula 1 season is that it presents a different challenge each week. Successive races on the Iberian Peninsula showed the same tires, the same environmental conditions and (more or less) the same cars – but challenged McLaren F1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.
The intent of a racing strategy isn’t to get to the checkered flag as quickly as possible – it’s about getting to the checkered flag before as many other cars as possible: how long that takes is largely irrelevant, although it will take many weeks to do the latter accomplish is to do the former. These are the “deterministic” races: those where the car is not disturbed by traffic and can be driven at the best speed to reach the finish line in the shortest possible time. Not every weekend is like this – and the Spanish Grand Prix almost never. In this regard, the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix followed a similar pattern to previous years: a tactical race where the position of the track is crucial, with a high probability of multiple stops and a guarantee that the strategists are very busy .
The race in a nutshell
• No fixed plan for a pit or two before the race
• A good start for Daniel, followed by a long defensive drive
• A very difficult route to overtake
• A flexible race that has not decided on one of the two strategies until deep in the race
• An aggressive attack by Lando on the late race to take a position six laps from home
The race in numbers
| Lando Norris | Daniel Ricciardo | |
| Starting position | P9 | P7 |
| End of the first round | P9 | P5 |
| End position | P8 | P6 |
| Speed trap | 334.7 km / h (14th fastest) | 337.7 km / h (8th fastest) |
| First pit stop | 21.864s | 22.406s |
| Second pit stop | 22.467s | 21.762s |
| Fastest lap | 1: 21.279 (7.) | 1: 21.853 (10.) |
The tires
Lando’s and Daniel’s composite strategy
The strategy … theoretically
In 2020, the Spanish Grand Prix was largely a two-stop race with few cars using the one-stop alternative. This year, lower temperatures – with a date in early May instead of mid-August – made the one-stop a more attractive proposition than nine months earlier. While this was not necessarily the quickest route to the flag, the great difficulty of overtaking at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya takes precedence over position on the track – unless a situation can be maneuvered to achieve a significant tire advantage.
As with every Grand Prix, the team started with Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, etc. Lando and Daniel had spent much of their morning familiarizing themselves with the finish laps for each lap and the driving styles that were required to meet them. There was really no preferred option in Barcelona: ‘Plan A’ was no more likely than ‘Plan B’. Since both drivers started the race with their Q2 Used Soft tire and the hard tire was not to be expected unless a car really had problems or pitted very early, it was probably a one-stop soft> medium – Race or two races planned – stop Soft> Medium> Soft Race – The team only has to go in one of the two directions after a part of the medium tire stint.
“We weren’t particularly keen to get one-stop shopping,” says Randy Singh, director of strategy and sports. “To signify a one-stop commitment could mean going a little further [in the first stint] or manage the second set of tires a little more. We just tried to be flexible and made sure we stayed in a reasonable position on the first lap of pit stops. “
The strategy … explained
The key to the race was keeping both options on the table, which forced both Lando and Daniel to do meticulous first stints, take care of their tires, and be ready to respond to cars around them – instead of Keeping an eye on a defined finish lap a pit stop. Both made their stops – Lando on lap 23, Daniel on lap 25 – in the middle of the “cascade” – that is, at the point where a pitting car prompts others to follow suit in order to reduce the risk of undercut.
“Pierre Gasly was the first to stop because he had a five-second penalty and that triggered Fernando Alonso’s stop and started the cascade,” explains Randy. “It made sense to try to protect the position of the track at this point, as it was clear that everyone would pit. At this point it was still between one and two stops. “
Both drivers fitted the medium tire at the first stop – as did the other 16 running cars that started with a soft tire: there weren’t many other options on the table. “The main thing was to be really flexible,” says Randy. “The hard compound didn’t look like a good racing tire and fitting a different soft would require us to use the two-stop strategy as you have to make two connections in the race. This is a key lever for the medium. “
While the decisions for the first stops were largely determined by external factors, the team had difficult decisions to make about the second stops, with the decision to stop again made relatively late in the stint. “It wasn’t an easy decision for either car,” says Randy. “For Daniel, the second stop was dependent on his position on the track, but also on how we expected the tires to behave for the rest of the race. The decision with Lando considered the same factors – but it was also difficult when to stop. He came into play on lap 51 to complete a relatively short stint on the soft tire at the end of the race. He had the best pace advantage to get through George Russell and Fernando quickly and still had enough tire life to attack Esteban Ocon. Doing that successfully made it a good two-stop, but it wasn’t an easy decision. “
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Question time
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