Australia 2009: Pitstop & Fuel Strategies
The strategies employed for the Australian Grand Prix were fairly standard with most teams aiming for a two stopper during the 58 laps. As with 2008, all drivers must use both compounds of tyre, which for the Albert Park race was Super-Soft and Medium. New for 2009 is the different grades of compounds issued by Bridgestone; they’re further apart, which made the difference between the stints even more noticeable. The Super-Soft tyre degraded after about ten laps of the circuit, so all drivers used the Medium tyre for much of the race.
Australia 2009
|
Stint 1
|
Stint 2
|
Stint 3
|
Stint 4
|
| McLaren | ||||
 Lewis Hamilton |
Super-Soft | Medium (12) | Medium (44) | |
 Heikki Kovalainen |
Medium | |||
| Ferrari | ||||
| Kimi Raikkonen |
Super-Soft | Medium (10) | Medium (40) | Super-Soft (44) |
 Felipe Massa |
Super-Soft | Medium (12) | Medium (32) | |
| BMW | ||||
 Nick Heidfeld |
Medium | Medium (1) | Medium (20) | Super-Soft (44) |
 Robert Kubica |
Super-Soft | Medium (13) | Medium (40) | |
| Renault | ||||
 Fernando Alonso |
Medium | Medium (20) | Super-Soft (52) | |
| Nelson Piquet Jr. |
Medium | Medium (20) | ||
| Toyota | ||||
 Jarno Trulli |
Super-Soft | Medium (10) | Medium (34) | |
| Timo Glock |
Medium | Medium (19) | Super-Soft (51) | |
| Scuderia Toro Rosso | ||||
| Sebastien Buemi |
Medium | Medium (19) | Super-Soft (42) | |
 Sebastien Bourdais |
Super-Soft | Medium (10) | Medium (22) | |
| Red Bull Racing | ||||
| Sebastian Vettel |
Medium | Medium (17) | Super-Soft (46) | |
 Mark Webber |
Medium | Medium (1) | Super-Soft (36) | |
| Williams | ||||
| Nico Rosberg |
Medium | Medium (17) | Super-Soft (45) | |
 Kazuki Nakajima |
Medium | |||
| Force India | ||||
| Giancarlo Fisichella |
Medium | Medium (20) | Super-Soft (50) | |
| Adrian Sutil |
Medium | Medium (1) | Super-Soft (23) | Medium (35) |
| Brawn | ||||
| Jenson Button |
Medium | Medium (19) | Super-Soft (47) | |
| Rubens Barrichello |
Medium | Medium (19) | Super-Soft (52) | |
Most drivers started the race on the Medium compound, hoping to run until about ten laps from the end and then use the softer of the tyres for the final dash to the chequered flag.
Exceptions to this were both Ferraris, Robert Kubica, Jarno Trulli, Sebastien Bourdais and Lewis Hamilton. Some drivers ended up making an extra stop due to sustaining damage in the first corner accident, although Rubens Barrichello – the main driver involved – was able to get his car through to his first scheduled pitstop.
me
March 29th, 2009 - 3:01pm
ahh, have missed this
good job on all the postings ollie. must usefulness.
Oliver White
March 29th, 2009 - 4:50pm
Glad you still likey.
Ago
March 30th, 2009 - 11:52pm
Thanks for your work Ollie. Nice to read and wery helpful for those who are trying to understand what was at stake…
With the fuel load on top of that it would be absolutely fantastic
Joking mate…
Oliver White
April 1st, 2009 - 10:32pm
Cheeky!