The Japanese Grand Prix this year was a relatively straightforward race, as it at the top was no real battle, after Fernando Alonso already retired and Mark Webber at the start and Romain Grosjean far due to their collision fell back. On the other hand, however, the strategy played an important role in Felipe Massa's strong results and contributed to some of the other major race scenes, as the fight between Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher's attack points from the back.
Considerations before the race
Before the race, there was clearly the opinion that two stops were the best tactics, the biggest concern was the formation of bubbles on the Pirellis, the first of the Pace does not destroy, but due to vibration destroys the balance. The inside of the front tires was the most vulnerable point. Pirelli had the hard and soft compounds brought to Suzuka, with the soft qualifying proved faster than a second, and in the race than 0.4 seconds per lap. The hard tires were slower, but they did not throw as many bubbles as the softer and they also last longer.
To put it in a start with soft tires in qualifying already had three rounds behind, good to make it to the finish line, you had to come up with the first set of tires to about round 14 or 15 before the first stop was completed. Would follow over two stints of up to 20 laps. The strategy computer had predicted in round 14 and 34 stops for fresh, hard tires as probable strategy and so it proved, with the first stop in some cases thanks to the safety car after the accident at the start was delayed a bit.
The simulations have shown, according to UBS Strategy Report that would be two stops by ten seconds faster than three, but the teams were ready to switch to the three stops, the tire degradation to be too big - he was not. Ultimately, the race was a no-brainer for Vettel, Alonso and Rosberg were eliminated after the start and fell behind Grosjean and Webber far. The strategies were more conservative and balanced the length of the stint pretty. The safety car on lap one to the drivers also helped to extend their first stint, which made a difference.
Massa: Overtime pays off
Felipe Massa in his Ferrari showed a strong race. He started in tenth and came in second place, so he took his first podium in two years. The basis for this was a great strategy and a fantastic start to Massa on lap one from tenth to four brought forward because he avoided the chaos of the Webber-Grosjean-collision and the Alonso-Raikkonen accident. Since he had missed the last phase of qualifying, Massa could start with fresh, soft tires in the race. He also had two new sets of hard rubber available, and his strategy was designed to get the maximum from it.
Thanks to his strong start, he crashed into Jenson Button and Kamui Kobayashi for second place and his new, soft tires in the first stint earned him an advantage because he was able to drive a few laps longer than Button and Kobayashi. The McLaren was in Japan a little harder at his tires, so Button came in on lap 13, Kobayashi followed one lap later. Buttons Pace was right before his stop similar to that of Massa and the Briton believes that the team brought him in too early, so he's right. When he came out of the box, he was behind Daniel Ricciardo at Toro Rosso, before stopping from 0.8 to 1.2 seconds slower than he had been. Even a round or two with the pace and he would have been in front of him, but because the tires were about to fall off, McLaren went on the safe side.
That turned out to be crucial, since Button was 16 seconds behind Massa when he came out of the box and this value rose within three rounds on 19 seconds. Thus Massa had enough buffer to come into the pits and Button and overtake Kobayashi, who also was stuck behind Ricciardo. The new tires helped Massa at the start to the first stint three important rounds to stay out longer than its direct competitors, with which he was able to secure second place. Massa was quick on the hard tires and achieved what his best result of the past two years, by which he proved that he has not lost his speed. Maybe his problems in the past two seasons were more psychological.
Other interesting strategies
Perez tried the same Massa, he wanted to go for a long first stint in order to overtake Kimi Raikkonen in the pits. Although it was on the track behind him, was the Sauber driver in the first stint faster than the Lotus and Sauber strategists tried two laps longer than Raikkonen to stay out who stopped on lap 13th Raikkonen was vulnerable because he had at the start using an older set of tires, as he had damaged his qualifying tires in a spin.
The plan of Sauber was therefore not because Perez's tires too early exhaled her life, which he was after his stop on lap 15, not only still behind Raikkonen, but also behind Hamilton. Psychologically, it was of course interesting to see Perez behind the driver, whom he will replace next year at McLaren, the Mexicans seemed to want to show what he's made of. However, he lost control of his car, when he fought with and was eliminated by Hamilton.
Webber, meanwhile, managed after the incident with Grosjean in the first round a decent comeback. It debuted at number nine, eight seconds behind the fifth-placed. Webber stopped after the first lap on new tires and had the misfortune of the race after the safety car period already started again, before he caught up with the field. At the restart it was still 17 seconds behind the last car.
From there he went away basically a one-stop strategy, grabbing at his stop on lap 26 or a new set of hard tires and drove away with it. This showed that the improved Red Bull is not just a fast car, but thanks to the updates to the rear suspension and rear aerodynamics also good on the tires respects as improving traction and wheel spin has been reduced.
Michael Schumacher had to start from square 23 are also working through the field. He started on new hard tires and its strategy built on the fact that he had two new sets of Softs, which he picked up on laps 17 and 36. He won twelve positions, but the pace of the car was different from Webber just there, so he missed out on the points. Much of the first half of the race Schumacher spent behind, Paul di Resta and thanks to his starts, during which he seemed from position 23 to 16, it did not pass all Caterhams, Marussias or HRT, Webber was not spared.
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