Formula 1®
DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award: Speedy tire changes more important than ever in 2018
Key Takeaways
- The DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award goes into its fourth season
- Softer tires mean more pit stops
- Will the pit stop world record of 1.92 seconds be beaten in 2018?
For the past three years, Formula 1 fans have been following the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award with the same level of interest as the popular DHL Fastest Lap Award. Extreme precision is not only required on track but also in front of the garage mid-race. A fast tire change can prove decisive in a close strategic duel with the opposition, shaving off crucial tenths and possibly being the difference between victory and defeat.
DHL extends logistics partnership with Formula 1
In 2018, the contest to execute the fastest pit stops will be more intense than ever before. After the introduction of wider (and therefore much heavier) tires in 2017, the workload for the pit crews increased. In 2018, significantly more pit stops are expected, with consistency set to be an additional factor in determining the makeup of the leaderboard.
Last season, the total number of pit stops was just 528. That’s an average of 26.4 per Grand Prix. With 20 cars on the grid, this works out at an average of only 1.32 wheel changes per race per car. So not too many opportunities for the pit crews to demonstrate their skills in lightning fast tire changes. That is set to change in 2018.
Formula 1 in 2018: New rules, drivers and tracks
Softer tires make for more pit stops
Pirelli has developed a range of compounds for 2018 that are consistently softer than the equivalent gradings used in the last campaign. That alone should lead to more tire changes and put an end to the spate of one-stop races seen in 2017. What’s more, a new grade has been added at the grippier end of the scale, namely the Hypersoft. Although this is balanced out by the Superhard at the other end, this exceptionally hard tire is intended only as a backup in case the forces exerted by the faster cars on the tires prove to be more extreme than expected.
The 2018 DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award will thus offer more opportunities per race to claim points towards the trophy. So who can we expect to ultimately prevail and pick up the award at the season finale in Abu Dhabi? Will there be a fourth different champion in the fourth year of the challenge? Scuderia Ferrari were the first ever winners in 2015, with seven fastest pit stops. In the 2016 season, Williams Martini Racing were absolutely dominant with 14 victories in 21 grands prix. The Grove-based outfit also equaled Red Bull Racing’s world record in Baku, when the Williams crew took only 1.92 seconds to change a full set of wheels.
Nobody has bettered that to this day, although Williams came within one tenth of their own record in 2017. They performed the fastest pit stop of the season, with a time of 2.02 seconds at Silverstone. The fastest pit stops of the race weekends during the 2017 campaign averaged out at 2.283 seconds. Williams were, however, edged out in last year’s contest by the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport Team. The Silver Arrows finished on 472 points, 30 ahead of Williams. For the 2017 F1 season, scoring was changed from a simple accumulation of Sunday wins to a points system equivalent to the one used in deciding the Formula 1 drivers’ and constructor championships.
DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award: Previous winners
- 2015: Ferrari - 7 Fastest Stops
- 2016: Williams - 14 Fastest Stops
- 2017: Mercedes - 472 points
Content from disqus has been blocked because you did not allow to load it.
Loading the blocked content will adjust your privacy setting and content from this service will not be blocked in the future.
You have the right to revoke or change your decision at any time.
Posting Guidelines
All communications on Logistics of Things should be appropriate for a professional community, respecting the diverse views of individuals from different backgrounds. We will review all comments and reserve the right to terminate or restrict access to user's account and to delete any content posted through it, without notice and at our discretion, if we deem it to be overly promotional, offensive, or off topic.
All posting become property of DHL.