Thanks for the analysisWynters wrote: ↑17 Jul 2020, 16:31Quick shout back to Styria.
Each of the drivers had two significant stints:-
1) Once Sainz had been passed by Albon, Sainz had 23 laps at an average lap time of 1:09.65. He finished with a final 5-lap avg of 1:09.35 and pitted on lap 32. He had started losing time on his last two laps. I suspect he was trying to clear the Grosjean/Raikonnen/Kvyat/Gio battle from his pit window but couldn't quite manage it.
1) Once Stroll passed Norris he found himself stuck in the Ocon train. He traded places with Perez and Gasly but it didn't really matter as Ocon was holding all of them up. This didn't seem to be too much of an issue though as, once Ocon pitted on lap 26, Norris' pace remained consistent, sitting a couple of seconds back from Perez. In light of this, I've included the traffic period in his first stint meaning that Norris did 33 laps with a 1:09.74 average, finishing on a 5-lap 1:09.26 average when he pitted on lap 39.
2) Sainz comes out in traffic but it quickly clears leaving his second stint pretty unobstructed. Over the next 28 laps he averages a 1:08.57, finishing with a 1:08.12 (this is excluding the lap Norris passed him which saw a 1:09.85 from Sainz).
2) Norris comes out and is pretty clear until he reaches Sainz and then onto the end. This 31 lap stint was averaged at 1:08.0 with a final five laps of 1:07.4 or 1:07.9 (if you use the final 3 laps of squabbling). I've also excluded the lap he passed Sainz (which cost him almost a second).
Both drivers had a surprising amount of time in clear air (although I suspect Norris' strategy was dictated by being stuck behind the Ocon train for most of his first stint). Sainz commented after the race that trying to clear the traffic after his stop destroyed his tyres but I'm not wholly convinced. He cleared most of the traffic within 4 laps and barely sniffed the Racing points (overall, he spent four laps within 2-seconds of either Racing point and never within 1 second of them). The botched stop really didn't help but he was going to come out into traffic regardless. I feel it was a poor race from Sainz after a great qualifying.
Norris, on the other hand, seemed comfortable managing his pace in traffic and then dropping the hammer when the road opened up in front of him.
They did both have a weirdly slow lap 45, no idea why.
But can´t agree with the red part. I´ve just checked as I have the race recorded. Sainz lost around 4 seconds in the pitstop (7.2 seconds). There was a train of Kvyat, Giovinazzi and Raikonnen, then Grosjean 3 seconds back. He would have needed a lightspeed pitstop to clear Gio, but with a standard pitstop he would have been in front of Kimi. But instead of that, he went out of pits behind Raikonnen... and also behind Grosjean. He went out of pits in lap 33 and passed Kimi in lap 38, so 5 laps in dirty air he should have never suffered (dirty air from 4 cars is much worse than dirty air from 2 cars). But those were just traffic, then Ricciardo, Stroll and Perez, their real rivals who were all of them behind him before the pitstop at 0.7, 2.4 and 4.0 seconds (gaps at lap 32), were all in front after the pitstop because of the lost 4 seconds and a bit more due to the traffic
On a race where the midfield is so tight, losing three positions and being forced to run in dirty air for some extra laps will ruin anyone´s race. Sainz was doing the race he had to do, keeping those Renault and RP behind, and coming into the pits soon to avoid an undercut. But when s**t happens there´s nothing he could have done better
Add to that he was forced to let Norris pass (TOs) because he was much faster at that point (ruined tires), and in the end that pitstop did cost him 4 positions, so he finished 9th instead of 5th
That pitstop completely ruined his race
