Pitstop times.......

I remember the days when Senna was driving, and a 5 second pit stop was considered phenomenal. Now, we are seeing stops in the mid 3 second range. Does anyone know why they are that much faster nowadays?

Is it purely down to the design of the air gun/lock nut technology?

 

Lack of refueling is the biggest factor.

fuel was the limiting factor up to a couple years ago. no reason to speed up tires, if you are waiting for gas anyway.

Now it's only tires. they have that down to a science. I'm sure they have optimized the wheel nut / hub interface and the air wrench.

That and practice...

 

They didn't have fueling at times either when Senna was racing.

I think most of it is optimised wheel nuts and a lot of practise.

 

Also the car jacks have evolved. Take a look at Ferrari's front jack. It can swing so it's quicker out of the way when the car is released again.

 

Merc has the wheel nut integrated into the wheel. I know Merc as of April had the quickest average delta times

Mercedes GP 14 22,301 s
McLaren 17 22,383 s
Red Bull 17 22,589 s
Sauber 10 23,067 s
Force India 14 23,340 s
Renault 14 23,615 s
Ferrari 17 23,739 s
Williams 8 23,810 s
Toro Rosso 12 23,960 s
Lotus 10 24,220 s
Virgin Racing 12 24,944 s
Hispania 5 25,676 s

 

+1 Refueling, even with the pressurised rigs (that suck out air in addition to pumping in the fuel) generally took ~8-15 seconds depending on how much was going in. This obviously relieved a lot of pressure on the tire changers......

At that one race.....

I think RB are generally considered the quickest right now with a good stop at just over 3 seconds.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I know in Japan Merc had 3 of the 4 quickest pit stop times that race.

 

Oh, they're good, don't get me wrong - Certainly organization & *lots* of practice is one of Ross' strong suits.

But I'd bet if we go back and check we'd see all the top teams quickest here and there - It's incredibly close at the front and no one has a clear advantage.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Mercedes GP has the most consistent stops. Red Bull has recorded a single tire change at 2.8 seconds (FL at Monaco in 2010).

Biggest factor is attaching the gun to the wheel nut before the car actually stops, this can save 0.3 seconds. Then the guns, they need full rebuilds after about 50 "changes" at full line pressure. Then the way the old tires are removed, with the tire remover putting the exact amount of pressure so that the tire can be removed the second (or 0.2 seconds due to reaction time) the tire can be release followed by the new tire placed on at the same time. Then is down to the lead mechanic to release the car.