Some data from the past few races

[Forzi]

Found this on James Allens blog:

Recent start performance

As far as 2012 start performance is concerned drivers have gained (+) or lost (-) places off the start line this season, on aggregate, as follows –

Gained:

+23 Massa
+19 Kovalainen
+18 Glock
+14 Alonso
+8 Perez ***
+12 Raikkonen
+9 Senna
+8 Maldonado****
+7 Pic
+5 Schumacher*
+6 Kobayashi****
+5 Hamilton, Vergne
+ 4 Di Resta , Karthikeyan
+ 2 
 Vettel
+1 Button, Rosberg

Held position: Petrov
Lost:
-1 Grosjean** ****
-3 De la Rosa ****
- 4 Hulkenberg
- 7 Webber
-10 Ricciardo
* Senna, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg were all involved in accidents on 1st lap in Australia
** Schumacher and Grosjean collided on Lap 1 in Malaysia, Senna and Perez pitted for wet tyres on opening lap
***Perez punctured on lap 1 in Spain and went to back of field
**** Eliminated by or involved in first lap accident in Monaco

Pit Stop League Table
Of course good strategy planning also requires good pit stop execution by the mechanics and we have seen tyre stops carried out in less than two and a half seconds by F1 teams. Here again Ferrari leads the way consistently this year.

It is also clear that the field has significantly closed up in pit stops. The top four teams fastest stops were within 4/10ths of a second of each other in Spain. It shows how much work has gone on in this area.
The league table below shows the order of the pit crews based on their fastest time in the Monaco Grand Prix, from the car entering the pit lane to leaving it. The positions from previous race are in brackets.
Worth noting is that Marussia did a faster stop than many established teams and Mercedes reclaimed the top spot after Ferrari had topped the table in recent races.

1. Mercedes 24.874 (1),
2. Ferrari 24.993 (3)
3. Red Bull 25.079 (1)
4. McLaren 25.219
5. Toro Rosso 25.335 (6)
6. Marussia 25.567 (12)
7. Force India 25.642 (4)
8. Sauber 25.666 (9)
9. Caterham 26.066 (10)

10. Lotus 26.380 (8)
11 Williams 26.410 (7)
12. HRT 27.306 (11)

Don't know how we are doing it, but for now we are the best starters and the best in the pits. Well done team!

[Naeem]

What i wanna know is if we have clever wheel-threading and no refuelling, then barring waiting for cars to pass, why aren't we ALWAYS quickest? we're still tardy but this is very pleasant news considering last years pitstops.

[REDARMYSOJA]

What i wanna know is if we have clever wheel-threading and no refuelling, then barring waiting for cars to pass, why aren't we ALWAYS quickest? we're still tardy but this is very pleasant news considering last years pitstops.

Nothing make you happy?

Who cares, Mercedes is tops but what good is it doing them?

[scuderiafan]

What i wanna know is if we have clever wheel-threading and no refuelling, then barring waiting for cars to pass, why aren't we ALWAYS quickest? we're still tardy but this is very pleasant news considering last years pitstops.

Well, that is just for Monaco.
In the other races, Ferrari have like 4 of their stops, many times, 5 in the top 6. Also, Their stops are far more consistent compared to others.

And Mercedes also have that wheel it technology.

[Naeem]

Well, that is just for Monaco.
In the other races, Ferrari have like 4 of their stops, many times, 5 in the top 6. Also, Their stops are far more consistent compared to others.

And Mercedes also have that wheel it technology.

Thank you for your useful response.

[gvsnraju85]

I dont know about others but in my opinion, Massa is one of the best starters on the grid......every year i see him consistently putting in the best starts and making up positions in starts.......As far as I remember even last year he was the best starter on grid in almost each and every race.....he never loses positions in a start and almost aways gains positions during starts.

[Jas]

I dont know about others but in my opinion, Massa is one of the best starters on the grid......every year i see him consistently putting in the best starts and making up positions in starts.......As far as I remember even last year he was the best starter on grid in almost each and every race.....he never loses positions in a start and almost aways gains positions during starts.

couldn't agree more, i can remember not long ago he stated in an interview that he was one of the best, he's also getting into less contact at the start...touch wood, really want him to stay...however it maybe as a result of starting out of position, even still he often is 1 or side by side alonso come the first corner! he just need s to improve quali and hes sorted, hope he does well in canada!!!

[gvsnraju85]

There is one more thing that bugs me....even if Massa sorts out his quali pace the Ferrari race strategy is generally tailor made to suit Alonso and aimed at improving Alonso's position and they just seem to fit in Massa's pits where ever they have gaps......they never focus on pitting Massa so that he can improve his position on the track......I know Alonso is the prime focus and all but I am sure if I was Massa i would be really frustrated with this sort of treatment......not that he can complain about it openly....he has to live with it but still I am sure it bugs/irks him no end.

How many times in the last couple of years has massa moved up the field (even into top 3 or 4 on track) on race day only to fall back to lower than 10 because he was not called into the pits on time

I AM NOT STARTING AN ALONSO VS MASSA COMPARISION HERE.....

Just an observation.

[Hornet]

There is one more thing that bugs me....even if Massa sorts out his quali pace the Ferrari race strategy is generally tailor made to suit Alonso and aimed at improving Alonso's position and they just seem to fit in Massa's pits where ever they have gaps......they never focus on pitting Massa so that he can improve his position on the track......I know Alonso is the prime focus and all but I am sure if I was Massa i would be really frustrated with this sort of treatment......not that he can complain about it openly....he has to live with it but still I am sure it bugs/irks him no end.

How many times in the last couple of years has massa moved up the field (even into top 3 or 4 on track) on race day only to fall back to lower than 10 because he was not called into the pits on time

I AM NOT STARTING AN ALONSO VS MASSA COMPARISION HERE.....

Just an observation.

And what evidence do you have that Ferrari is not giving Massa the best strategy? Both drivers have their own race engineers to work out their strategy.

Are you saying that Alonso's race engineer is working hard while Massa engineer is probably playing Angry Birds during the race? You accuse Ferrari of focusing more on Alonso during race although both of them have their own race engineer so they can have the undivided attention of their own race engineer, that doesn't make sense.

[gvsnraju85]

And what evidence do you have that Ferrari is not giving Massa the best strategy? Both drivers have their own race engineers to work out their strategy.

Are you saying that Alonso's race engineer is working hard while Massa engineer is probably playing Angry Birds during the race? You accuse Ferrari of focusing more on Alonso during race although both of them have their own race engineer so they can have the undivided attention of their own race engineer, that doesn't make sense.

Okay so can you please explain why Massa always looses out in pits....why has he always lost ground after a pit stop irrespective of if he is on the same strategy as Alonso or not??

[Rishu]

Okay so can you please explain why Massa always looses out in pits....why has he always lost ground after a pit stop irrespective of if he is on the same strategy as Alonso or not??

What Hornet is trying to say is that both our drivers have their own race engineers who try to give their respective drivers the best possible strategy, however it’s true that whenever there is a situation for example changing conditions, Alonso is always asked to box before Massa which compromises Massa's strategy. But again you cannot complain since team has to back its lead driver.

[Hornet]

Okay so can you please explain why Massa always looses out in pits....why has he always lost ground after a pit stop irrespective of if he is on the same strategy as Alonso or not??

There are many possible reasons from slow inlap, slow outlap, to tire wear and so on.

Take Monaco for example. Alonso was able to jump ahead because he conserve his tires, knowing that you cannot overtake here. So his tires was still good for him to blitz the last few laps which is very important. Massa and Lewis and many other drivers instead constantly put fast laps from the beginning and their tires are pretty much done for by the time the pit stop arrives. Massa have also suffer from tire degradation in past races. Again, if your tires are dead before the pit stop window arrive, you are screwed either way. Pit too early and your tires won't last again in the next stint, not to mention getting stuck behind traffic.

Pit stop strategy is not a self working magic trick.

[Corey]

There are many possible reasons from slow inlap, slow outlap, to tire wear and so on.

Take Monaco for example. Alonso was able to jump ahead because he conserve his tires, knowing that you cannot overtake here. So his tires was still good for him to blitz the last few laps which is very important. Massa and Lewis and many other drivers instead constantly put fast laps from the beginning and their tires are pretty much done for by the time the pit stop arrives. Massa have also suffer from tire degradation in past races. Again, if your tires are dead before the pit stop window arrive, you are screwed either way. Pit too early and your tires won't last again in the next stint, not to mention getting stuck behind traffic.

Pit stop strategy is not a self working magic trick.

[sav_pap]

I thought that we had the fastest pit stop times...

[Elvis]

Found this on James Allens blog:

Recent start performance

As far as 2012 start performance is concerned drivers have gained (+) or lost (-) places off the start line this season, on aggregate, as follows –

Gained:

+23 Massa
+19 Kovalainen
+18 Glock
+14 Alonso
+8 Perez ***
+12 Raikkonen
+9 Senna
+8 Maldonado****
+7 Pic
+5 Schumacher*
+6 Kobayashi****
+5 Hamilton, Vergne
+ 4 Di Resta , Karthikeyan
+ 2 
 Vettel
+1 Button, Rosberg

Held position: Petrov
Lost:
-1 Grosjean** ****
-3 De la Rosa ****
- 4 Hulkenberg
- 7 Webber
-10 Ricciardo
* Senna, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg were all involved in accidents on 1st lap in Australia
** Schumacher and Grosjean collided on Lap 1 in Malaysia, Senna and Perez pitted for wet tyres on opening lap
***Perez punctured on lap 1 in Spain and went to back of field
**** Eliminated by or involved in first lap accident in Monaco

....

I think the sum of positions gained and the sum of positions lost must neutralise each other.