The Mechanics of F1 Pit Stops

What happens off the circuit

Pit stops are one of the most exciting parts of a Formula 1 race. Races can be won through pit strategy but they can also be lost in a blink of an eye because of a slow stop. Much thought goes into when cars pit depending on circumstances like weather, tire pressure and overall car damage. While pit stops take less than 1% of race times, large disparities between team pit times can still have an effect on overall performance.

What are pit stops?

A car enters the pit lane when it needs a tire change or new parts due to damage. The driver then pulls over next to the team garage where the pit crew is waiting. The tires are then changed and the driver exits the pit within 3 seconds. The fastest pit time (excluding entry and exit) for a Formula 1 car was clocked at 1.82 seconds by Red Bull at the 2019 Brazilian GP (shown below).

Pit crew jobs

As you can see, there are many jobs necessary to change the tires in a timely matter. Team pit crews normally have over 20 people who specialize in specific parts of the process.

Tire Gunner - 4

The tire gunner uses a wheel gun to unscrew nuts of old tires and screw in new tires. There is 1 gunner for each tire. This job is critical because a slip up can cause cars to not finish races as seen by Haas in the 2019 Australian GP. With both cars in the points, the pit crew failed to screw in the new tires tight enough so both cars ended up not finishing the race.

Tire Off - 4

This is a simple job of removing the tire when the tire gunner has loosened it. There is 1 crew member for each tire. Excluding rims, front tires and rear tires weigh around 9.5 kg and 11.5kg which is about the weight of 2 bowling balls.

Tire On - 4

This person has to make sure that the right tires are ready and puts the new tire on once the old tire has come off. This can be confusing in double stacking, when cars come in consecutively (more on this later).

Front Jack - 2

The front jack person lifts the front wing to allow the front tires to be changed. There is a backup in case the driver comes in too hot and doesn’t stop in the right place or if cars are double stacking.

Rear Jack - 2

This job is the same as the front jack but the person lifts the rear of the car. There is also a spare just in case.

Steadier/Side Jack - 2

Since using jacks destabilizes the car, steadiers hold the car (in the cockpit area) as steady as possible so the tires can be put on efficiently. If a car needs a new front wing, the front jack cannot be used and the steadiers use a side jack to lift up the car so the tires and wing can be changed.

Front Wing Adjuster - 2

The flaps on the front wing may need adjusting so there are two crew members who tighten or loosen the screws to help adjust for under or over steer. This is done in ‘turns’ of a screw. These members also assist during front wing changes.

Lollipop Man - 1

This person holds a very important role: they signal when the car can be released. Historically, the person would hold a stick with a circular sign (similar to a lollipop) and motion for the car to be released. Now this is done electronically but a lollipop man is still necessary to make sure the car isn’t released into pit lane traffic. This person stands in front of the car with a light that will turn green when the crew has finished changing tires.

Double Stacking

Double stacking is when the two cars come into pit right after each other. It is crucial to execute pit stops perfectly so that the second car is not held up by the first. Additionally, each driver is assigned a certain number of tires for each race weekend, so crew members need to be extra vigilant to not confuse them. Here is an example of Mercedes double stacking in the 2019 Chinese GP.

What influences pit stop times?

Let’s take a look at the 2022 pit stop times of 5 teams: Mercedes, Red Bull, Mclaren, Ferrari, and Alfa Tauri, as well as the average of those teams.

While the difference between teams are often within 1 second, the average trend varies depending on which circuit it is. This is because pit lane lengths can vary from 281m (Albert Part Circuit) to around 1140m (Interlagos Circuit).

If we take a closer look at the minuscule, yet important differences between teams, we can see how consistent Red Bull is.

This data was truncated by subtracting the nearest integer to more accurately show the differences in pit times

With a consistently low pit time (given a certain circuit), Red Bull has secured itself as one of the most dominant teams in the pits. However, pit times are not the make or break of a season. Mercedes was 356 points ahead of Mclaren in the constructors championship even though their pit stops were often longer than Mclaren’s.

Data

P/R = pit time per race and P/T = pit time per team (including entry and exit)

You can further see how great Red Bull is at pit stops by comparing their average pit stop time (regardless of circuit) with the other 4 teams. They averaged around 23.78 seconds while the other teams averaged above 24 seconds.

I found this data by averaging out the 2022 leading drivers pit stop times for each of the 5 teams. This data is excluding pit stops that were needed due to front wing or other damages. It also excludes extreme cases. If a leading driver did not finish, I used the secondary driver pit times.

1. https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/insiders-guide-what-are-f1s-tyre-rules/6885459/#:~:text=Excluding%20the%20wheel%20rims%2C%20the,weight%20of%20a%20bowling%20ball

2. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1116/france/pit-stop-summary.html

3. https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/2022_10_gbr_f1_r0_timing_racepitstopsummary_v01.pdf

4. https://www.kaggle.com/code/kevinkwan/formula-1-pit-stops-analysis

5. https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/marsF1/en/instance/ko/2022-Australian-Grand-Prix---Preview.xhtml?oid=188418022

6. New Formula 1 Pit Stop World Record (1.82s / Red Bull Racing / 2019 Brazilian GP)

7. Mercedes INSANE Double-Stack Pit Stop!