Analysis: Ferrari beats Red Bull in the pit lane with a brilliant pit stop

The Miami Grand Prix saw Ferrari and Red Bull set the benchmark in the pit lane with both of them performing tyre changes below the 2-second mark. F1Technical’s senior writer Balázs Szabó reports on the pit stop performance in Florida.

Red Bull had to face plenty of challenges in the Miami Grand Prix and not just out on track, as McLaren got the better of Max Verstappen, but also in the pit lane where they were beaten by Ferrari in a race against the clock to set a DHL Fastest Pit Stop time of under 2 seconds.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit had two impressive tyre changes. Their mechanics first serviced Sergio Perez’s RB20 in just 1.95 seconds when the Mexican elected to make a relatively early tyre change. Red Bull then performed a slightly slower, but still impressive stop when Max Verstappen pitted for new tyres on Lap 23. This tyre change took only 2.22 seconds.

But Ferrari’s crew were quick to rise to the challenge, calling Charles Leclerc into the pits on Lap 19. The Scuderia fitted a new set of hards on Leclerc’s car in just 1.94 seconds which became the quickest pit stop in the Miami round. This was the first stop of the year in less than 2 seconds for the Italians.

Although Ferrari were brilliant in Miami, their 1.94-second pit stop is a fractionally shy of what Red Bull achieved in China two weeks ago. The Anglo-Austrian squad changed the tyres on Max Verstappen’s car in just 1.90 seconds in Shanghai which is the current record this year.

Overall, Ferrari lost 0.273 seconds to Red Bull in the pit lane as the Scuderia had a less impressive tyre change when they serviced Carlos Sainz’s car. This stop took 3.19 seconds.

Interestingly, RB were the second quickest when it came to average tyre change. The Faenza-based outfit only lost just over two tenths of a second to Red Bull, having completed two impressive pit stops (2.44 seconds for Yuki Tsunoda and 2.56 seconds for Daniel Ricciardo).

Mercedes were still not brilliant, but have been fairly quick considering the average loss to the benchmark. The Brackley-based outfit serviced Lewis Hamilton’s car in just 2.49 seconds, but it took 3.03 seconds to change the tyres on George Russell’s W15.

Williams and Alpine lost around four tenths of a second to Red Bull. Aston Martin displayed a similar performance, achieving a loss of half a second to Red Bull in average.

Kick Sauber continues to struggle in the pit lane, having lost almost a full second per pit stop to the field-leading Red Bull. The Swiss outfit completed a total of three stops: 2.73, 2.81 and 3.74 seconds. However, Sauber is expected to bring a new wheel nut design for the forthcoming Emilia Romagna Grand Prix which should make their pit stop quicker and more consistent.