Formula 1 Pit Stops: 1950 vs Today
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Thanks Phill Oltmann!
The pit stop is one of my favorite parts of racing. A high level of teamwork in a dangerous environment. I do believe a modern F1 team could have changed the engine in the time it took the guy in 1950 to polish the windshield.
I used to be a huge fan of Formula One, and in fact kept cable long after I’d stopped watching almost anything else just because that was the best way to watch the races. Then they started changing one rule after another in the hope of ending one team dominance and lowering costs, and accomplished neither, while making the racing vastly less interesting to watch. I haven’t followed it in years now. I seem to recall several of the rules changes made the pit stops take much longer than the amazing 2 second or less stops they were getting for a while.
The Red Bull team makes their pit stops in about 2 seconds, sometimes less! This video shows them breaking the world record in the 2019 Brazilian GP, they serviced Max Verstappen, one of my favorite drivers who just won in Monaco, on the first of his three stops in an amazing 1.82 seconds! Indy Car usually takes about 7 or 8 seconds for their pit stops. The reason for this is unlike Formula 1 pit stops where up to 20 people are involved, only six people – wearing fireproof gear – are allowed to go over the wall when an Indy car stops, and Indy car refuels their cars during the race whereas F1 fuels their cars only before the race and does not refuel during the race. I much prefer Indy Car to F1, but I watch both.
Video Link: https://youtu.be/wsCriICZ-nA
It is ironic you posted this just now as a technical pit stop disaster ruined a great race for one driver just this weekend in Monaco.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9LxNBMaMUSo&feature=emb_err_woyt
MDN: Yes, Valtteri Bottas was very unlucky to have that wheel nut cross threaded and stripped so it could not be removed, thus ending his race. However, since I am a Verstappen/Red Bull fan, and definitely not a Mercedes fan, this development was a pleasant surprise for me.