Australia 2009: Pitstop & Fuel Strategies

The strategies employed for the Australian Grand Prix were fairly standard with most teams aiming for a two stopper during the 58 laps. As with 2008, all drivers must use both compounds of tyre, which for the Albert Park race was Super-Soft and Medium. New for 2009 is the different grades of compounds issued by Bridgestone; they’re further apart, which made the difference between the stints even more noticeable. The Super-Soft tyre degraded after about ten laps of the circuit, so all drivers used the Medium tyre for much of the race.

Australia 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Super-Soft	Medium (12)	Medium (44)
Heikki Kovalainen	Medium
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Super-Soft	Medium (10)	Medium (40)	Super-Soft (44)
Felipe Massa	Super-Soft	Medium (12)	Medium (32)
BMW
Nick Heidfeld	Medium	Medium (1)	Medium (20)	Super-Soft (44)
Robert Kubica	Super-Soft	Medium (13)	Medium (40)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Medium	Medium (20)	Super-Soft (52)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Medium	Medium (20)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Super-Soft	Medium (10)	Medium (34)
Timo Glock	Medium	Medium (19)	Super-Soft (51)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi	Medium	Medium (19)	Super-Soft (42)
Sebastien Bourdais	Super-Soft	Medium (10)	Medium (22)
Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel	Medium	Medium (17)	Super-Soft (46)
Mark Webber	Medium	Medium (1)	Super-Soft (36)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Medium	Medium (17)	Super-Soft (45)
Kazuki Nakajima	Medium
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella	Medium	Medium (20)	Super-Soft (50)
Adrian Sutil	Medium	Medium (1)	Super-Soft (23)	Medium (35)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Medium	Medium (19)	Super-Soft (47)
Rubens Barrichello	Medium	Medium (19)	Super-Soft (52)

Most drivers started the race on the Medium compound, hoping to run until about ten laps from the end and then use the softer of the tyres for the final dash to the chequered flag.

Exceptions to this were both Ferraris, Robert Kubica, Jarno Trulli, Sebastien Bourdais and Lewis Hamilton. Some drivers ended up making an extra stop due to sustaining damage in the first corner accident, although Rubens Barrichello – the main driver involved – was able to get his car through to his first scheduled pitstop.