From McLaren’s 1.80 World Record to Red Bull’s Pit Stop in the Dark; Here’s a Look at Top 5 Pit Stops of All Times

Over the years, many aspects of Formula 1 have changed drastically. We have seen the introduction of the Halo for improved safety. There are a lot of technical aspects that have changed. Apart from the core aspects, the entire sport would look and feel alien to someone from the early 90s era, and it’s understandable why. One of the things that have undergone extreme modernization is the pitstops. Pitstops have always been vital in F1 and often alter the outcome of the race. However, current-day pitstops aren’t like any other in the sport’s history, and let us tell you why.

We’ve come a long way from the refueling era where an average pitstop was 8 seconds or higher. Now eight seconds feel like an eternity and that’s all because F1 is a sport of speed in every aspect. With the massive amount of data being transmitted and interpreted, teams now accurately predict their position when they rejoin the race. However, these predictions are made considering that the pit crew does its job effectively. This is where a solid crew executing a perfect pitstop comes into play, with the drivers playing their part as well. If not for the training and execution of these pitstops we wouldn’t have had some astonishing and honestly mind-boggling numbers in the top 3 fastest pitstops of all time and some worthy of our appreciation.

Top 5 incredible F1 pitstops featuring Red Bull, McLaren, and Mercedes

Red Bull has ruled the championship in the past couple of seasons. However, there was one aspect where the Milton Keynes-based outfit was head and shoulders above the rest since at least 2019. When it comes to executing a swift pitstop the Red Bull crew is the best of the lot. In the list of the top ten fastest pit stops in the sport’s history, apart from McLaren‘s latest feat, nine are Red Bull’s accolades. So let us highlight the top three fastest pitstops in the sport’s history. Please keep your eyes peeled as this segment has no space for pitstops over two seconds.

3rd: 2020 Portuguese GP, Red Bull, Alex Albon: 1.86 seconds

First up on the list is Red Bull and Albon’s 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix pitstop. It is also the second-fastest pitstop in Red Bull’s history. The quick 1.86 pitstop was the season’s fastest matching Max Verstappen‘s stop in Russia. The rapid pit stop was executed by then-Red Bull man Alex Albon‘s side of the garage and lasted just 1.86 seconds. It turned out to be inconsequential in the end as Albon finished 12th in the race. But the positive sign was the entire Red Bull garage was knocking out stops in under two seconds in the 2020 season.

2nd: 2019, Brazilian GP, Red Bull, Max Verstappen: 1.82 seconds

2019 was the year when the Red Bull pit crew was at the peak of its powers. Verstappen’s side of the garage had already made a world record earlier in the season in Germany with a 1.88-second pit stop. However, the team took it up a notch and broke their record toward the end of the season with a record 1.82-second pitstop at Interlagos. This record remained until the 2023 season’s Qatar GP and Red Bull’s last contribution to the list of the fastest pit stops in the sport’s history.

Read More: McLaren Destroys Red Bull by Joining the Likes of Lewis Hamilton With Special Guinness World Record

1st: 2023, Qatar GP, McLaren, Lando Norris: 1.82 seconds

Gaining even a hundredth of a second in the fast-moving world of Formula 1 is a massive task. This is exactly why Verstappen’s record from 2019 stood until Lando Norris’s McLaren pit crew knocked the Bulls off the top spot. Norris’s Qatar GP stop lasted a mere 1.80 seconds, two-hundredths of a second faster than the previous record. The world record stop was cheery on top of Norris’s P3 finish in the race.

The McLaren men broke into an aspect of F1 which is largely dominated by Red Bull men and how. However, to earn some respect back, the Red Bull Racing pit crew recently released a video on its social media channels to showcase their strengths.

Red Bull pitch black pit stop: 2.84 seconds

Red Bull’s pit crew pulled off an incredible stunt recently. When there are teams who can’t pull off pit stops in under three seconds consistently on race days, the Red Bull crew pulled one off in complete darkness. This task required the crew to complete a pit stop based on muscle memory alone in complete darkness. Incredibly enough, the best crew in the business achieved this task in exactly 2.84 seconds. They can finally brag they can complete one of the vital tasks of a race with their eyes closed.

Pit stops are an incredible show of skill. This is exactly why some pit stops aren’t about speed but execution which brings us to our last but not the least pit stop in the list.

Mercedes’ perfectly executed double-stack pit stop

2019 was a year of incredible pit stops. Adding competition for the best in their own way, back at the 2019 Chinese GP, Mercedes also showcased their pit stop prowess. The team had both cars in 1-2 during the race and to see it out; the team decided to pit both Lewis Hamilton and following Valtteri Bottas in one go.

Double stacking is often considered a risky move, as the following driver can lose time if there are any hiccups in the first pitstop. However, the 2019 Mercedes crew was confident in their craft and executed a perfect double stack with the two Mercedes men and Valtteri Bottas did not have to slow down any more than he needed to. Not the fastest, but surely one of the best pit stops we’ve ever seen.

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Which ones according to you are worthy of a mention as well? Let us know!

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