An Exclusive Club

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Mercedes may have dominated the races this season but Red Bull have mastered the art of a pit stop. A few years ago everyone marveled over a sub 5 second pit stop and now that benchmark is below 2 seconds.

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Practice and more practice is how it is achieved working as a well oiled machine. The Red Bull crew steal a good 3 or 4 seconds over their rivals at every race. This doesn't sound like much but when races are tight it allows them to steal track position by undercutting their rivals by pitting first. Speed is essential on the track and in the pit stops as well as the one thing the FIA is looking to change is to increase pit stops throughout the race. Three or four stops could be the norm come 2022 and 2023 so it could equate to a gain or loss of some serious times.

A pit crew generally is made up of 20 mechanics each having only one task to complete as quickly as possible. Three on each wheel with one on the speed gun removing the wheel nuts and the other two removing and replacing the tyre. Two members to stabalise the car plus one on each jack at the front and rear of the car. Two mechanics that make adjustments on the front wings and nose cone. There are two back up jack operators incase anything goes wrong. Finally one member to tell the driver it is safe to leave the pit box.

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When things don't go according to plan.

With so many team members in close proximity to each other there is so much that can go wrong yet they seem to have no problems. We have seen other teams with cars sitting in their boxes for 20 seconds plus as things unravel. Any hope of a win or earning a constructors point can be thrown away which at the end of the day is big money.

The difference between McLaren coming third this season and Racing Point 4th was minimal points wise but 10's of millions in dollars difference in prize money. Allocating a decent portion of the budget to having the best pit crew is a must.

Not every mechanic is a top athlete yet these guys have to be at the top of their game. I remember watching a documentary on one of the teams a few years ago and their was huge rivalry trying to get on the pit crew amongst the mechanics at the factory. You get to travel the world and also feel more connected to helping the team achieve something.

Next season we expect to see closer racing but the crunch should happen in 2022 when we see new regulations in place. This is when having the best pit crew will make the most difference as other teams now are looking for seconds on each other. Red Bull are almost at their peak and surely the 1.86 second time can't improve that much.