McLaren’s record pitstop in Mexico and the five quickest tyre changes in 2022 | Sport

• The McLaren F1 team completed the quickest pit stop in 2022 on Daniel Ricciardo’s car in Mexico.
• The time of 1.98 seconds eclipses the 2.09sec set by Red Bull at the Dutch GP.
• The quickest pit stop in F1 history took only 1.82 seconds.

Daniel Ricciardo is not having the greatest of Formula 1 seasons in 2022. In fact, his time behind the wheel of his McLaren F1 car has gone from bad to worse, to the extent that the team opted to end his contract early with one more year remaining.

It’s fair to say that 2022 has been tough on the ever-smiling Australian, and he will be taking a sabbatical in 2023 and focusing on a full-time racing return the following year.

But in Mexico this past weekend, Ricciardo had his best race of the year. He overtook several drivers with immense ease, and extracted a 12-second over eighth-placed Esteban Ocon (Alpine) to thwart off a 10-sec penalty and retain seventh.

While great, Ricciardo and McLaren achieved another great feat by registering the fastest pit stop of the year. And yes, it is the first sub-two-second one accomplished with the new era cars.

That’s quick!

When Verstappen came into the pits to switch from the Medium tyre to the Softs, his team needed only 1.98 seconds to complete the swap. It was quick, slick, and precise. The execution time is marginally faster than Red Bull managed with Sergio Perez at the Dutch Grand Prix when they needed only 2.09sec before the Mexican went off again.

Ardent F1 fans will point out that Ricciardo and McLaren’s feat is not the quickest pit stop in F1 history. And they are right.

WATCH: Daniel Ricciardo carves through Mexican GP field after incurring time penalty

For 2022, F1 introduced new 18-inch tyres, doing away with the 13-inch units that have been used for the longest time. The new units are heavier and more cumbersome to handle. But in the ’13-inch era’, the quickest stop came at the 2019 German GP when Red Bull swapped Max Verstappen’s tyres in just 1.82sec – the quickest outright pitstop in F1 history.

F1 crews go through rigorous training to perfect tyre changes. And in a sport where every millisecond counts, McLaren’s achievement is a reward for tireless efforts.