Entering the Box

I was wondering if anyone here might have the data on who holds the record for the most pit stops in Box history? 🙂

Jonathan Howard7 said:I was wondering if anyone here actually has the data on who holds the record for the most pit stops in Formula 1 history? 🙂

Are we talking about a single race or total career stats?

I recall hearing that Schumacher once pulled off a win despite having to hit the Box four times during a single Grand Prix.

urbanmoose3 said:Are we talking about his entire career or just one specific race?

I recall hearing that Schumacher once managed to win a race despite having to make four pit stops.

In a single race.

Sato had seven or eight pit stops last year, but now the question is—are you talking about standard scheduled stops, or those messy ones caused by technical glitches?

Kevin Long20 said:Sato had about seven or eight pit stops last year, but I'm wondering—are you referring to standard scheduled stops or those sudden ones caused by technical issues?

I mean both regular stops and the technical ones.

Back at Donington in '93, I remember Prost had to make about seven different trips to the Box because the track conditions were just all over the place—it was constant rain, then bone dry, then rain again, then dry...

Racing history has definitely seen its fair share of chaotic scenarios like that; let me see if I can dig up some specific stats on it.

I actually know the exact opposite of what you're looking for—the very last driver who didn't pull into the Box at all during a race was Mika Salo at a rainy Monaco...

Kevin Long20 said:I actually have the exact opposite info—the last driver who didn't pit at all during a race was Mika Salo during one of those rainy races in Monaco...

Wait, you mean he ran the whole thing on a single tank and one set of tires? 😲
How did he even manage to finish that race?

He finished with 😉.
Doduše, the rain was coming down hard and quite a few drivers dropped out, so even ten laps earlier, the race was essentially over.
Anyway, it wasn't until the eighties that refueling during a race was actually allowed. In my opinion, that’s what killed the magic—back then, you only hit the Box for tires, and you had to earn your position on the track itself rather than just gaining ground through pit stops.

Kevin Long20 said:Besides, refueling didn't even become legal until the eighties—which, if you ask me, is exactly when the soul of racing died. Back then, you hit the Box only for tires; you earned your spot on the track, not by playing tactical games in the pit lane.

Wasn't that actually back in '94? I recall Senna refueled a few times prior to that—Silverstone 1990, for instance.

Back in the nineties, everyone was pumping their own gas, but it wasn't actually legal to do it until the eighties.