F1 Pit Stop Times 2026: Who Really Wins in the Pit Lane?

F1 pit stop times in 2026 favour Mercedes: across the first 15 rounds, its median pit-lane visit in the GridRaces database is 22.25 seconds, ahead of Ferrari on 22.48 and McLaren on 23.02. Cadillac sits at the other end on 25.55. That is a 3.30-second spread between the quickest and slowest median, over 591 recorded stops.

What do these F1 pit stop times actually measure?

A fair warning first. The durations in our database sit between about 22 and 26 seconds at the median, which means they are whole-pit-lane visits, from entry to exit, not the two-second stationary moment you see on the broadcast. That makes them a blend of crew speed, pit-lane layout and how clean the release was.

We use the median, not the average, for a reason. A handful of recorded stops are enormous, the product of red flags and long repairs, and they would drag any average into nonsense. The median shrugs them off.

Which team is quickest in the pit lane?

Here is the table: median pit-lane time per team across rounds 1 to 15 of the 2026 season.

Mercedes leads on 22.25s from 53 stops. Ferrari is 0.23s behind from 54. McLaren and Red Bull are separated by 0.01s (23.02 against 23.03) and RB F1 Team and Alpine by 0.02s (23.23 against 23.25). The middle of the table is a photo finish.

Why does the gap matter?

Because pit stops are a thing teams do two or three times a race, and a 3.30s median spread is not a rounding error. Over a typical stop, the quickest crew is giving its driver about three seconds of pit-lane time compared with the slowest median. That is the difference between an undercut that works and one that leaves you rejoining behind the car you were trying to jump.

It is also, to be fair, partly the cars that tell the story. Teams at the top of the table are also the teams that tend to get released into free air. Clean traffic is a form of speed.

What else does the stop count tell us?

Volume is its own story. Williams made the most recorded stops in the first 15 rounds, 67, which suggests a car that spent a lot of time in the pit lane for tyres, repairs or both. Red Bull logged the fewest, 46, though it has 14 rounds of data against 15 for most of the field, so that gap is partly a calendar effect.

The quickest single visits in the database belong to Alpine (12.09s) and RB F1 Team (12.34s). Treat those with care: a visit that short almost certainly comes from a short pit lane, and the same data set contains stops of several minutes. Extremes are fun. Medians are honest.

There is also a story in who sits where. Mercedes and Ferrari, first and second by median, are also first and second in the constructors table by the reported points. McLaren and Red Bull, third and fourth by median, are third and fourth there too. The order of the teams in the pit lane matches the order on the scoreboard for the first four places. We would not call that causation, but it is an uncomfortably tidy line.

Is this the whole story?

No, and we would rather say so than pretend. Three limits are worth stating plainly.

First, the table mixes tracks. Pit-lane length varies by circuit, so a team that raced a long-lane track more often could look slower than it is. With 14 or 15 rounds per team the effect should mostly even out, but it will not vanish.

Second, we cannot separate crew work from the garage's decision to bring a car in at a bad moment. A stop under a safety car or red flag runs differently to a normal one.

Third, the data has no stationary time, so we cannot say who has the quickest wheel gun. Anyone who tells you they can, from this table, is guessing.

What does it mean for the championship?

Mercedes leads the standings and leads the pit-lane table. That is not a coincidence you can take to the bank, but it is a data point in a pattern: the team on top is not just fast on track. Cadillac, in its first season, is slowest; that tells you more about experience than ambition, and the gap to the midfield has been a useful target all year.

The measurement that decides races is not a single number. It is how many seconds a team gives away across a season. On this evidence Mercedes gives away fewer than anyone.

Where to look next

Want to look at stops race by race? The GridRaces telemetry room breaks them out by driver and round, and our predictions page is where you can put your Energy on who gets the undercut right in Singapore.