What's the Fastest Pit Stop in F1 History?
Twenty mechanics, four wheels, one car — and the whole thing is over before you can say "box box." Here's the actual record for the fastest pit stop ever timed, why the season-long DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award doesn't always go to the team with the single quickest stop, and how the 2026 season is shaping up so far.
The Fastest Pit Stop by the Numbers
- 1.80 seconds: McLaren's pit stop for Lando Norris at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix — the fastest pit stop ever officially recorded in Formula 1.
- 1.82 seconds: the previous record, set by Red Bull for Max Verstappen at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
- 1.91 seconds: the fastest single stop of the 2025 season, McLaren for Oscar Piastri at the Italian Grand Prix — McLaren also posted matching 1.94-second stops for both drivers in Hungary, the season's next-quickest.
- Ferrari: winner of the 2025 DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award, the season-long title based on consistency across every race weekend — even though McLaren had the three fastest individual stops of the year.
- 2.17 seconds: the fastest single stop of the 2026 season so far, Mercedes for George Russell at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
McLaren's 1.80-Second Qatar Stop: The All-Time Record
At the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, McLaren's pit crew changed all four tires on Lando Norris's car in 1.80 seconds — still the fastest pit stop ever officially recorded in Formula 1. It edged out the previous record of 1.82 seconds, set by Red Bull for Max Verstappen at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, a mark that had stood for four years. Both records were set under the same conditions every F1 pit stop shares: around 20 crew members working four corners of the car simultaneously, each responsible for a single wheel gun, wheel-off, or wheel-on task, with the whole sequence measured from the moment the car stops dead in its garage box to the moment it's released to rejoin the pit lane.
| Record | Time | Team / Driver | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fastest stop ever | 1.80s | McLaren (Norris) | 2023 Qatar GP |
| Previous record | 1.82s | Red Bull (Verstappen) | 2019 Brazilian GP |
| 2025 season fastest | 1.91s | McLaren (Piastri) | 2025 Italian GP |
| 2025 DHL Award winner | — (season title) | Ferrari | 2025 season |
| 2026 season fastest so far | 2.17s | Mercedes (Russell) | 2026 Australian GP |
Single Fastest Stop vs. the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award: Why They're Different
McLaren had the three fastest individual pit stops of the 2025 season — 1.91s for Piastri at Monza, plus matching 1.94s stops for both drivers in Hungary — yet Ferrari won the season-long DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award. That's because the all-time and single-race records reward one outlier lap in isolation, while the DHL award tracks the highest number of quick, clean stops across every single race weekend of the season. A team can post one blistering 1.9-second stop and then follow it with a fumbled wheel gun or an unsafe release two races later; the award goes to whoever is fastest and most consistent race after race, not whoever owns the single quickest number on paper. Ferrari breaking Red Bull's recent run atop the award in 2025 was a genuine changing of the guard in pit crew consistency, even though it happened in the same season McLaren set the year's outright quickest stop.
How a Sub-2-Second Pit Stop Actually Happens
Around 20 crew members work an F1 pit stop, each with one job repeated in practice thousands of times a season: a jack operator front and rear lifts the car the instant it stops, four wheel-gun operators remove the old wheel nut, four more crew pull the old tire and fit the new one, and a "go" signal — historically a lollipop, now an automated light system on most cars — releases the driver the moment all four corners confirm the wheel is secured. Any single miscue, a cross-threaded nut or a slow gun, adds tenths of a second or forces a re-release; the margin between a 1.9-second stop and a 3-second stop is almost entirely human precision repeated in perfect sync, which is also why teams that lead the DHL award tend to stay near the top of it for multiple seasons running.
2026 Season So Far: Who's Fastest at the Pits
The 2026 season is still early, but the pattern from the opening rounds already looks different from 2025's McLaren-dominated individual-record chase. Mercedes posted the fastest single stop of the year so far, 2.17 seconds for George Russell at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, while Ferrari's quickest of the year came at the Chinese Grand Prix at 2.29 seconds. On early-season volume and consistency, Ferrari leads the standings, followed by McLaren, Red Bull, Racing Bulls and Mercedes — a reminder that, as with the 2025 title, the team with the single fastest number on paper isn't always the team leading the season-long award once more races are in the books.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fastest pit stop in F1 history?
The fastest pit stop ever recorded in Formula 1 is 1.80 seconds, set by McLaren for Lando Norris at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix. It broke the previous record of 1.82 seconds, set by Red Bull for Max Verstappen at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
What's the difference between the fastest single stop and the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award?
The all-time record (1.80s) and season records like McLaren's 1.91s in 2025 are single fastest individual stops. The DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award is a season-long title based on the highest number of sub-2-second (or similarly ranked) stops across every race weekend, rewarding consistency rather than one outlier. In 2025, McLaren had the three fastest individual stops of the season, but Ferrari won the season-long DHL award.
How many crew members work on an F1 pit stop?
A modern F1 pit stop typically uses around 20 crew members over the wall: a jack front and rear, a stabiliser at each corner, wheel-gun operators and wheel-off/wheel-on crew at each of the four corners, plus a lollipop or "go" signal operator coordinating the release, all completing four tire changes in under two seconds.
How is an F1 pit stop timed?
Official pit stop times are measured from the moment the car first comes to a complete stop in its garage box to the moment it moves again, using trackside timing loops and broadcast graphics provided by DHL, the sport's logistics partner and official pit stop timing sponsor.
The Bottom Line
McLaren's 1.80-second Qatar stop is the number to quote for the single fastest pit stop ever — but Ferrari's 2025 DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award win is the better proof of which team is actually best at pit stops over a full season, since it rewards doing it right 20-plus times in a row rather than once. It's the same "one great number vs. sustained performance" gap covered in our look at the fastest lap in F1 history, where a single qualifying lap and a season of race pace tell two different stories. If split-second precision under pressure is what draws you to pit stops, that's exactly what a good set of sim racing pedals and a direct-drive wheel let you practice yourself, corner by corner.
Browse our guides to the best sim racing pedals, best direct-drive sim racing wheels and the fastest lap in F1 history next, or head over to the team radio archive to hear pit stop calls in real time.