Hey Data Gurus,
Here's a quick summary of what happened in FP1. It was NOT your typical FP1 session.
There are quite a few games going on here with tyre saving, so people didn't really "show their hands" - not in order to hide pace. The goal is more to limit the tyre usage for the sprint weekend and learn as much as possible.
This one's for everyone, but if you want to catch the Qualifying and Race analyses, you should definitely join the members section at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brrrake/membership - for the price of a coffee per month, you'll pretty much know more than any of your friends about Formula 1 - sweet right?
I'll also be live for the sprint race and grand prix this weekend on the following platforms (simultaneously!) Feel free to join the discussion and chat live during the sessions! No qualifying tonight for me, though!
https://www.youtube.com/@brrrake/streams
Enjoy the data!
Cheers,
Blake
Summary
Somewhat chaotic-looking session with very atypical run plans - focusing on the sprint weekend
Reduced tyre allocation means drivers do not get all of the runs they need on all of the compounds (see below for a reminder on this format)
Red Bull and Alonso only ran the HRD tyre (RB only ran 1 set of HRD tyres the entire session, ALO ran 2 new HRD tyres)
Based on last year, the HRD tyre is not a useful race tyre (last year’s race was a 2 stop mixed SFT MED race)
If PIA didn’t deliberately abort his SFT tyre run, he would have been fastest of the session by about 0.4s over SAI
I won’t go into all of the telemetry compares, as they aren’t particularly meaningful, but I will highlight SAI vs RUS and PIA’s aborted lap below
Sprint Weekend Tyre Rules (reminder)
12 sets instead of 13 as a normal weekend (12 dry, 4 inter, 3 wet)
Sprint weekend: 2 HRD, 4 MED, 6 SFT (Normal Weekend: 2 HRD, 3 MED (-1), 8 SFT (+2))
After P1, 1 tyre set must be returned
After sprint, 1 tyre set with highest lap must be returned
In SQ1 and SQ2, may use 1 set of new MED tyres per session
SQ3, must use a SFT tyre (it is allowed to be a previously used set)
If any of the SQ sessions are declared wet, tyre selection free for remainder of SQ
Free tyre choice for sprint race and grand prix
Wet Weather Rules
For sprint weekend, if P1 or qualifying are wet, drivers who used an inter will get a fresh inter. Must return 1 intermediate set if so.
If neither P1 or qualifying are wet, but the sprint race is LIKELY to be wet, FIA may allow 1 set of inters.
If inter or wet tyres are used during sprint, all drivers get a new set of inters
Run Plans
Ferrari and PIA only front teams that have used a SFT tyre in the session.
PIA only did an out lap and in lap - so this tyre will be fine for the first run in Q1 or sprint shootout 1
We can gain a lot of insight from the lap times through the session above
All teams initial runs on new HRD tyre, with Red Bull setting the pace by a healthy margin
Run 2
repeat low fuel run for Red Bull - possibly a test item
RUS setting the fastest at this point
Some teams also running high fuel in the middle of the session (see the long continuous runs around 76s mark)
Red Bull, RUS, and ALO running high fuel at the end - Red Bull appear to be running higher fuel than the others did during the middle of the session.
SAI and LEC push laps at end of session
McLaren laps not counted in this as they were counted as “in” laps
Performance
The figures below are not particularly meaningful or insightful for this session, but I have offered them for completeness. See the tyre usage and session lap times for a bit more “context”
Team Ranking
Driver Ranking
Driver Ranking - Perfect Sectors
The green bar indicates how much lap time could be improved if all best sectors were on the same lap
This does not capture the full difference in laptime potential for NOR and PIA’s fastest laps
Speeds and Lap Times
This chart gives an indication of the overall downforce and top speed (drag) as well as the performance level of the car. Left to Right is “top speed” measured as the maximum value around the lap. Left is slow, right is fast. Top to Bottom is “laptime” - with the faster cars towards the bottom.
Telemetry Analysis
The Telemetry compares from this session AREN’T that interesting, because there were so many program variations. But let me show you the ones I did find interesting.
SAI vs RUS
Ferrari in BLUE, a bit more top speed and less cornering grip - they are running less downforce in FP1
SAI gains on all of the straights and loses out slightly through most of the corners.
SAI has a snap at T11 exit (or comes off throttle) - he could have been about 0.1s closer to RUS
PIA aborted lap vs Fastest HRD lap
Before PIA aborted his SFT run, he was about 2.4s up on his fastest HRD run from earlier in the session
This means his lap time would have been about a 1:11.4 - which would have been the fastest lap of the session
As a side note, NOR was doing… constant speed passes on his SFT tyre run.
Not something I expected to see someone doing on a FP1 on a sprint weekend on their soft tyre run. Constant speed passes are usually for aero data gathering - they generate more data points at specific car speeds and states, albeit in a straight line condition.
PIA Aborted Lap vs SAI Fastest Lap
You can see that PIA was about 0.4s up on SAI prior to him boxing
SAI slightly faster on the straights with DRS on, but down to T4, PIA and SAI are similar top speed
PIA much stronger through T1 and T6/7 relative to SAI