Qualifying Pace-
I have collated the fastest laps by each driver in qualifying, to show the average gap to the fastest driver. Whilst this extends the gap between drivers who made it to the top ten and those below, I’ve ruled using the overall fastest times a better grounding point for the true limit of the top cars, as the cars most likely to compete for points are my primary focus in these analyses.
Additionally, I have collected the data for the gaps between teammates. I did this by using their lap times set in the same qualifying session. I generally compare the last session both drivers competed in, however if both set their fastest times in earlier, I count these instead.
Race Pace-
I have calculated the average pace of the drivers, removing the first laps, laps in the pit lane and laps under the safety car as these are all too slow to be representative. Additionally, I removed any laps with major errors I noticed, for example spinning in the lap. In previous races, I excluded the laps after a safety car restart, as these tended to resemble the first laps, yet I counted them for China, as the long straights on the track seem to have negated the loss from cars being bunched up in the lap’s corners. I have only included drivers that completed at least 75% of the laps to not skew the season averages against drivers that never got the chance to run their cars on low fuel.
As different drivers have a varying number of race stints, this skews the overall pace. Generally, if a driver makes more stops, their pace will be faster on average. This will be considered in my final thoughts and analysis. Additionally, the average pace per stint and number of stints are recorded at the bottom of this article, for those interested in viewing more precise estimates of pace relative to other drivers on the same stint.
Analysis:
• This race offers the best direct comparison between teammates so far this season, as the opportune safety car caused most teammates to have the exact same strategy during the second half of the race.
• The undercut was very powerful during this race, however the safety car negated the advantage those who had stopped early had. This proved an advantage for Norris and Leclerc, who did not pit before the safety car, however, if there was no safety car, it is likely both drivers would have lost out.
• Verstappen was the only driver to complete lap twenty one of the race before the safety car was called.
• As seen on Twitter, I can confirm that every lap Verstappen completed was faster than the respective laps from Perez, Leclerc, and Norris. These drivers were never faster than Verstappen, not for a lap, not for a stint and probably not even for a corner.
• Piastri was significantly slower than Norris for the entire race, in every stint, even before he received damage. Whilst he has shown a lot of potential, he really needs to learn how to manage the tyres soon. This is an essential skill to be successful in the sport, if Oscar is the generational talent many have claimed, he can’t use inexperience as an excuse for bad race pace.
• This was the first weekend that Alpine did not look like the slowest car. I would say, well done, but they are the Renault works team, they don’t really have too many excuses for their performance this year.
Further Resources-
Qualifying Pace:
| Driver | Fastest Qualifying Time |
| Max Verstappen | 93.66 (0%) |
| Sergio Perez | 93.982 (+0.344%) |
| Fernando Alonso | 94.148 (+0.521%) |
| Lando Norris | 94.165 (+0.539%) |
| Oscar Piastri | 94.273 (+0.654%) |
| Charles Leclerc | 94.289 (+0.671%) |
| Carlos Sainz | 94.297 (+0.680%) |
| George Russell | 94.433 (+0.825%) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 94.604 (+1.008%) |
| Valtteri Bottas | 94.665 (+1.073%) |
| Lance Stroll | 94.838 (+1.257%) |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 94.934 (+1.360%) |
| Esteban Ocon | 95.223 (+1.669%) |
| Alexander Albon | 95.241 (+1.688%) |
| Pierre Gasly | 95.287 (+1.737%) |
| Zhou Guanyu | 95.505 (+1.970%) |
| Kevin Magnussen | 95.516 (+1.982%) |
| Lewis Hamilton | 95.573 (+2.042%) |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 95.746 (+2.227%) |
| Logan Sargeant | 96.358 (+2.881%) |
Average Race Pace:
| Driver | Pace |
| Max Verstappen | 99.779 (0%) |
| Sergio Perez | 100.42 (+0.643%) |
| Lando Norris | 100.664 (+0.887%) |
| Fernando Alonso | 100.771 (+0.995%) |
| Charles Leclerc | 100.979 (+1.203%) |
| George Russell | 101.19 (+1.414%) |
| Carlos Sainz | 101.204 (+1.428%) |
| Lance Stroll | 101.365 (+1.590%) |
| Pierre Gasly | 101.576 (+1.802%) |
| Oscar Piastri | 101.64 (+1.865%) |
| Zhou Guanyu | 101.777 (+2.002%) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 101.854 (+2.080%) |
| Lewis Hamilton | 101.888 (+2.114%) |
| Esteban Ocon | 101.946 (+2.172%) |
| Alexander Albon | 102.154 (+2.380%) |
| Kevin Magnussen | 102.567 (+2.794%) |
| Logan Sargeant | 102.641 (+2.869%) |
All Stints:
| Best Stints | Pace |
| Verstappen 3rd (25L/NH) | 99.194 |
| Alonso 4th (12L/NM) | 99.572 |
| Norris 2nd (25L/NH) | 99.743 |
| Perez 3rd (25L/NH) | 99.849 |
| Verstappen 2nd (7L/NH) | 99.982 |
| Leclerc 2nd (25L/NH) | 100.079 |
| Alonso 3rd (11L/NS) | 100.259 |
| Zhou 4th (15L/NS) | 100.287 |
| Sainz 2nd (27L/NH) | 100.408 |
| Stroll 5th (20L/UH) | 100.485 |
| Gasly 4th (17L/NM) | 100.519 |
| Russell 3rd (25L/NH) | 100.591 |
| Perez 2nd (6L/NH) | 100.622 |
| Verstappen 1st (11L/NM) | 100.978 |
| Piastri 3rd (25L/NH) | 101.274 |
| Hamilton 3rd (25L/NH) | 101.276 |
| Alonso 2nd (8L/NH) | 101.38 |
| Hulkenberg 3rd (25L/NH) | 101.394 |
| Russell 2nd (8L/NM) | 101.45 |
| Ocon 3rd (25L/NH) | 101.457 |
| Ricciardo 2nd (5L/NM) | 101.477 |
| Gasly 3rd (6L/NH) | 101.486 |
| Albon 3rd (25L/NH) | 101.535 |
| Perez 1st (11L/NM) | 101.607 |
| Zhou 3rd (8L/NH) | 101.739 |
| Stroll 2nd (10L/NM) | 101.846 |
| Gasly 2nd (8L/NH) | 101.86 |
| Norris 1st (19L/NM) | 101.875 |
| Magnussen 3rd (25L/NM) | 101.928 |
| Hulkenberg 2nd (11L/NH) | 102.126 |
| Leclerc 1st (19L/NM) | 102.163 |
| Sargeant 2nd (7L/NM) | 102.222 |
| Bottas 2nd (9L/NH) | 102.223 |
| Ocon 2nd (10L/NH) | 102.255 |
| Hamilton 2nd (10L/NM) | 102.256 |
| Sargeant 3rd (25L/NH) | 102.295 |
| Alonso 1st (9L/NM) | 102.455 |
| Tsunoda 2nd (11L/NM) | 102.582 |
| Piastri 1st (14L/NM) | 102.583 |
| Zhou 2nd (11L/NH) | 102.606 |
| Russell 1st (9L/NM) | 102.62 |
| Sainz 1st (15L/NM) | 102.636 |
| Stroll 1st (7L/NS) | 102.825 |
| Albon 2nd (10L/NM) | 102.884 |
| Bottas 1st (7L/NM) | 103.053 |
| Ocon 1st (7L/NM) | 103.249 |
| Hulkenberg 1st (6L/NM) | 103.272 |
| Albon 1st (7L/NM) | 103.32 |
| Gasly 1st (9L/NM) | 103.381 |
| Ricciardo 1st (12L/NM) | 103.396 |
| Tsunoda 1st (6L/NS) | 103.53 |
| Hamilton 1st (7L/NS) | 103.549 |
| Sargeant 1st (11L/NS) | 103.799 |
| Magnussen 1st (15L/NH) | 103.812 |
| Zhou 1st (6L/NM) | 104.029 |
Key: 1L= One Lap, 2L= Two Laps, NH= New Hards, UM= Used Mediums, NM= New Mediums, NS= New Softs
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