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.
Qualifying Pace-
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. [1]
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.[2]
Analysis:
- The McLaren was quite evidently the quickest car in clean air in Miami, as Piastri’s first stint and Norris’ second stint were both quicker than Verstappen’s respective stints.
- The Aston Martin, especially from Alonso, was particularly slow in Miami. The team needs upgrades to improve their pace or they’re at risk of falling behind RB and maybe even Haas. Last year, Aston’s upgrades were very weak, some even making the team fall backwards, so if this trend repeats itself, Aston could be in real trouble.
- Alpine is continuing to make a slow rise up the midfield. They were quicker than Williams and Sauber throughout the whole weekend. With Williams’ long-term plan being to sacrifice this year and Sauber’s never-ending incompetency, Alpine appear to be in the fight for points at least now. How far they’ll move up the midfield will be seen, but they probably expect to be with RB and Aston Martin by the end of the season.
- Mercedes showed relatively solid pace in the race, particularly from Hamilton. Whilst not challenging the top three, I expect them to hold onto fourth place, when taking into account Aston’s struggles this weekend.
Further Resources-
Qualifying Pace:
| Driver | Fastest Qualifying Time |
| Max Verstappen | 87.241 (0%) |
| Charles Leclerc | 87.382 (+0.162%) |
| Carlos Sainz | 87.455 (+0.245%) |
| Sergio Perez | 87.46 (+0.251%) |
| Lando Norris | 87.594 (+0.405%) |
| Oscar Piastri | 87.675 (+0.497%) |
| Lewis Hamilton | 87.697 (+0.523%) |
| Pierre Gasly | 87.976 (+0.842%) |
| George Russell | 88.067 (+0.947%) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 88.146 (+1.037%) |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 88.167 (+1.061%) |
| Lance Stroll | 88.177 (+1.073%) |
| Esteban Ocon | 88.209 (+1.110%) |
| Alexander Albon | 88.343 (+1.263%) |
| Fernando Alonso | 88.427 (+1.359%) |
| Valtteri Bottas | 88.463 (+1.401%) |
| Logan Sargeant | 88.487 (+1.428%) |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 88.617 (+1.577%) |
| Kevin Magnussen | 88.619 (+1.580%) |
| Zhou Guanyu | 88.824 (+1.815%) |
Average Race Pace:
| Driver | Pace |
| Lando Norris | 92.168 (0%) |
| Max Verstappen | 92.198 (+0.033%) |
| Charles Leclerc | 92.233 (+0.071%) |
| Carlos Sainz | 92.305 (+0.150%) |
| Sergio Perez | 92.405 (+0.258%) |
| Oscar Piastri | 92.433 (+0.288%) |
| Lewis Hamilton | 92.716 (+0.595%) |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 93.051 (+0.959%) |
| George Russell | 93.085 (+0.995%) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 93.231 (+1.154%) |
| Lance Stroll | 93.26 (+1.185%) |
| Pierre Gasly | 93.301 (+1.230%) |
| Esteban Ocon | 93.309 (+1.238%) |
| Fernando Alonso | 93.339 (+1.271%) |
| Kevin Magnussen | 93.393 (+1.330%) |
| Alexander Albon | 93.428 (+1.367%) |
| Valtteri Bottas | 93.475 (+1.419%) |
| Zhou Guanyu | 93.604 (+1.558%) |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 93.649 (+1.607%) |
All Stints:
| Best Stints | Pace |
| Norris 2nd (24L/NH) | 91.205 |
| Sainz 2nd (24L/NH) | 91.545 |
| Verstappen 2nd (27L/NH) | 91.576 |
| Perez 3rd (24L/UM) | 91.657 |
| Hamilton 2nd (24L/UM) | 91.68 |
| Leclerc 2nd (30L/NH) | 91.686 |
| Piastri 3rd (16L/UM) | 91.832 |
| Piastri 2nd (6L/NH) | 92.007 |
| Tsunoda 2nd (24L/NH) | 92.09 |
| Russell 2nd (26L/NH) | 92.406 |
| Magnussen 3rd (25L/NM) | 92.432 |
| Hulkenberg 3rd (24L/NM) | 92.512 |
| Alonso 2nd (28L/UM) | 92.587 |
| Stroll 3rd (24L/UM) | 92.667 |
| Ocon 2nd (28L/NH) | 92.677 |
| Perez 2nd (8L/NH) | 92.707 |
| Bottas 3rd (24L/NM) | 92.88 |
| Ricciardo 2nd (24L/UM) | 92.896 |
| Zhou 2nd (24L/NS) | 92.936 |
| Piastri 1st (24L/NM) | 92.94 |
| Verstappen 1st (21L/NM) | 92.999 |
| Gasly 2nd (36L/NH) | 93.047 |
| Norris 1st (26L/NM) | 93.057 |
| Sainz 1st (24L/NM) | 93.066 |
| Leclerc 1st (17L/NM) | 93.198 |
| Albon 2nd (33L/NH) | 93.405 |
| Perez 1st (15L/NM) | 93.442 |
| Stroll 2nd (13L/UH) | 93.712 |
| Sargeant 2nd (13L/NH) | 93.738 |
| Bottas 2nd (13L/NH) | 93.786 |
| Hulkenberg 2nd (12L/NH) | 93.786 |
| Hamilton 1st (23L/NH) | 93.797 |
| Russell 1st (21L/UM) | 93.926 |
| Tsunoda 1st (25L/NM) | 93.974 |
| Stroll 1st (9L/UM) | 94.187 |
| Ocon 1st (20L/NM) | 94.194 |
| Gasly 1st (10L/NM) | 94.216 |
| Zhou 1st (24L/NM) | 94.272 |
| Albon 1st (8L/NM) | 94.283 |
| Hulkenberg 1st (10L/NM) | 94.292 |
| Alonso 1st (20L/UH) | 94.392 |
| Ricciardo 1st (24L/NH) | 94.401 |
| Sargeant 1st (9L/NM) | 94.51 |
| Magnussen 1st (20L/NH) | 94.569 |
| Bottas 1st (9L/NS) | 94.612 |
Key: 1L= One Lap, 2L= Two Laps, NH= New Hards, UM= Used Mediums, NM= New Mediums, NS= New Softs
[1] In Miami, this excludes Logan Sargeant.
[2] I only include stints in the stint table if a driver has completed five or more representative laps, in an attempt to avoid fastest lap attempts. This has led to exclusions from the chart of Magnussen’s second stint and Albon’s third stint.
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