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 the fastest driver drove their fastest time in an earlier session, I count these times instead.
Race Pace-
I have calculated the average pace of the drivers, removing race starts, laps in the pit lane and laps under the safety car as these are all too slow to be representative. 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, which excludes both Ferrari drivers, both Williams drivers and Sergio Perez in Canada
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.[1]
Analysis:
- Norris was a faster driver than Verstappen across all of the stints, the average pace is only slightly faster for Verstappen due to him stopping for dry tyres a couple laps earlier than Norris.
- Perez was tremendously slow in this race before his accident. Of all the drivers, only Zhou was slower than Perez in the initial stint on intermediates. Verstappen, in comparison, was only slower than the McLarens.
- Whilst no Ferrari finished the race, they looked slower than most other cars in Canada. Whether due to set-up issues or not, this shouldn’t be happening for a team contending for the constructor’s championship.
- Magnussen looked particularly quick in his initial stint on wet tyres, setting laps up to two seconds quicker than Hulkenberg on the same tyres.
- The Sauber is really beginning to look like the clear backmarker of the season. Whilst it started the year on pace with the rest of the lower midfield, if not faster at times, they have slipped back.
Further Resources-
Qualifying Pace:
| Driver | Fastest Qualifying Time |
| George Russell | 71.742 (0%) |
| Lewis Hamilton | 71.979 (+0.330%) |
| Max Verstappen | 72 (+0.360%) |
| Lando Norris | 72.021 (+0.389%) |
| Oscar Piastri | 72.103 (+0.503%) |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 72.178 (+0.608%) |
| Fernando Alonso | 72.228 (+0.677%) |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 72.303 (+0.782%) |
| Alexander Albon | 72.485 (+1.036%) |
| Lance Stroll | 72.659 (+1.278%) |
| Charles Leclerc | 72.691 (+1.323%) |
| Carlos Sainz | 72.728 (+1.374%) |
| Logan Sargeant | 72.736 (+1.386%) |
| Kevin Magnussen | 72.916 (+1.636%) |
| Pierre Gasly | 72.94 (+1.670%) |
| Sergio Perez | 73.326 (+2.208%) |
| Valtteri Bottas | 73.366 (+2.264%) |
| Esteban Ocon | 73.435 (+2.360%) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 73.978 (+3.117%) |
| Zhou Guanyu | 74.292 (+3.554%) |
Average Race Pace:
| Driver | Pace |
| Max Verstappen | 84.824 (0%) |
| Lando Norris | 84.834 (+0.012%) |
| George Russell | 85.011 (+0.220%) |
| Oscar Piastri | 85.037 (+0.251%) |
| Lewis Hamilton | 85.197 (+0.440%) |
| Kevin Magnussen | 86.233 (+1.662%) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 86.299 (+1.739%) |
| Fernando Alonso | 86.318 (+1.761%) |
| Lance Stroll | 86.518 (+1.998%) |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 86.546 (+2.030%) |
| Pierre Gasly | 86.583 (+2.074%) |
| Esteban Ocon | 86.763 (+2.286%) |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 86.947 (+2.503%) |
| Valtteri Bottas | 87.131 (+2.720%) |
| Zhou Guanyu | 88.073 (+3.830%) |
All Stints:
| Best Stints | Pace |
| Hamilton 4th (11L/NH) | 76.154 |
| Russell 4th (11L/NM) | 76.187 |
| Norris 3rd (16L/NM) | 77.001 |
| Verstappen 3rd (18L/NM) | 77.31 |
| Magnussen 5th (11L/NM) | 77.82 |
| Piastri 3rd (19L/NM) | 78.191 |
| Alonso 3rd (18L/NH) | 79.083 |
| Hulkenberg 4th (18L/NM) | 79.167 |
| Stroll 3rd (18L/UH) | 79.224 |
| Ricciardo 3rd (19L/UM) | 79.572 |
| Ocon 2nd (18L/NM) | 79.475 |
| Zhou 4th (13L/NM) | 79.475 |
| Russell 3rd (7L/NH) | 79.774 |
| Tsunoda 2nd (17L/NM) | 79.95 |
| Gasly 3rd (22L/NH) | 80.078 |
| Bottas 2nd (20L/NM) | 80.575 |
| Hamilton 3rd (9L/NM) | 80.743 |
| Sainz 3rd (8L/NM) | 81.445 |
| Albon 3rd (7L/NM) | 81.555 |
| Perez 3rd (7L/NM) | 81.764 |
| Magnussen 4th (10L/NM) | 83.141 |
| Norris 2nd (17L/NI) | 86.099 |
| Verstappen 2nd (15L/NI) | 86.272 |
| Russell 2nd (15L/NI) | 86.468 |
| Piastri 2nd (14L/NI) | 86.692 |
| Hamilton 2nd (13L/NI) | 86.868 |
| Alonso 2nd (14L/NI) | 87.596 |
| Zhou 3rd (6L/NM) | 87.616 |
| Hulkenberg 2nd (10L/NI) | 87.783 |
| Hulkenberg 3rd (13L/NI) | 87.833 |
| Stroll 2nd (14L/NI) | 87.868 |
| Albon 2nd (14L/NI) | 87.964 |
| Leclerc 4th (8L/NI) | 88.168 |
| Perez 2nd (13L/NI) | 88.329 |
| Ricciardo 2nd (13L/NI) | 88.334 |
| Sainz 2nd (13L/NI) | 88.42 |
| Zhou 2nd (14L/NI) | 88.935 |
| Magnussen 3rd (11L/NI) | 89.092 |
| Gasly 2nd (10L/NI) | 89.15 |
| Magnussen 2nd (16L/NI) | 89.179 |
| Norris 1st (23L/NI) | 89.349 |
| Piastri 1st (23L/NI) | 89.685 |
| Verstappen 1st (23L/NI) | 89.759 |
| Russell 1st (23L/NI) | 89.873 |
| Tsunoda 1st (37/NI) | 90.161 |
| Ocon 1st (37L/NI) | 90.308 |
| Hamilton 1st (23L/NI) | 90.321 |
| Bottas 1st (35L/NI) | 90.878 |
| Alonso 1st (23L/NI) | 91.201 |
| Ricciardo 1st (23L/NI) | 91.297 |
| Stroll 1st (23L/NI) | 91.405 |
| Albon 1st (23L/NI) | 91.531 |
| Sainz 1st (23L/NI) | 91.621 |
| Gasly 1st (23L/NI) | 91.69 |
| Leclerc 1st (23L/NI) | 91.754 |
| Sargeant 1st (21L/NI) | 91.834 |
| Perez 1st (23L/NI) | 91.898 |
| Zhou 1st (23L/NI) | 92.729 |
| Magnussen 1st (5L/NW) | 95.212 |
| Hulkenberg 1st (10L/NW) | 95.656 |
[1] 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 Leclerc’s second and third stints.
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