F1: Pace and Analysis – Ryan's Lil' F1 Blog

Pace and Analysis- Canadian Grand Prix 2024

Jun 20th, 2024

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

Key: 1L= One Lap, 2L= Two Laps, NW= New Wets, NI= New Inters, UM= Used Mediums, UH= Used Hards.

[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.

Pace and Analysis- Imola Grand Prix 2024

May 24th, 2024

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 the fastest driver their fastest time in earlier sessions, 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, such as when Perez or Hamilton crossed the gravel trap in Imola. 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.^[1]

Analysis:

Pace was generally quite similar between the top three drivers, who all were fastest at some point in the race. Whilst the track did not suit Ferrari, their upgrades appear to have put them in the fight with Red Bull, as well as McLaren’s upgrades nearly delivering another win to Lando Norris.
Aston’s upgrades have not appeared to correlate very well and at present, their pace is similar to the lower midfield. This could be a very bad sign for their season, as upgrades not correlating was the cause of their downfall last season. If they don’t get a handle on their development, they may start to be regularly beaten by the likes of RB and Haas.
Several teams ran terrible strategies, stopping their drivers onto hard tyres incredibly early, failing to account for high tyre degradation. These drivers tended to deliver slower second stints than their initial stints, a rarity in the post-refuelling era.
Haas in particular, made a mistake when they reacted to Tsunoda’s early stop with Hulkenberg. If Hulkenberg had copied Magnussen’s strategy and stopped later he could have banked a ninth place, as he would have been able to overtake Tsunoda on newer tyres and would have covered off Stroll’s ability to overtake him. Magnussen finished less than two seconds behind Hulkenberg on this strategy, when he started in eighteenth.
Albon’s pace seems to have been bolstered by his retirement, due to the suboptimal strategies of other drivers, as usually if a driver retires, their pace is relatively worse.

Further Resources-

Qualifying Pace:

Driver	Fastest Qualifying Time
Max Verstappen	74.746 (0%)
Oscar Piastri	74.82 (+0.099%)
Lando Norris	74.837 (+0.122%)
Charles Leclerc	74.97 (+0.300%)
Carlos Sainz	75.233 (+0.652%)
George Russell	75.234 (+0.653%)
Yuki Tsunoda	75.358 (+0.819%)
Lewis Hamilton	75.504 (+1.014%)
Nico Hulkenberg	75.569 (+1.101%)
Daniel Ricciardo	75.674 (+1.242%)
Sergio Perez	75.706 (+1.284%)
Esteban Ocon	75.906 (+1.552%)
Lance Stroll	75.992 (+1.667%)
Pierre Gasly	76.015 (+1.698%)
Alexander Albon	76.2 (+1.945%)
Valtteri Bottas	76.626 (+2.515%)
Zhou Guanyu	76.834 (+2.793%)
Kevin Magnussen	76.854 (+2.820%)
Fernando Alonso	76.917 (+2.905%)

Average Race Pace:

Driver	Pace
Lando Norris	80.857 (0%)
Max Verstappen	80.876 (+0.024%)
Charles Leclerc	80.959 (+0.127%)
Oscar Piastri	81.07 (+0.263%)
George Russell	81.121 (+0.326%)
Carlos Sainz	81.199 (+0.423%)
Lewis Hamilton	81.31 (+0.560%)
Sergio Perez	81.578 (+0.891%)
Lance Stroll	82.078 (+1.510%)
Alexander Albon	82.078 (+1.510%)
Fernando Alonso	82.289 (+1.771%)
Pierre Gasly	82.434 (+1.950%)
Yuki Tsunoda	82.449 (+1.969%)
Kevin Magnussen	82.46 (+1.982%)
Nico Hulkenberg	82.55 (+2.094%)
Daniel Ricciardo	82.571 (+2.120%)
Zhou Guanyu	82.759 (+2.353%)
Logan Sargeant	82.81 (+2.416%)
Esteban Ocon	82.81 (+2.416%)
Valtteri Bottas	82.987 (+2.634%)

All Stints:

Best Stints	Pace
Russell 3rd (10L/UM)	79.934
Perez 2nd (25L/NM)	80.49
Norris 2nd (40L/UH)	80.612
Leclerc 2nd (37L/NH)	80.659
Verstappen 2nd (38L/NH)	80.723
Piastri 2nd (39L/UH)	80.779
Sainz 2nd (35L/NH)	80.91
Hamilton 2nd (35L/NH)	80.992
Verstappen 1st (22L/NM)	81.14
Russell 2nd (28L/NH)	81.156
Stroll 2nd (25L/UH)	81.276
Norris 1st (20L/NM)	81.348
Leclerc 1st (23L/NM)	81.412
Alonso 3rd (17L/UM)	81.492
Sainz 1st (25L/NM)	81.604
Piastri 1st (21L/NM)	81.609
Russell 1st (19L/NM)	81.692
Magnussen 2nd (24L/NH)	81.727
Hamilton 1st (24L/NM)	81.774
Albon 5th (21L/UM)	81.788
Albon 3rd (12L/NH)	82.007
Hulkenberg 1st (11L/NM)	82.256
Tsunoda 1st (10L/NM)	82.259
Gasly 2nd (20L/NH)	82.331
Sargeant 2nd (30L/NM)	82.35
Perez 1st (34L/NH)	82.378
Ricciardo 1st (9L/NM)	82.386
Zhou 2nd (28L/NM)	82.415
Gasly 3rd (31L/NM)	82.455
Tsunoda 2nd (49L/NH)	82.488
Ricciardo 2nd (50L/NH)	82.604
Albon 1st (8L/NM)	82.612
Hulkenberg 2nd (48L/NH)	82.617
Alonso 2nd (31L/UH)	82.626
Stroll 1st (35L/UM)	82.651
Gasly 1st (6L/NS)	82.666
Ocon 2nd (36L/NH)	82.745
Bottas 1st (6L/NM)	82.825
Ocon 1st (23L/NM)	82.912
Magnussen 1st (35L/NM)	82.962
Bottas 2nd (53L/NH)	83.005
Zhou 1st (31L/NH)	83.071
Alonso 1st (5L/NS)	83.145
Sargeant 1st (29L/NH)	83.286

Key: 1L= One Lap, 2L= Two Laps, NH= New Hards, UM= Used Mediums, NM= New Mediums, NS= New Softs

[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 Alonso’s fourth stint and Albon’s second and fourth stints.

Pace and Analysis- Miami Grand Prix 2024

May 19th, 2024

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.

Pace and Analysis- Chinese Grand Prix 2024

May 3rd, 2024

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

F1 2024 Average Pace (Rounds 1-4)

Apr 20th, 2024

Note: This article is a supplementary piece to the Pace and Analysis articles I publish on the individual races

Average Qualifying:

Teammate Head to Heads:

Average Race Pace:

Pace and Analysis- Japanese Grand Prix 2024

Apr 20th, 2024

This article is part of a series of articles I will be completing throughout the year, where I am going to analyze the average pace of the drivers and teams, in both qualifying and the races, to be able to gain a picture of performance levels.

I have collated the fastest laps by each driver in qualifying, to show the average gap to the fastest driver. One caveat that arises, is that the top 10 drivers, through progressing to the final qualifying session, have a better track condition that those who only took part in Q1 or Q2. Due to this, the gap will be larger for the drivers outside the top ten than if qualifying was performed in one representative session. However, since the final session represents the point at which the top drivers are truly pushing, I’ve ruled it a better grounding point for the true limit of the cars, rather than only focusing on the first qualifying session in which the best times are not recorded.

Qualifying Pace-

With no further ado, here are the gaps to pole:

Additionally, I have collected the data for the gaps between teammates. I did this by using their fastest lap times set in the same session, so if one driver got into Q3, whilst the other only got into Q2, then I would count their Q2 times. Additionally, the lap times have to be representative, to avoid comparing out laps completed before a driver breaks down, as this would give us a very inaccurate representation of the drivers’ pace:

Race Pace-

Next up in our data sets is the race pace of the drivers. I have calculated the average pace of the drivers, removing first laps, in-laps, out-laps and virtual safety car laps, as all these all not representative of a driver’s general pace. Additionally, if a driver has a spin, or another error that would greatly reduce their lap time, I have not counted these laps, as they would also not be representative of a drivers’ general pace. I have only included drivers that completed at least 75% of the race distance ((which for Japan, excludes Alexander Albon, Daniel Ricciardo and Zhou Guanyu) so to not skew the season long averages against drivers that did not drive on low fuel with the best track conditions.

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 taken into account 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:

It is more difficult to directly compare drivers’ race pace than in previous races this season, due to the large variety of tyre strategies and stint lengths.
Leclerc had an amazing race, showing consistent pace and tyre management to be the only driver other than Magnussen to pull off an effective one-stop. Whilst not being as fast on average as his teammate as a result, Leclerc showed off how Ferrari has seemingly fixed their tyre woes and have provided their drivers a car that has strategic flexibility.
Both Mercedes drivers were incredibly close to each other throughout the race. Whilst Lewis was a little slower in the first stint due to damage, he then proceeded to be a little faster than George in the next two stints.
McLaren really messed up Lando Norris’ strategy in this race. Despite stopping Norris on his medium stint earlier than any other driver, the team still felt the need to stop at the same time as Leclerc for the final stint. As Norris was already behind the one-stopping Leclerc and went onto the same tyres, it was virtually impossible for him to finish ahead of Leclerc after that decision. A tyre offset is generally needed to make overtakes in Suzuka, so McLaren should have stopped Norris later and attempted to reclaim fourth place.
I have no idea what was going on with Lance Stroll’s race. His stint lengths and tyre degradation were particularly poor, only recording eight valid laps on his medium stint. Looking at the data and how fast Stroll’s tyres were degrading is concerning. Unless it comes out that his tyres were mistakenly made of Swiss cheese, Lance has really got to work on this element of his race craft to ensure never repeating a performance like this. Whilst his teammate’s stints were up there with the McLaren and Mercedes’, Lance’s were comparable to the Alpine drivers, who had the slowest car.

Further Resources-

Qualifying Pace:

Driver	Fastest Qualifying Time
Max Verstappen	88.197 (0%)
Sergio Perez	88.263 (+0.075%)
Lando Norris	88.489 (+0.331%)
Carlos Sainz	88.682 (+0.550%)
Fernando Alonso	88.686 (+0.554%)
Oscar Piastri	88.76 (+0.638%)
Lewis Hamilton	88.766 (+0.645%)
Charles Leclerc	88.786 (+0.668%)
George Russell	89.008 (+0.920%)
Yuki Tsunoda	89.413 (+1.379%)
Daniel Ricciardo	89.472 (+1.446%)
Nico Hulkenberg	89.494 (+1.471%)
Valtteri Bottas	89.593 (+1.583%)
Alexander Albon	89.714 (+1.720%)
Esteban Ocon	89.811 (+1.830%)
Lance Stroll	90.024 (+2.071%)
Pierre Gasly	90.119 (+2.179%)
Kevin Magnussen	90.131 (+2.193%)
Logan Sargeant	90.139 (+2.202%)
Zhou Guanyu	90.143 (+2.206%)

Average Race Pace:

Driver	Pace
Max Verstappen	96.028 (0%)
Sergio Perez	96.309 (+0.293%)
Carlos Sainz	96.441 (+0.430%)
Lando Norris	96.579 (+0.574%)
Oscar Piastri	96.908 (+0.916%)
Fernando Alonso	96.91 (+0.919%)
Charles Leclerc	96.921 (+0.929%)
George Russell	96.943 (+0.952%)
Lewis Hamilton	97.002 (+1.014%)
Lance Stroll	97.715 (+1.756%)
Nico Hulkenberg	97.91 (+1.960%)
Yuki Tsunoda	97.916 (+1.966%)
Logan Sargeant	97.937 (+1.988%)
Valtteri Bottas	98.161 (+2.221%)
Kevin Magnussen	98.596 (+2.674%)
Esteban Ocon	98.743 (+2.827%)
Pierre Gasly	98.928 (+3.020%)

All Stints:

Best Stints	Pace
Sainz 3rd (16L/NH)	94.726
Verstappen 3rd (18L/NH)	94.727
Hamilton 3rd (13L/UM)	94.822
Perez 3rd (19L/NH)	94.92
Russell 3rd (15L/UM)	95.206
Sargeant 4th (10L/NS)	95.671
Alonso 3rd (19L/NH)	95.779
Piastri 3rd (20L/NH)	95.798
Leclerc 2nd (26L/NH)	95.889
Norris 3rd (26L/NH)	95.941
Sargeant 3rd (5L/NM)	96.056
Hulkenberg 2nd/3rd (18L/NH)	96.185
Hamilton 2nd (14L/NH)	96.387
Russell 2nd (13L/NH)	96.475
Verstappen 2nd (16L/NM)	96.523
Stroll 4th (17L/NS)	96.644
Sainz 2nd (19L/UM)	97.036
Perez 2nd (16L/NM)	97.039
Norris 2nd (13L/NH)	97.298
Verstappen 1st (12L/NM)	97.321
Tsunoda 2nd/3rd (29L/NH)	97.346
Alonso 2nd (18L/NM)	97.401
Piastri 2nd (18L/NH)	97.506
Stroll 3rd (10L/NH)	97.591
Ocon 3rd (18L/NM)	97.416
Norris 1st (7L/NM)	97.614
Perez 1st (11L/NM)	97.648
Gasly 3rd (19L/NH)	97.682
Sargeant 2nd (10L/NH)	97.754
Magnussen 2nd (29L/NH)	97.827
Bottas 2nd/3rd (29L/NH)	97.829
Sainz 1st (11L/NM)	97.909
Leclerc 1st (22L/NM)	98.14
Alonso 1st (9L/NS)	98.318
Piastri 1st (8L/NM)	98.334
Ocon 2nd (12L/NH)	98.593
Russell 1st (18L/NH)	98.727
Bottas 1st/2nd (14L/NH)	98.749
Stroll 2nd (8L/NM)	98.849
Gasly 2nd (14L/NM)	98.877
Tsunoda 1st/2nd (13L/NH)	98.897
Hamilton 1st (19L/NH)	98.948
Hulkenberg 1st/2nd (26L/NH)	99.01
Stroll 1st (8L/NS)	99.012
Sargeant 1st (18L/NH)	99.82
Magnussen 1st (18L/NM)	99.836
Ocon 1st (15L/NH)	100.457
Gasly 1st (12L/NH)	100.961

Key: 1L= One Lap, 2L= Two Laps, NH= New Hards, UM= Used Mediums, NM= New Mediums, NS= New Softs

Number of Stints:

Number of Stints	Drivers
2	Leclerc, Magnussen, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda*
3	Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Norris, Alonso, Russell, Piastri, Hamilton, Ocon, Gasly, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda*
4	Stroll, Sargeant

[1] I only count a stint if a driver has completed five or more laps, to avoid short stints for fastest lap attempts skewing the data on the table. This has led to the official first stints of Tsunoda, Bottas and Hulkenberg (who only recorded one valid lap in his first stint) not being included in the table, though this is represented through the labeling of their stints as 1^st/2^nd and 2^nd/3^rd

F1 2024 Average Pace (Rounds 1-3)

Apr 6th, 2024

Note: This article is a supplementary piece to the Pace and Analysis articles I publish on the individual races

Average Qualifying:

Teammate Head to Heads:

Average Race Pace:

Pace and Analysis- Australian Grand Prix 2024

Apr 6th, 2024

This article is part of a series of articles I will be completing throughout the year, where I am going to analyze the average pace of the drivers and teams, in both qualifying and the races, to be able to gain a picture of performance levels.

I have collated the fastest laps by each driver in qualifying, to show the average gap to the fastest driver. One caveat that arises, is that the top 10 drivers, through progressing to the final qualifying session, have a better track condition that those who only took part in Q1 or Q2. Due to this, the gap will be larger for the drivers outside the top ten than if qualifying was performed in one representative session. However, since the final session represents the point at which the top drivers are truly pushing, I’ve ruled it a better grounding point for the true limit of the cars, rather than only focusing on the first qualifying session in which the best times are not recorded.

Qualifying Pace-

With no further ado, here are the gaps to pole:

And for the teams:

Additionally, I have collected the data for the gaps between teammates. I did this by using their fastest lap times set in the same session, so if one driver got into Q3, whilst the other only got into Q2, then I would count their Q2 times. Additionally, the lap times have to be representative, to avoid comparing out laps completed before a driver breaks down, as this would give us a very inaccurate representation of the drivers’ pace. Williams have no comparison for Australia, as Sargeant did not take part in the weekend after Albon’s crash:

Race Pace-

Next up in our data sets is the race pace of the drivers. I have calculated the average pace of the drivers, removing first laps, in-laps, out-laps and virtual safety car laps, as all these all not representative of a driver’s general pace. Additionally, if a driver has a spin, or another error that would greatly reduce their lap time, I have not counted these laps, as they would also not be representative of a drivers’ general pace.[1] I have only included drivers that completed at least 75% of the race distance (which for Australia, excludes Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen) so to not skew the season long averages against drivers that did not drive on low fuel with the best track conditions.

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 taken into account 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]

And for the teams:

Analysis:

Ferrari had a good chance to win this race even if Verstappen did not retire. Perez’s pace was far off the Ferrari’s and McLaren’s; being 0.64% off Sainz’s average. This is more than Perez has been behind Verstappen for the first two races of the season, implying that Verstappen’s pace would have been slower too, albeit with track position.
Leclerc, whilst weaker than Sainz throughout the weekend, started to show signs of improvement during his final stint, with his lap times dipping into the 79-second range. The Ferrari has seemed a tad inconsistent over the first few rounds, so my interpretation of this race’s data is that Leclerc is beginning to learn how to extract the maximum from his car but isn’t quite there yet.
The McLaren race pace was also great in Australia. Whilst not quite measuring up to Ferrari in qualifying, they were with them in the race. Norris even set the fastest stint of the race. McLaren could be challenging for wins around similar circuits.
There were three clear tiers this weekend, which are beginning to show up in the averages. The top tier is Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren, the middle tier seems to be Aston Martin, Mercedes and RB and the other teams seem to be in the lower tier. At this point, only the top three teams seem to hold any hope of race wins.
Lap 18 was not included in the analysis for most drivers due to the presence of the VSC. Ocon and Bottas were exceptions as they were only around halfway through lap 17 when the green flag was called. The other notable exception was Magnussen, who seemed to have a perfect reaction to the green flag, as unlike every other driver in a similar position on the track to him, his lap time did not appear to be an outlier.
Additionally, Magnussen appeared to have a minor problem in the last few laps, as the times began to dramatically drop. Without this drop off he would have outpaced Hulkenberg.
Bottas showed decent pace throughout the race. He may have been in the hunt for points if Sauber’s pit stops were not occurring.

Further Resources-

Qualifying Pace:

Driver	Fastest Qualifying Time
Max Verstappen	75.915 (0%)
Carlos Sainz	76.185 (+0.356%)
Sergio Perez	76.274 (+0.473%)
Charles Leclerc	76.304 (+0.512%)
Lando Norris	76.315 (+0.527%)
Oscar Piastri	76.572 (+0.865%)
Fernando Alonso	76.71 (+1.047%)
George Russell	76.724 (+1.066%)
Lance Stroll	76.78 (+1.139%)
Yuki Tsunoda	76.788 (+1.150%)
Lewis Hamilton	76.96 (+1.377%)
Alexander Albon	77.13 (+1.600%)
Valtteri Bottas	77.34 (+1.877%)
Kevin Magnussen	77.427 (+1.992%)
Esteban Ocon	77.617 (+2.242%)
Nico Hulkenberg	77.976 (+2.715%)
Pierre Gasly	77.982 (+2.723%)
Daniel Ricciardo	78.085 (+2.858%)
Zhou Guanyu	78.188 (+2.994%)

Average Race Pace:

Driver	Pace
Carlos Sainz	81.458 (0%)
Charles Leclerc	81.491 (+0.040%)
Lando Norris	81.552 (+0.115%)
Oscar Piastri	81.749 (+0.356%)
Sergio Perez	81.977 (+0.636%)
George Russell	82.37 (+1.120%)
Fernando Alonso	82.432 (+1.195%)
Lance Stroll	82.541 (+1.329%)
Yuki Tsunoda	82.609 (+1.413%)
Daniel Ricciardo	82.844 (+1.702%)
Valtteri Bottas	82.858 (+1.719%)
Nico Hulkenberg	82.864 (+1.726%)
Kevin Magnussen	82.887 (+1.754%)
Esteban Ocon	82.897 (+1.766%)
Zhou Guanyu	82.93 (+1.806%)
Alexander Albon	82.941 (+1.820%)
Pierre Gasly	83.146 (+2.072%)

All Stints:

Best Stints	Pace
Norris 3rd (16L/UH)	80.333
Sainz 3rd (15L/NH)	80.485
Piastri 3rd (16L/UH)	80.561
Leclerc 3rd (22L/NH)	80.588
Russell 3rd (10L/NH)	80.7
Perez 3rd (21L/NH)	81.084
Alonso 3rd (18L/UH)	81.096
Stroll 3rd (18L/UH)	81.447
Sainz 2nd (22L/NH)	81.543
Tsunoda 3rd (19L/NH)	81.711
Gasly 3rd (13L/NH)	81.711
Norris 2nd (22L/UH)	81.764
Hulkenberg 3rd (20L/NH)	81.91
Ocon 4th (12L/UH)	81.93
Leclerc 2nd (21L/NH)	82.016
Perez 2nd (17L/NH)	82.18
Magnussen 3rd (22L/NH)	82.188
Bottas 3rd (18L/NH)	82.191
Piastri 2nd (25L/UH)	82.215
Zhou 2nd/3rd (19L/NH)	82.231
Ricciardo 2nd/3rd (26L/NH)	82.344
Sainz 1st (14L/NM)	82.367
Albon 2nd/3rd (28L/NH)	82.618
Russell 2nd (33L/NH)	82.731
Leclerc 1st (7L/NM)	82.754
Alonso 2nd (22L/UM)	82.764
Norris 1st (12L/NM)	82.787
Piastri 1st (7L/NM)	82.798
Hulkenberg 2nd (16L/NM)	82.887
Ocon 2nd (5L/NH)	83.077
Ocon 3rd (24L/NH)	83.12
Tsunoda 2nd (23L/NH)	83.126
Stroll 2nd (25L/UH)	83.155
Bottas 2nd (25L/UH)	83.155
Perez 1st (12L/NM)	83.177
Russell 1st (6L/NM)	83.168
Alonso 1st (15L/UH)	83.192
Hamilton 2nd (7L/NH)	83.205
Albon 1st/2nd (17L/NH)	83.252
Gasly 2nd (22L/NH)	83.263
Stroll 1st (6L/UM)	83.264
Zhou 1st/2nd (25L/UH)	83.273
Ricciardo 1st/2nd (20L/NH)	83.284
Magnussen 2nd (23L/NH)	83.347
Tsunoda 1st (7L/NM)	83.349
Hamilton 1st (5L/NS)	83.456
Bottas 1st (6L/UM)	83.624
Ocon 1st (7L/NM)	83.662
Magnussen 1st (5L/NM)	83.851
Hulkenberg 1st (15L/NH)	84.112
Gasly 1st (15L/NM)	84.219

Key: 1L= One Lap, 2L= Two Laps, NH= New Hards, UH= Used Hards, NM= New Mediums, NS= New Softs

Number of Stints:

Number of Stints	Drivers
2	Albon,Ricciardo,Zhou*, Hamilton
3	Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, Piastri, Perez, Stroll, Tsunoda, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Albon, Ricciardo, Gasly, Bottas, Zhou*, Russell
4	Ocon

Albon, Ricciardo and Zhou had either two or three stints, as I did not count their opening stints due to them being too short.

[1] For example, I removed Oscar Piastri’s lap 38, as he went into the gravel and lost at least 5 seconds. Albon lap 56, Ricciardo lap 53 and Gasly lap 16 also looked suspect, but I was unable to find any evidence of a major mistake, so these laps were left in.

[2] I only count a stint if a driver has completed five or more laps, to avoid short stints for fastest lap attempts skewing the data on the table. This has led to the official first stints of Albon, Ricciardo and Zhou not being included in the table, though this is represented through the labeling of their stints as 1^st/2^nd and 2^nd/3^rd

F1 2024 Average Pace (Rounds 1-2)

Mar 31st, 2024

Note: This article is a supplementary piece to the Pace and Analysis articles I publish on the individual races

Average Qualifying:

Teammate Head to Heads:

Race Pace Averages:

Pace and Analysis- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024

Mar 30th, 2024

This article is part of a series of articles I will be completing throughout the year, where I am going to analyze the average pace of the drivers and teams, in both qualifying and the races, to be able to gain a picture of performance levels.

I have collated the fastest laps by each driver in qualifying, to show the average gap to the fastest driver. One caveat that arises, is that the top 10 drivers, through progressing to the final qualifying session, have a better track condition that those who only took part in Q1 or Q2. Due to this, the gap will be larger for the drivers outside the top ten than if qualifying was performed in one representative session. However, since the final session represents the point at which the top drivers are truly pushing, I’ve ruled it a better grounding point for the true limit of the cars, rather than only focusing on the first qualifying session in which the best times are not recorded.

Qualifying Pace-

With no further ado, here are the gaps to pole:

And for the teams:

Additionally, I have collected the data for the gaps between teammates. I did this by using their fastest lap times set in the same session, so if one driver got into Q3, whilst the other only got into Q2, then I would count their Q2 times. Additionally, the lap times have to be representative, to avoid comparing out laps completed before a driver breaks down, as this would give us a very inaccurate representation of the drivers’ pace. Sauber have no comparison for Saudi, as Zhou did not set any times in qualifying:

Race Pace-

Next up in our data sets is the race pace of the drivers. I have calculated the average pace of the drivers, removing first laps, in-laps, out-laps, safety car laps and restarts after a safety car or red flag, as all these all not representative of a driver’s general pace. Additionally, if a driver has a spin, or another error that would greatly reduce their lap time, I have not counted these laps, as they would also not be representative of a drivers’ general pace.[1] I have only included drivers that completed at least 75% of the race distance (which for Saudi Arabia, excludes Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly) so to not skew the season long averages against drivers that did not drive on low fuel with the best track conditions.

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 taken into account 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]

And for the teams:

Analysis-

There is a similar trend to in Bahrain, the Ferrari looks like it has slightly better degradation to the Red Bull. Leclerc’s hard tyre stint began with him setting times up to a second closer than the Red Bulls, but by the end of the stint, Leclerc was matching and beating the Red Bull’s times, even recording fastest lap on the final lap when Verstappen was also going for a fastest lap attempt.
The McLaren appears to have some good pace behind it. Even though Piastri was stuck in Hamilton’s dirty air on used hard tyres for half the race, once he was out of dirty air, his lap times were around equal with Perez and only slightly behind Leclerc and Verstappen. Additionally, Norris posted the fastest stint of the race on his soft tyres, beating Hamilton’s pace. The McLaren has yet to prove to be a Red Bull challenger, but with an aggressive update schedule, it may still win some races this year.
Norris and Hamilton both performed the fastest strategy for pace, but because others stopped under the safety car, they lost track position. They did however, have their pace slightly exaggerated in the averages. This makes the Mercedes look slightly better in the race pace averages, appearing to be the fourth fastest car. Comparing Alonso and Russell’s 2^nd stints, it is clear that Alonso was slightly faster than the Mercedes.
The bottom half of the field all had their averages skewed by Magnussen driving deliberately slowly, thus four teams have race pace averages of more than 2%, when no team achieved this in Bahrain.

Further Resources-

Qualifying Pace:

Driver	Fastest Qualifying Time
Max Verstappen	87.472 (0%)
Charles Leclerc	87.791 (+0.365%)
Sergio Perez	87.807 (+0.383%)
Fernando Alonso	87.846 (+0.428%)
Oscar Piastri	88.089 (+0.705%)
Lando Norris	88.132 (+0.755%)
Lance Stroll	88.25 (+0.889%)
George Russell	88.316 (+0.965%)
Lewis Hamilton	88.46 (+1.130%)
Yuki Tsunoda	88.547 (+1.229%)
Oliver Bearman	88.642 (+1.338%)
Alexander Albon	88.98 (+1.724%)
Kevin Magnussen	89.02 (+1.770%)
Daniel Ricciardo	89.025 (+1.775%)
Nico Hulkenberg	89.055 (+1.810%)
Valtteri Bottas	89.179 (+1.951%)
Esteban Ocon	89.475 (+2.290%)
Pierre Gasly	89.479 (+2.294%)
Logan Sargeant	89.526 (+2.348%)

Average Race Pace:

Driver	Pace
Max Verstappen	92.883 (0%)
Sergio Perez	93.085 (+0.217%)
Charles Leclerc	93.317 (+0.467%)
Lando Norris	93.59 (+0.761%)
Oscar Piastri	93.607 (+0.779%)
Lewis Hamilton	93.677 (+0.854%)
Fernando Alonso	93.691 (+0.869%)
George Russell	93.798 (+0.985%)
Oliver Bearman	93.934 (+1.131%)
Nico Hulkenberg	94.344 (+1.573%)
Kevin Magnussen	94.866 (+2.135%)
Alexander Albon	94.904 (+2.175%)
Zhou Guanyu	94.907 (+2.178%)
Valtteri Bottas	95.157 (+2.448%)
Yuki Tsunoda	95.197 (+2.491%)
Esteban Ocon	95.242 (+2.539%)
Logan Sargeant	95.271 (+2.570%)
Daniel Ricciardo	95.342 (+2.647%)

All Stints:

Best Stints	Pace
Norris 2nd (12L/US)	92.28
Hamilton 2nd (13L/US)	92.333
Verstappen 2nd (40L/NH)	92.753
Hulkenberg 2nd (16L/NH)	92.776
Zhou 2nd (7L/NS)	92.818
Perez 2nd (40L/NH)	92.957
Bottas 3rd (13L/NS)	93.156
Leclerc 2nd (40L/NH)	93.167
Piastri 2nd (40L/UH)	93.483
Alonso 2nd (40L/UH)	93.555
Russell 2nd (40L/NH)	93.633
Bearman 2nd (40L/NH)	93.669
Verstappen 1st (5L/NM)	93.927
Norris 1st (31L/NM)	94.097
Perez 1st (5L/NM)	94.109
Hamilton 1st (30L/NM)	94.259
Leclerc 1st (5L/NM)	94.513
Piastri 1st (5L/NM)	94.603
Magnussen 2nd (40L/NH)	94.713
Albon 2nd (40L/NH)	94.75
Alonso 1st (5L/UM)	94.78
Ocon 2nd (39L/NH)	95.03
Sargeant 2nd (39L/NH)	95.068
Tsunoda 2nd (39L/NH)	95.099
Russell 1st (5L/NM)	95.122
Ricciardo 2nd (38L/NH)	95.186
Hulkenberg 1st (27L/NM)	95.273
Zhou 1st (35L/NM)	95.324
Bottas 2nd (24L/NH)	95.885
Tsunoda 1st (5L/NM)	95.964
Bearman 1st (5L/NS)	96.058
Magnussen 1st (5L/NM)	96.09
Albon 1st (5L/NM)	96.132
Ricciardo 1st (5L/NM)	96.524
Sargeant 1st (5L/NM)	96.848
Bottas 1st (5L/NS)	96.865
Ocon 1st (5L/NM)	96.893

Key: 1L= One Lap, 2L= Two Laps, NH= New Hards, UH= Used Hards, NM= New Mediums, NS= New Softs

Number of Stints:

Number of Stints	Drivers
2	Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc, Piastri, Alonso, Russell, Bearman, Norris, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Albon, Magnussen, Ocon, Sargeant, Tsunoda, Ricciardo, Zhou
3	Bottas

[1] For example, I removed Daniel Ricciardo’s lap 48 for Saudi Arabia, as he spun and lost ten seconds.

[2] I only count a stint if a driver has completed five or more laps, to avoid short stints for fastest lap attempts skewing the data on the table.

Category: F1: Pace and Analysis