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It looked like yet another easy win for Max Verstappen as the Dutchman easily controlled the Mexican Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton had a good race but lost out on the hard tyre in second stint. Home hero Sergio Perez finished third after failing to find a way past the Mercedes.
Well... the problem Mercedes will have, is that their advantage in S2 will disappear when they are close to the car in front (the 2022 cars are still affected by dirty air) and the RB will probably pull enough gap in S3 and coming onto the main straight to not be too vunrable. If a Mercedes leads after lap 1, they probably can pull a gap in S2 and I'm not sure the RB can get close enhough than in S3. But if the RB can, it will be very hard the keep behind, the DRS zone is long here...
This is really nice comparison! Thank you Juzh. One thing that stands out is the braking performance. While Max brakes early, both Mercedes brakes so much later. In most corners, Apex speed remains similar, but in a couple of corners George is over 10kph higher in the second sector which is amazing as even Lewis doesn't carry so much speed. May be he overdid that in Turn 12 and potentially, didn't have tyres left for the next sequence of corners.Juzh wrote: ↑30 Oct 2022, 10:47a very detailed telemetry comparison:
- RB gains around 2 tenths on straights, down from 4-5 tenths in COTA
- mercedes is much faster in medium/high speed corners trough sector 2, up to 11 kmh advantage
- RB is better in S3 and specifically on traction out of T13-14-T15 complex, gaining 2 tenths there
From pirelliSTRATEGY NOTEBOOK
The 71-lap Mexican Grand Prix (the third-shortest lap of the year) could be a two-stopper or a one-stopper, depending on degradation rates, which can vary from team to team and driver to driver – as well as being influenced by the weather.
A two-stopper is fastest on paper: starting on the soft before two stints on the medium. This strategy is only possible for the 10 drivers who have two sets of mediums still available in their allocation. Soft-medium-soft is an alternative two-stopper.
A medium-hard one-stopper is close to that in terms of overall time while the alternative medium to soft one-stopper is definitely slower.
Yes all true. Thanks for the tyre sets datasearch wrote: ↑30 Oct 2022, 11:25https://i.imgur.com/69qrWmT.png
May come down to tyre deg in the end indeed, I guess. Verstappen has a bit of an edge on top speed, but last year he was among the slowest on the straight, and still easily won, so it wasn't the decisive factor at all.
Also not sure he'll be able to take the curbs as hard as in qualifying over long distance, so I wouldn't think his S3 advantage is that representative.
That's a cool idea who ever made thatJuzh wrote: ↑30 Oct 2022, 10:47a very detailed telemetry comparison:
- RB gains around 2 tenths on straights, down from 4-5 tenths in COTA
- mercedes is much faster in medium/high speed corners trough sector 2, up to 11 kmh advantage
- RB is better in S3 and specifically on traction out of T13-14-T15 complex, gaining 2 tenths there
Awesome. This could be great fun if they do it other places too.
This is a very likely scenario. But it’s also likely that they will throw some unnecessary SCs in the mix to spice things up as they tend to do these days, so strategy might still come into play. I have a feeling that a couple of the top 6 cars will be out of contention after the first lap also given the nature of turn 1…
Mercedes has been quick of the line this season, really among with the best. So if they do get off the line quickly here too they will both have a chance imho. That first few turns will be an absolute nailbiter. As they always are here.