2022 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Oct 28 - 30

[chrisc90]

Really don't understand the drama around Merc strategy.
1/ Russell was slower than Hamilton on both stint, and apart at the very end of the first stint he was not closing on Perez. Even if he kept the 2nd place at the start Russell would've been overtaken by Hamilton, and Perez. The only moment were he was a bit faster than Lewis was the end of the first stint

Was he? Data shows otherwise if you compare the 2 on F1 tempo. Russel was actually quicker on the hard than Lewis.

Perez was faster than Hamilton in the second stint and was matching Russell also in the second stint.

[DGP123]

Really don't understand the drama around Merc strategy.
1/ Russell was slower than Hamilton on both stint, and apart at the very end of the first stint he was not closing on Perez. Even if he kept the 2nd place at the start Russell would've been overtaken by Hamilton, and Perez. The only moment were he was a bit faster than Lewis was the end of the first stint

Was he? Data shows otherwise if you compare the 2 on F1 tempo. Russel was actually quicker on the hard than Lewis.

Perez was faster than Hamilton in the second stint and was matching Russell also in the second stint.

Russell’s hards were newer. Ham was keeping Perez comfortably behind, and once he knew VER was out of sight, began to just bring it home. Russell was playing catch up, trying to get into the fight, he was never really going to get into. hence, he then bailed for a fastest lap

[chrisc90]

Really don't understand the drama around Merc strategy.
1/ Russell was slower than Hamilton on both stint, and apart at the very end of the first stint he was not closing on Perez. Even if he kept the 2nd place at the start Russell would've been overtaken by Hamilton, and Perez. The only moment were he was a bit faster than Lewis was the end of the first stint

Was he? Data shows otherwise if you compare the 2 on F1 tempo. Russel was actually quicker on the hard than Lewis.

Perez was faster than Hamilton in the second stint and was matching Russell also in the second stint.

Russell’s hards were newer. Ham was keeping Perez comfortably behind, and once he knew VER was out of sight, began to just bring it home. Russell was playing catch up, trying to get into the fight, he was never really going to get into. hence, he then bailed for a fastest lap

4-5 laps isn’t a massive offset on tyres though.

I dare bet if you offset the times by the same to account for the newer tyres it would still be the case. Granted less fuel marginally but won’t be a noticeable difference

[Wouter]

Amazing. (From the Editor @MotorLat.)

[Sieper]

To me it is also strange that tire wear exactly balances against fuel burn. Is that something that normally happens, something teams aim for?

[organic]

To me it is also strange that tire wear exactly balances against fuel burn. Is that something that normally happens, something teams aim for?

I think Max was just cruising. At Mexico the tyre wear was lower than fuel burn

[MadMax]

Amazing. (From the Editor @MotorLat.)

https://i.postimg.cc/W3SB62Ck/screenshot-360-1.jpg

It's what you can do when you have pace to spare in the car. "Driving to a delta" is the usual term for it. They had Hamilton covered so why push the car harder than necessary to cruise ahead of him? Metronomic driving like that is not unique to Max - any decent racing driver can drive to a consistent lap time. I bet he was bored doing it.

[Vanja #66]

Literally driving to a delta time to keep tyres in optimal range, it's been done during the whole Pirelli era. This just means the car was easily capable of going low 1:21 in the beginning of the stint. Not dominant at all

[MadMax]

Really don't understand the drama around Merc strategy.
1/ Russell was slower than Hamilton on both stint, and apart at the very end of the first stint he was not closing on Perez. Even if he kept the 2nd place at the start Russell would've been overtaken by Hamilton, and Perez. The only moment were he was a bit faster than Lewis was the end of the first stint

Was he? Data shows otherwise if you compare the 2 on F1 tempo. Russel was actually quicker on the hard than Lewis.

Perez was faster than Hamilton in the second stint and was matching Russell also in the second stint.

So how come neither of them caught him / each other and passed him / each other? Actually looking at F1Tempo shows that the all three of them swapped lap times back and forth which was probably as much to do with where they hit traffic on a given lap as anything else.

[Wouter]

Amazing. (From the Editor @MotorLat.)

https://i.postimg.cc/W3SB62Ck/screenshot-360-1.jpg

.
It's what you can do when you have pace to spare in the car. "Driving to a delta" is the usual term for it. They had Hamilton covered so why push the car harder than necessary to cruise ahead of him? Metronomic driving like that is not unique to Max - any decent racing driver can drive to a consistent lap time. I bet he was bored doing it.

.
I didn't expect a different answer from you.

[MadMax]

Amazing. (From the Editor @MotorLat.)

https://i.postimg.cc/W3SB62Ck/screenshot-360-1.jpg

.
It's what you can do when you have pace to spare in the car. "Driving to a delta" is the usual term for it. They had Hamilton covered so why push the car harder than necessary to cruise ahead of him? Metronomic driving like that is not unique to Max - any decent racing driver can drive to a consistent lap time. I bet he was bored doing it.

.
I didn't expect a different answer from you.

Go on the FIA's website and you can find lap time charts for races galore and you'll find plenty of examples of race leaders driving equally remarkable consistent lap times out in front. It's a skill, yes, but it's certainly not unique to Max.

[organic]

Russell and Verstappen's compared in qualifying with live gap. Seems maybe T1 and stadium hairpin were where George lost most time

[chrisc90]

Russell and Verstappen's compared in qualifying with live gap. Seems maybe T1 and stadium hairpin were where George lost most time

Would be interesting to see Russell's final lap where he ran wide in comparison to that one.

[chrisc90]

Not sure on the age of the video....but....

https://www.sportvideos.tv/video-max-ve ... J1vndtZp3U

[Hammerfist]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIsUr2O-orM

Russell and Verstappen's compared in qualifying with live gap. Seems maybe T1 and stadium hairpin were where George lost most time

Max was gaining so much time under braking. Part of that is these Redbull brakes though. I recall Ricciardo was also insane on the brakes when he was at Redbull. Apart from that it looked like the Merc couldn't keep the tires in the window in the final sector. I love those comparisons.