Gap to VER!

🟢Stroll's pace was VERY competitive: as quick as Leclerc in his 2nd stint despite pitting 3 laps earlier. He recovered over Verstappen in his last stint! Promising

🔴LEC was losing massively once others pitted📉

🔵VER managed his gap to HAM perfectly👌

Verstappen used a different type of brake pads which deteriorated quicker than expected.

In the last few laps, he had balance problems as the brake bias changed unpredictably.

He had to sacrifice his braking performance to ensure that he didn’t lock any axle.

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Tyre Strategies at the US GP:

LEC extended his first stint the most: 23 laps on a full tank, on Mediums!

Zhou, instead, pitted after just 9 laps.

Albon got into the points despite being the only driver who used two used sets, which probably impacted his pace a bit.

LapTimes - Colour indicates the stint

Mercedes was the fastest on low fuel!
Mexico's low air density should suit their high-downforce, higher-drag car, but how much did the too-low floor improve pace?🤔

The two Mercedes also had slightly fresher tyres compared to most other competitors in their 3rd stint:
- 17 laps by RUS in the 3rd stint, 18 by HAM
vs
- 19-22 laps by their main competitors, except for STR (16 laps).

Aston's pace looks promising💡

Made via @JMP_software

📈Best starters:
SAI, VER, PIA, ZHO

📉Worst:
GAS, LEC, RUS, BOT

Just 0.3s difference in reaching 200km/h between best and worst, though!

Which tyre compound was best, Medium or Hard?🤔

🟡Medium tyres were more grippy than ⚪️Hards in the first 20 laps

Hards only made sense for very long stints, where their slightly lower wear rate compensated for their inferior all-out performance.

Mexico features the calendar's most severe braking point: from over 350km/h to less than 100km/h!🔥

Brakes dissipate around 3.5 MILLION joules in a single braking, exceeding 4200 horsepower!🤯

RedBull cannot let Max's brakes fail here🚨

Speed out of turn 12

Decreasing fuel➡️higher speeds: from 175-180km/h (high fuel) to over 180km/h! (low fuel)

RedBulls were pretty slow in that segment: they favoured braking and cornering performance in turn 12, sacrificing the exit

Made via @JMP_software

🗒Key notes on #MexicoGP!

Highest altitude (2285m!)➡️20% lower air density➡️Much lower drag and downforce➡️Loaded rear wings despite the long straight!

Ferrari's pace has improved in the second part of the season (for a reason I will explain one of these days!), so I don't expect them to fare terribly here.

Still, their drag advantage will matter less here, and they will take penalties to install new Power Units.

📈High-downforce, high-drag (⚫️Merc)
📉Low-downf, low-drag (🔴Ferrari)

Soft tyres (C3-C5)
Your bet?🤔


📸 @pirellisport

RACE PACE SIMULATIONS - #MexicoGP

⚫️Mercedes should be🔵RedBull's main rival
🟠McL and🔴Ferrari should be close, though!

🟣Alpine is predicted to be 'Best of the Rest'
🟢Aston might suffer unless they ace the setup!

It might be another close race!

( Source: @AlbertFabrega )

Mexico City GP - Wing Thursday!

💡Rear Wings

Mexico’s paradox: teams reach record top speeds despite the very loaded rear wings.

The reason? Altitude decreases air density by 20%, reducing drag and downforce by the same amount.📉

Similar wings➡️baseline drag-downforce matter!

[ 📸 @AlbertFabrega ]

Weirdly enough, 🟢Aston is the only team not running a Gurney Flap🤔

The Gurney flap is a small lip mounted on the trailing edge (the most rearward part) of the upper plane, which helps prevent flow separation💨

It was invented by a racing driver! (Dan Gurney)🏎🛠

Here is a comparison between no Gurney (left) vs Gurney Flap (right)

Today you learned something new!😁

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What are your predictions for the Mexico GP? 🤔

1) Pole🥇

2) Race Winner🏆

3) Disappointment of the weekend😢