Mexico City GP - Race Pace (Gap in s/lap):

🔵VER: fastest
🟢HAM: +0.44 (0.55s/lap quicker than RUS!)
🔴LEC: +0.56
🔴SAI: +0.72 (despite LEC's broken wing)
🟠NOR: +0.75

RB>Merc>Ferrari>McL>AT (based on the quicker driver)

Want more data? I got you covered😏👇

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/f1dataanalysis/mexico-gp-analyses-repository

Finally, a track where Ferrari improved in every aspect compared to last year!📈

In '22, the team had to run a detuned engine over reliability concerns.💥

Not this year, though! The car improved significantly, and the team's pit stops were the quickest on average. 👌

This year, Pirelli brought tyres which are one step softer than last year.

This improved every team's performance, but Ferrari's pace also improved relative to the other teams.

That explains the large improvement in all the performance metrics and in the quali results / points achieved.

The 'trick' that made AlphaTauri MIGHTY that nobody is discussing!💡

Teams used HUGE cooling outlets to compensate for Mexico's lower air density (and therefore cooling power): this cost precious downforce!

AT got away with far less cooling➡️Excellent downforce!

Gap to Verstappen at the Mexico City GP:

Max had the best pace in all segments of the race, except for:
>Laps 10-19: NOR and TSU, on fresh tyres, were quicker
>Laps 67-70: NOR was ON FIRE and quickest. Max was managing, though.

Ferrari's pace was much better on M than on H (last stint).

Ferrari's was the quickest team in the pits!
Mercedes seems to have learnt from Austin's slow stops (that compromised Hamilton's chances).

RB might not have been quickest, but they are always among the quicker ones, even when (like yesterday) VER has a big gap.

Bottas reached 362km/h! 😳
That's the effect of the ~20% lower air density in #MexicoGP!

At sea level, his top speed would have been around 336km/h (362*(1-0.2)^1/3).

Lowest top speeds for LEC and SAI, as they NEVER used DRS! Their top speed without DRS was excellent, though.

Weekly reminder that you can find ALL my socials and extra content through THIS link
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https://linktr.ee/fdataanalysis

After the red flag, drivers on Mediums had a much better restart!📈

This visualisation was made through JMP: as a fan of my page, you can try it for free through this link!
👇
https://www.jmp.com/en_gb/download-jmp-free-trial.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fdataanalysis_en_post&utm_audience=f1race-interest&utm_content=trial

📊The F1 data I used👇
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1heQszjVRq97Geb-4qzjNU-IYyg__FTsN/view?pli=1

Made via JMP Software

No driver could match the two RedBull cars at the start: they were quicker than even Norris, who was on Soft tyres!

Mercedes had a sub-optimal start: 0.4s more time needed to reach 200km/h (on the same compound).

Kudos to Albon and Ocon for starting well on Hards!

Team/Compound Performance🛞

🔵RB: quickest on both compounds, more dominant on H

🔴Ferrari: Very quick on M, not as much on H

🟠McL: Norris was mighty on S but could not express his pace due to traffic!

🟢Merc: HAM was mighty on M. RUS 'cooked' them behind SAI!

🛞Tyre Strategies-#MexicoGP

12-laps difference between VER and LEC after both pitted for the first time

All Drivers who finished the race after the re-start did 37 laps on a single set. Great effort by HAM, NOR, RUS, PIA, and ALB for making it to the end on a used Medium!

Coming Up: Brazilian GP

🗒Key Notes on #BrazilianGP !

High altitude (700m), but less than Mexico (2200m). Less-dense air➡️cars with more drag and downforce (Merc, AT) will gain

AlphaTauri used smaller cooling outlets in Mexico: they might have a strong weekend (less so, though)

Your prediction?🤔

Minimum speeds (turn 13) at the Mexico City GP :

The average for most drivers was between 61 and 63km/h📊

Alfa Romeo was an exception, though: BOT and ZHO reached 67km/h once, and Zhou's average is 66km/h!

Sacrificing entry/exit for better cornering married the car better, probably🛠

383km/h?!?😳
Possible in Mexico with Monza Wings!😎

Verstappen Top Speed (km/h) in quali

>Hungary (High Load Wing): 314
>Mexico (High Load): 351 [+11.7% due to lower air density]
>Monza (Low Load): 343 [+9.2% due to the skinny wing]

Combining the effects we get 383.4km/h!

In Mexico the cars reach their terminal speed at the end of the straight (the speeds stops increasing), so the exit speed from the previous corner does not impact the top speed.

Running a skinnier wing in Mexico would make the exit speed from the previous corner lower, but this would not impact the top speed.

Cars reached their terminal speed before the braking point (meaning that the speed stops increasing, so a lower exit speed would not impact the top speed significantly (if at all).

Wings for Brazilian GP:

Around 8% lower air density vs sea level➡️ favours more downforce at the expense of more drag.

RB: maximum load (very efficient car, can afford the drag penalty👌).

Still, some teams like Alfa are focusing on reducing their drag (sacrificing downforce).🚨

Top teams, as McL, Merc, Ferrari, RB (not shown) are using high-downforce wings due to the many corners of Interlagos and the lower air density.

AlphaTauri, one of the draggiest cars, opted for a less loaded wing to compensate. Are they in for another strong weekend?