Spanish GP PREVIEW 👀

Numerous, long high-speed corners➡️ Huge tyre stress: wear will be high despite the C1-C3 compounds. 🛞🔥

Downforce: critical for cornering and tyre wear. Drag, while less crucial, must be kept under control. 🛠

Since the removal of the Sector 3 chicane, the track lacks a proper slow section.

Overtaking has become more feasible, and most teams now opt for a marginally less loaded aero setup.

What’s YOUR prediction? 🤔

📸 @pirellisport

💡Ferrari is introducing a new rear wing in the Spanish GP, bridging the gap between:
- their High Load Monaco wing;
- their Medium Load one.

The team has introduced 2 new specs in the last 3 races, after running the same wing level in the opening 7 events.

So far, Ferrari has tuned their overall downforce and drag via the beam wings, as the rear wing load has been kept the same despite the very different tracks (e.g. extremely fast Jeddah and much slower Imola).

These 2 new rear wings will give the team more setup options. 🛠

📸 @AlbertFabrega

Practice 2 Sector Analysis

HAM was quickest overall, even though Mercedes was not quickest in any sector.

RBR: highest top speed➡️helped VER get P1 in the very fast S1.

Norris shined in S2.

Alpine (!) and HAM excelled in the slow S3, where the cars' high drag didn't matter as much.

LONG RUNS - FP2

PIA was quickest, but VER probably had the edge.

🟠PIA (S) pushed significantly in the first 3 laps, but his pace then dropped.

🟡VER (M) was almost as quick, but also more consistent and with no signs of wear despite doing 2 additional laps.

SAI and NOR were close.

This is just one of the many analyses from FP2 that I uploaded to my analyses repository, to which all the page supporters have access too! 📊👀

It is also one of those that I will discuss in my ‘Quali and Race Preview’ article coming out tomorrow👇

https://buymeacoffee.com/f1dataanalysis/spanish-gp-analyses-repository

Hamilton was quicker than SAI/NOR only in Turn 12; still, his lap was quicker overall!

He was pretty close to the fastest driver everywhere➡️No clear weakness for Mercedes

🔴Ferrari: great efficiency (drag🔽, downforce🔼) in FP2➡️Excellent Sector 1

🟠NOR mighty in Sector 2

💡FP3 MAIN POINTS:

- Ferrari quickest in all sectors (LEC S1+S2, SAI S3).
- 324km/h Ferrari, 322 Merc and RedBull, 321 McL.
- NOR next best in the fast S1 and the slow S3. HAM competitive in S2, where Aston struggled.
- Ferrari lifted the most in high-speed corners, RedBull the least.

💭 Spanish GP Quali!

🟠 NOR improved all his sectors in his last lap, delivering when it mattered!
🔵 VER in the game again.
⚫️ Solid performance by Merc, as in Canada.
🔴 The updated Ferrari lost P3-P4 by just 0.030s.
🟣 Both alpines in Q3 on a representative track.

YOUR prediction? 🤔

💡Turn 14 reveals Ferrari's weakness (which is RedBull's strength)

📉Ferrari has less downforce than the others➡️LEC lifted significantly (72% throttle, 267km/h)

HAM and NOR only needed a tiny lift... but VER remained full throttle! His superior downforce reveals a race-focused setup🛠

Ferrari was also the only car to lift in T9: due to the fuel load and tyre wear present in the race, LEC and SAI could be farther from the others compared to qualifying (while VER could be even stronger!)

You might be wondering why VER had a 1km/h higher minimum cornering speed than HAM, who had to lift a bit.

The reason is that HAM reached the corner with a 3km/h higher speed (less drag or stronger ERS deployment, or both), and only lost part of his advantage there.

VER exited the corner way better, though (4km/h advantage on corner exit).

FP3 Long Runs 👀

Verstappen 'sand-bagged' massively: almost 3s/lap slower than Russell on average!
- Lifted much more in the high-speed corners (more fuel and farther from limits).
- Top speed was low (lower engine mode).

RUS was quickest, but LEC's pace improved throughout the stint.

Hamilton had a trend similar to RUS; he was simply slower: lower top speed yet had to lift more➡️More fuel, less power.

FP2 Long Runs, too

BEST SECTORS - QUALIFYING

Sainz was quickest in Sector 1 even though Norris and (even more so) Verstappen benefitted from a tow on the main straight.

NOR was 0.14s ahead of everyone else in S2! That's massive. 🤯

VER was quickest in S3... and Gasly 3rd quickest! 📈

⏱RACE PACE Spanish GP

Norris was just 0.04s/lap slower than VER... despite being stuck in traffic! The NOR-McL duo was fastest in free-air.

Very similar pace for:
- HAM, LEC, RUS (~0.25s/lap slower)
- PIA, SAI (~0.35s/lap slower)

Alpines and HUL were way quicker than Aston! 🤯

In the last stint, VER used more throttle in the high-speed corners... yet he was slower there! How?! 🤔

More loaded wing➡️More drag➡️Lower entry speed! Lifting less was not enough to compensate for this, but he did exit with the same speed as NOR. ⏱

His top speed was lower, too. 📉

Norris was pushing 100% to try to catch him: McL's tyre wear and empty-tank pace was unmatched.

The data refers to Lap 63 (the last lap before both drivers increased their laptimes), but this trend is observed throughout the last stint.

Which team has the longest (or shortest) gear ratios?🤔
I've estimated them to compare them! 💡

Mercedes: shortest gear ratios from gear V onwards
Red Bull Racing: longest gears from IV onwards

Gear ratios are fixed for the season: same PU, yet different ratios for McL and Merc.

As F1 Engines have a very flat power curve (due to the mandated flow limit), gear ratios from II to VII are chosen based mainly on corner-exit drivability.

For a given engine, a longer VIII gear suggests that the team expects less drag.

Made via @JMP_software

Ready for the first ‘High-altitude’ track of 2024? 👀

700m above sea level ➡️ 7% lower air density ➡️ ~7% less drag and downforce!

Teams will try to claw back that downforce loss through medium-load wings (despite the long straights: power is crucial).

The lower air density will make having high drag slightly less penalizing, and having high downforce even more important: teams with higher drag (Alpine, possibly McL) should gain from that, while Haas’ low drag will be less useful there.

Alpine’s lower engine power might hurt them on the frequent straights.

Softest compounds (C3-C5)

📸: @pirellisport

Who will prevail in your opinion: RedBull or McL? How will Ferrari and Mercedes perform? 🤔

What’s your prediction for the Austrian GP: will Ferrari fight for the top again or will their performance be disappointing again? And what about the other teams?🤔