F1 Overtaking stats

[Cheese Mechanic]

Interesting breakdown of overtaking so far this season, taking in a number of factors.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formul...

[Blayney]

Clip the apex have much better stats IMO. It used to be accessible without an account but looks like that may have changed.

[John_S4x4]

Just out of interest, what would happen if you reduced the tyre diameter on F1 cars ? How would this effect overtaking ? What would happen if you banned 13" wheels and got F1 cars to run on 12" or 10" wheels ?
Am I right in thinking that they might be increasing the wheel size in the near future ?

[RenesisEvo]

John_S4x4 said:

Just out of interest, what would happen if you reduced the tyre diameter on F1 cars ? How would this effect overtaking ? What would happen if you banned 13" wheels and got F1 cars to run on 12" or 10" wheels ?
Am I right in thinking that they might be increasing the wheel size in the near future ?

I can see no logic in moving to smaller wheels, although it might reduce overall drag a bit as the open wheels generate quite a lot of drag. The area inside the wheel is incredibly complex and tight in terms of packaging already, going smaller would make things even more difficult and expensive, and even less relevant to other road vehicles or forms of motorsport. A move to 15" would be sensible IMO, but I don't make the rules.

[John_S4x4]

I was just thinking that it might increase overtaking, as due to the smaller tyre contact patch, they will have have to increase the braking distance to scrub off the same speed, hence they would have more chance to overtake into a sharp corner/chicane. The reduced stopping power from the smaller brake discs will also increase the length of the braking zone, and hence make it easier to overtake under braking ?....the thought of smaller wheels had just popped into my head.

[RenesisEvo]

John_S4x4 said:

I was just thinking that it might increase overtaking, as due to the smaller tyre contact patch, they will have have to increase the braking distance to scrub off the same speed, hence they would have more chance to overtake into a sharp corner/chicane. The reduced stopping power from the smaller brake discs will also increase the length of the braking zone, and hence make it easier to overtake under braking ?....the thought of smaller wheels had just popped into my head.

I agree with the principle of what you are saying, however overall, the balance of grip with smaller tyres will shift away from mechanical (tyres) to aero, and it's fairly clear that doesn't give us more overtaking. I imagine a good method to increase the braking distance will be to mandate steel discs, then increase the wheel size to allow enough air to get through to cool them, but overall their performance will be less than the extremely-good carbon-carbon arrangement used now. Having said that, the braking force is ultimately derived from the tyre's grip. It's not straightforward, if it was I suspect it would have been changed already.

[MGJohn]

With a number of 'lesser' teams fielding much slower cars, statistically there will obviously be more overtaking of backmarkers being blue flagged.

In previous seasons, there was not such a wide spread of times between pole sitter and the slowest qualifyer.

On the few occasions when the 'faster' car/driver combinations such as Hamilton fail to qualify to their potential and thus start further down the grid, that produces more overtaking.

I'd like to see Vettel really qualify poorly at least one race so that he starts say from 11th or lower. That would have the potential to be both informative and entertaining. he starts 3rd on the grid later today and there are only two cars in front of him and both are fast car/driver combinations. The higher up the grid a driver starts the less opportunities to overtake and being faster, much more difficult unless those in front make an error. On the few occasions Vettel has started behind his team mate, he's invariably been able to beat him to the first turn.

Really looking forward to 13.00 hrs today.

[Derek Smith]

I reckon thee should be a requirement that the air behind a car is stable. That will allow cars to catch a tow and maintain position close behind. I would bet on the aerodynamics at present being tuned to make the wake as disruptive as possible.