The middle sector at Interlagos accounts for half of the total lap time around the track. But it’s in this sinuous section that the current generation of cars have gained the most lap time.
The cars are taking 1.68 seconds less to cover the dash from turn four to 11 than they did last year. Around the other half of the lap, which is dominated by long straights, they’ve picking up just over seven-tenths of a second.
Once again the track record fell this weekend. Valtteri Bottas set pole position with a lap of 1’08.322 which is exactly one-and-a-half seconds faster than the previous record set 13 years ago by Rubens Barrichello:
Despite the fairly short lap, the total time gain by the quickest cars compared to last year is almost two-and-a-half seconds:
But although Mercedes have taken pole position, this is another track where it’s clear how much progress their rivals have made this year. Only Haas has made a smaller year-on-year lap time than the champions
2017 Brazilian Grand Prix
- 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix Star Performers
- 21 podiums without a win: Raikkonen extends his record
- “We lost it in the start”: Brazilian GP team radio highlights
Palle (@palle)
11th November 2017, 21:34
Very interesting article, Keith.
Thank You. Now I’m curious about the Team by Team development in lap times over the races this season, esp. the races after the summer break.
Jere (@jerejj)
11th November 2017, 21:42
More or less the amount of improvement I expected on last season.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
11th November 2017, 22:45
Only Haas make smaller gain than Mercedes in Brazil – that’s probably because Ham was out. I’m sure he would go a bit quicker.
Wooolfy
11th November 2017, 23:43
Absolutely! I would assume that the time set for P1 would have been as much as 3 tenths better.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
12th November 2017, 7:39
@ivan-vinitskyy, I was thinking the same. Although adding say the 3 tenths that Wooolfly mentioned, they’d be between Sauber and McLaren
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
12th November 2017, 12:39
Ya ya. Of course Hamilton would’ve gone faster! 😏
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
12th November 2017, 9:12
Compared to the previous races, Haas were actually doing rather well in qualifying, but still they are the least-improved team. That says a lot about their current form.
Baron (@baron)
12th November 2017, 17:49
@sravan-pe . Yes, of course he would have gone quicker! Are there any doubts?
@f1infigures, I think it says more about Haas F1 business model to be honest. Great at the beginning of the season, but generally the wheels come off mid way through. He’s not a true F1 constructor within the spirit of the rules, and it definitely has its shortcomings. Don’t get me wrong, I like his ethos and his professionalism. He’s already achieved more than any other newcomer to F1 in the past, I don’t know, may be forever! The very big BUT, is that he competes for Constructor points but isn’t a true Constructor. I believe that if the team had achieved more than they have, there would be a rather large backlash from the other 9 teams. This is important because the Haas model is a stepping stone away from a spec series, and this is absolutely not in the DNA of Formula 1 and shouldn’t be encouraged..