2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres

6 comments on “2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres”

1. 

   Nell (@imabouttogoham)
   6th December 2021, 1:51

   There could’ve been a lot more ways controversy would’ve arisen. Max’s tires falling off at the end seems like it was a formality but he still would’ve been equally as dogged.
   1. 

      frood19 (@frood19)
      6th December 2021, 7:49

      I was expecting another red flag to save his bacon but it wasn’t to be. Verstappen is a very lucky boy this weekend – so many errors of judgement (by his team too, medium tyres was a massive fail) and an atrocious driving style. He could easily have come away from here with a DNF (or DNQ if you’re of that mind). To still be leading the title race is as good as he could have hoped for.

      Looks like the Ferraris had a good fight – shame hardly any of it made the channel 4 highlights. I’m in the dark on pretty much anything that happened in this race outside of the Hamilton-verstappen battle.
      1. 

         someone or something
         6th December 2021, 11:03

         @frood19
         Not going to argue against your assessment of the driving style, I still haven’t processed it all.
         However, I disagree with the following:

         many errors of judgement (by his team too, medium tyres was a massive fail)

         Sure, it was quite a big gamble. But it may have been this very gamble that put him in a position where he actually had something to lose. Would he have been able to thread the needle at the final restart without the extra bit of traction and brake performance the softer compound gave him? I don’t think so; I’d assume Verstappen would’ve stayed in 3rd, and from then on, he would’ve probably had no chance of overtaking Hamilton, as their cars were too close on pace.
         In other words, that gamble enabled him to fight for the win in the first place.
2. 

   Michael
   6th December 2021, 11:03

   It looks like something has gone wrong with the Tyre strategies table. Some drivers have a first stint of zero laps, while Perez has a second stint of -10 laps
3. 

   Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
   6th December 2021, 13:11

   I notice that Bottas was 5s slower than Hamilton on the lap when the SC was called.
   It was briefly mentioned (Max complaining on the radio), but was quickly forgotten abut with the red flag, and the fact that Max jumped both anyway by not pitting.
   Can anyone say if Hamilton was too fast or if Bottas was too slow? When they’re driving to their delta times, how much leeway are they given? I presume both were legal, just pushing the opposite limits to the extreme?
   Feels like another grey area…
   1. 

      someone or something
      6th December 2021, 19:18

      @eurobrun
      If Hamilton had been too fast, there would’ve been a penalty.
      As for how slowly Bottas was allowed to go – the Safety Car regulations demand a gap of less than ten car lengths to the car ahead, but seeing as they hadn’t caught the Safety Car yet, this was essentially a VSC situation (cf. article 48.7).
      According to articles 48.5 (Safety Car) and 49.3 (Virtual Safety Car):

      No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the [48.5: safety car/49.3: VSC] procedure is in use. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry or the pit lane.

      Therefore, Bottas’ behaviour was clearly on the naughty side, but unlike the minimum time, there is no clearly defined maximum time. At the end of the day, he probably escaped a penalty because the subsequent red flag negated any advantage he or his team might’ve gained. Plus, Masi and the Stewards had more urgent matters to tend to.

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