Brian_W_Lawrence
Rookie
Best Lap Comparison - European GP 2009
Q: How does the best lap of the whole weekend (3 practice sessions, 3 qualifying periods and the
race) compare to the best lap of the weekend in 2008?
Here are two tables - one compares driver with driver; easy enough if the same driver remains in the same
team. If not we compare the 2008 driver with the guy who replaced him.
Note: Honda has morphed into Brawn-Mercedes, while Force India have switched from Ferrari to Mercedes power.
'S' is the session when the best lap was achieved (P1/P2/P3/Q1/Q2/Q3/R)
'Lps' are the total laps in all sessions
'Diff' is the gain/loss in seconds
'%Diff' is the difference in time as a percentage of the 2008 time
Negative Diff/%Diff mean that the driver/team improved. Positive means they got worse.
There can be several reasons for the variations seen.
Notes
This week four drivers - Barrichello, Sutil, Vettel & Button - were able to set better lap
times than they achieved in 2008.
The second table takes the best lap time from both drivers in each team and compares
with the equivalent team last season. Probably a better comparison.
Only Brawn, Force India and Red Bull were able to set better lap times, although Williams
were within one hundredth of a second.
Taking the positions of the teams from table 2 we can produce an average position for
the season to date.
Q: How does the best lap of the whole weekend (3 practice sessions, 3 qualifying periods and the
race) compare to the best lap of the weekend in 2008?
Here are two tables - one compares driver with driver; easy enough if the same driver remains in the same
team. If not we compare the 2008 driver with the guy who replaced him.
Note: Honda has morphed into Brawn-Mercedes, while Force India have switched from Ferrari to Mercedes power.
'S' is the session when the best lap was achieved (P1/P2/P3/Q1/Q2/Q3/R)
'Lps' are the total laps in all sessions
'Diff' is the gain/loss in seconds
'%Diff' is the difference in time as a percentage of the 2008 time
Negative Diff/%Diff mean that the driver/team improved. Positive means they got worse.
There can be several reasons for the variations seen.
2008 Team 2008 Driver S Lps Time 2009 Driver S Lps Time Diff. %Diff
=========================================================================================
[Honda] Barrichello Q1 144 1'39.811 Barrichello Q2 141 1'38.076 -1.735 -1.74
F India-[Ferrari] Sutil Q1 126 1'39.943 Sutil Q2 123 1'38.846 -1.097 -1.10
Red Bull-Renault Coulthard Q1 127 1'39.235 Vettel Q2 100 1'38.273 -0.962 -0.97
[Honda] Button Q1 136 1'38.880 Button Q1 141 1'38.531 -0.349 -0.35
Williams-Toyota Rosberg Q2 149 1'38.336 Rosberg Q2 154 1'38.346 +0.010 +0.01
Red Bull-Renault Webber Q2 136 1'38.515 Webber Q2 144 1'38.625 +0.110 +0.11
McLaren-Mercedes Kovalainen Q2 142 1'38.120 Kovalainen Q2 138 1'38.230 +0.110 +0.11
Toyota Glock Q2 152 1'38.499 Glock R 140 1'38.683 +0.184 +0.19
McLaren-Mercedes Hamilton Q2 137 1'37.954 Hamilton Q2 105 1'38.182 +0.228 +0.23
F India-[Ferrari] Fisichella Q1 135 1'39.268 Fisichella Q1 128 1'39.531 +0.263 +0.26
Renault Piquet Q2 156 1'38.744 Grosjean Q2 142 1'39.040 +0.296 +0.30
Renault Alonso Q1 99 1'38.268 Alonso Q2 138 1'38.717 +0.449 +0.46
Ferrari Räikkönen Q2 143 1'38.229 Räikkönen Q2 156 1'38.782 +0.553 +0.56
BMW Sauber-BMW Kubica Q2 149 1'38.050 Kubica Q2 146 1'38.747 +0.697 +0.71
Williams-Toyota Nakajima Q2 148 1'38.428 Nakajima P3 134 1'39.247 +0.819 +0.83
BMW Sauber-BMW Heidfeld Q2 152 1'37.859 Heidfeld Q2 138 1'38.826 +0.967 +0.99
T Rosso-Ferrari Vettel Q2 157 1'37.842 Buemi Q1 134 1'38.912 +1.070 +1.09
T Rosso-Ferrari Bourdais Q2 160 1'38.417 Alguersuari Q1 142 1'39.925 +1.508 +1.53
Toyota Trulli Q2 139 1'37.928 Trulli Q1 136 1'39.807 +1.879 +1.92
Ferrari Massa Q2 152 1'37.859 Badoer R 145 1'40.590 +2.731 +2.79
Notes
This week four drivers - Barrichello, Sutil, Vettel & Button - were able to set better lap
times than they achieved in 2008.
The second table takes the best lap time from both drivers in each team and compares
with the equivalent team last season. Probably a better comparison.
2008 Team 2008 Driver S Lps Time 2009 Driver S Lps Time Diff. %Diff
=========================================================================================
[Honda] Button Q1 280 1'38.880 Barrichello Q2 282 1'38.076 -0.804 -0.81
F India-[Ferrari] Fisichella Q1 261 1'39.268 Sutil Q2 251 1'38.846 -0.422 -0.43
Red Bull-Renault Webber Q2 263 1'38.515 Vettel Q2 244 1'38.273 -0.242 -0.25
Williams-Toyota Rosberg Q2 297 1'38.336 Rosberg Q2 288 1'38.346 +0.010 +0.01
McLaren-Mercedes Hamilton Q2 279 1'37.954 Hamilton Q2 243 1'38.182 +0.228 +0.23
Renault Alonso Q1 255 1'38.268 Alonso Q2 280 1'38.717 +0.449 +0.46
Toyota Trulli Q2 291 1'37.928 Glock R 276 1'38.683 +0.755 +0.77
BMW Sauber-BMW Heidfeld Q2 301 1'37.859 Kubica Q2 284 1'38.747 +0.888 +0.91
Ferrari Massa Q2 295 1'37.859 Räikkönen Q2 301 1'38.782 +0.923 +0.94
T Rosso-Ferrari Vettel Q2 317 1'37.842 Buemi Q1 276 1'38.912 +1.070 +1.09
Only Brawn, Force India and Red Bull were able to set better lap times, although Williams
were within one hundredth of a second.
Taking the positions of the teams from table 2 we can produce an average position for
the season to date.
Team R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 Tot Avg.
===================================================================
1. Brawn-Mercedes 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 - 4 1 15 1.50
2. Williams-Toyota 3 2 4 6 3 7 2 2 - 1 4 34 3.40
Red Bull-Renault 2 4 3 3 2 4 4 6 - 3 3 34 3.40
4. F India-Mercedes 8 6 1 1 5 2 3 5 - 2 2 35 3.50
5. Renault 5 5 6 4 8 5 6 4 - 7 6 56 5.60
6. Toyota 4 3 5 7 4 9 5 3 - 10 7 57 5.70
7. T Rosso-Ferrari 10 7 8 5 6 3 7 9 - 6 10 71 7.10
8. BMW Sauber-BMW 7 8 7 9 9 10 8 8 - 5 8 79 7.90
9. Ferrari 6 9 9 10 7 6 9 7 - 9 9 81 8.10
10. McLaren-Mercedes 9 10 10 8 10 8 10 10 - 8 5 88 8.80
