Best Laps #6 - Monte Carlo

Best Lap Comparison

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.

[size=1]
2008 Team 2008 Driver S Lps Time 2009 Driver S Lps Time Diff. %Diff
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[Honda] Barrichello Q1 165 1'16.208 Barrichello Q2 197 1'14.829 -1.379 -1.81
[Honda] Button Q2 186 1'16.101 Button Q3 196 1'14.902 -1.199 -1.58
F India-[Ferrari] Fisichella P2 113 1'17.251 Fisichella Q1 198 1'16.063 -1.188 -1.54
T Rosso-Ferrari Vettel Q1 189 1'16.955 Buemi Q2 134 1'15.833 -1.122 -1.46
Renault Piquet Q1 147 1'16.933 Piquet Q2 138 1'15.837 -1.096 -1.42
F India-[Ferrari] Sutil Q1 158 1'17.225 Sutil P3 188 1'16.228 -0.997 -1.29
Red Bull-Renault Coulthard Q2 84 1'15.839 Vettel Q2 114 1'14.879 -0.960 -1.27
Red Bull-Renault Webber Q2 179 1'15.745 Webber Q2 171 1'14.825 -0.920 -1.21
Ferrari Räikkönen Q2 184 1'15.404 Räikkönen Q2 207 1'14.514 -0.890 -1.18
Williams-Toyota Nakajima P2 186 1'16.372 Nakajima Q2 198 1'15.579 -0.793 -1.04
T Rosso-Ferrari Bourdais Q1 100 1'16.806 Bourdais Q1 199 1'16.120 -0.686 -0.89
Renault Alonso Q2 171 1'15.827 Alonso P3 196 1'15.164 -0.663 -0.87
McLaren-Mercedes Kovalainen Q1 179 1'15.295 Kovalainen Q2 174 1'14.809 -0.486 -0.65
Williams-Toyota Rosberg Q2 175 1'15.287 Rosberg Q2 196 1'14.826 -0.461 -0.61
BMW Sauber-BMW Heidfeld P2 166 1'16.426 Heidfeld Q1 173 1'16.264 -0.162 -0.21
Ferrari Massa Q2 185 1'15.110 Massa Q2 202 1'15.001 -0.109 -0.15
Toyota            Glock       Q2  189  1'15.907 Glock       R   187 1'16.066 +0.159 +0.21
McLaren-Mercedes Hamilton P2 178 1'15.140 Hamilton P3 165 1'15.389 +0.249 +0.33
Toyota Trulli Q2 165 1'15.598 Trulli R 185 1'16.011 +0.413 +0.55
BMW Sauber-BMW Kubica Q2 173 1'15.483 Kubica Q1 88 1'16.405 +0.922 +1.22
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Notes:

Sixteen drivers improved their times compared to 2008, the top five gained over one second.

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.


[size=1]
2008 Team 2008 Driver S Lps Time 2009 Driver S Lps Time Diff. %Diff
=========================================================================================
[Honda] Button Q2 351 1'16.101 Barrichello Q2 393 1'14.829 -1.272 -1.67
F India-[Ferrari] Sutil Q1 271 1'17.225 Fisichella Q1 386 1'16.063 -1.162 -1.50
T Rosso-Ferrari Bourdais Q1 289 1'16.806 Buemi Q2 333 1'15.833 -0.973 -1.27
Red Bull-Renault Webber Q2 263 1'15.745 Webber Q2 285 1'14.825 -0.920 -1.21
Renault Alonso Q2 318 1'15.827 Alonso P3 334 1'15.164 -0.663 -0.87
Ferrari Massa Q2 369 1'15.110 Räikkönen Q2 409 1'14.514 -0.596 -0.79
Williams-Toyota Rosberg Q2 361 1'15.287 Rosberg Q2 394 1'14.826 -0.461 -0.61
McLaren-Mercedes Hamilton P2 357 1'15.140 Kovalainen Q2 339 1'14.809 -0.331 -0.44
Toyota            Trulli      Q2  354 1'15.598  Trulli      R   372 1'16.011 +0.413 +0.55
BMW Sauber-BMW Kubica Q2 339 1'15.483 Heidfeld Q1 261 1'16.264 +0.781 +1.03
[/size]

All teams except Toyota & BMW Sauber improved compared to the 2008 event.


Taking the positions of the teams in table 2 we can produce an average position for the season to date.

Team                     R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6  Tot  Avg.
==================================================
1. Brawn-Mercedes 1 1 2 2 1 1 8 1.33
2. Red Bull-Renault 2 4 3 3 2 4 18 3.00
3. F India-Mercedes 8 6 1 1 5 2 23 3.83
4. Williams-Toyota 3 2 4 6 3 7 25 4.17
5. Toyota 4 3 5 7 4 9 32 5.33
6. Renault 5 5 6 4 8 5 33 5.50
7. T Rosso-Ferrari 10 7 8 5 6 3 39 6.50
8. Ferrari 6 9 9 10 7 6 47 7.83
9. BMW Sauber-BMW 7 8 7 9 9 10 50 8.33
10. McLaren-Mercedes 9 10 10 8 10 8 55 9.17
 
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