Best Laps #7 - Istanbul Park

Best Lap Comparison - Turkish 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.

2008 Team         2008 Driver S   Lps  Time     2009 Driver S   Lps  Time    Diff.  %Diff
=========================================================================================
[Honda] Button Q2 127 1'27.298 Button Q2 152 1'27.230 -0.068 -0.08
F India-[Ferrari] Sutil Q1 117 1'28.325 Sutil Q1 148 1'28.278 -0.047 -0.05
Williams-Toyota   Nakajima    Q1   70  1'27.547 Nakajima    Q2  155 1'27.629 +0.082 +0.09
[Honda] Barrichello Q2 117 1'27.219 Barrichello Q1 147 1'27.371 +0.152 +0.17
Williams-Toyota Rosberg Q2 136 1'27.012 Rosberg Q2 168 1'27.418 +0.406 +0.47
Red Bull-Renault Coulthard Q2 126 1'26.520 Vettel Q2 115 1'27.016 +0.496 +0.57
Toyota Trulli Q1 146 1'26.695 Trulli Q2 170 1'27.195 +0.500 +0.58
Renault Piquet Q1 127 1'27.568 Piquet R 136 1'28.340 +0.772 +0.88
F India-[Ferrari] Fisichella Q1 86 1'27.807 Fisichella Q1 92 1'28.717 +0.910 +1.04
BMW Sauber-BMW Heidfeld Q2 149 1'26.607 Heidfeld Q2 153 1'27.521 +0.914 +1.06
Red Bull-Renault Webber Q2 116 1'26.466 Webber Q2 157 1'27.416 +0.950 +1.10
Renault Alonso Q2 131 1'26.522 Alonso Q2 152 1'27.473 +0.951 +1.10
Toyota Glock Q1 139 1'26.614 Glock Q2 165 1'27.795 +1.181 +1.36
T Rosso-Ferrari Vettel Q2 141 1'27.412 Buemi R 153 1'28.624 +1.212 +1.39
T Rosso-Ferrari Bourdais Q1 100 1'27.621 Bourdais Q1 148 1'28.918 +1.297 +1.48
BMW Sauber-BMW Kubica Q2 127 1'26.129 Kubica Q2 155 1'27.455 +1.326 +1.54
Ferrari Räikkönen Q2 122 1'26.050 Räikkönen Q2 156 1'27.387 +1.337 +1.55
Ferrari Massa Q1 132 1'25.994 Massa Q2 167 1'27.349 +1.355 +1.58
McLaren-Mercedes Kovalainen Q2 130 1'26.290 Kovalainen Q1 151 1'28.199 +1.909 +2.21
McLaren-Mercedes Hamilton Q1 137 1'26.192 Hamilton Q1 140 1'28.318 +2.126 +2.47

Notes
Only Button and Sutil managed better laps than 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] Barrichello Q2 244 1'27.219 Button Q2 299 1'27.230 +0.011 +0.01
Williams-Toyota Rosberg Q2 206 1'27.012 Rosberg Q2 323 1'27.418 +0.406 +0.47
F India-[Ferrari] Fisichella Q1 203 1'27.807 Sutil Q1 240 1'28.278 +0.471 +0.54
Red Bull-Renault Webber Q2 242 1'26.466 Vettel Q2 272 1'27.016 +0.550 +0.64
Toyota Glock Q1 285 1'26.614 Trulli Q2 335 1'27.195 +0.581 +0.67
Renault Alonso Q2 258 1'26.522 Alonso Q2 288 1'27.473 +0.951 +1.10
T Rosso-Ferrari Vettel Q2 241 1'27.412 Buemi R 301 1'28.624 +1.212 +1.39
BMW Sauber-BMW Kubica Q2 276 1'26.129 Kubica Q2 308 1'27.455 +1.326 +1.54
Ferrari Massa Q1 254 1'25.994 Massa Q2 323 1'27.349 +1.355 +1.58
McLaren-Mercedes Hamilton Q1 267 1'26.192 Hamilton Q1 291 1'28.318 +2.126 +2.47

All 10 teams were slower than in 2008.


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 R7  Tot  Avg.
=====================================================
1. Brawn-Mercedes 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 9 1.28
2. Red Bull-Renault 2 4 3 3 2 4 4 22 3.14
3. F India-Mercedes 8 6 1 1 5 2 3 26 3.71
4. Williams-Toyota 3 2 4 6 3 7 2 27 3.86
5. Toyota 4 3 5 7 4 9 5 37 5.28
6. Renault 5 5 6 4 8 5 6 39 5.57
7. T Rosso-Ferrari 10 7 8 5 6 3 7 46 6.57
8. Ferrari 6 9 9 10 7 6 9 56 8.00
9. BMW Sauber-BMW 7 8 7 9 9 10 8 58 8.28
10. McLaren-Mercedes 9 10 10 8 10 8 10 65 9.28
 
Sorry, Brian, can you clarify for me? Is the position table refering to the most improved team since 2008? I can't imagine FI were 3rd fastest team over races #1-#7!
 
Essentially Force India have improved the third most in terms of laptimes comparing 2009 with 2008. I imagine that is mostly because the Merc. engine is delivering more power than last year's Ferrari.

It's a very simplistic measure though, it is comparing the fastest lap set by either driver over the whole weekend. It is quite possible that a one-off fast lap was achieved by someone getting a tow, or by setting a time before (or after) conditions changed enough to slow all the others.

It's also usually the case that the slower cars have the most to gain, while the fast ones cannot go much faster. This year the Brawn is obviously significantly faster than last year's Honda.
 
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