Once again, Ferrari came very close to victory. The Las Vegas race showcased Charles Leclerc’s skill in tire management during the final stint. With a brilliant overtake, the Monegasque driver secured the second spot on the podium in the last available opportunity. The Safety Car following the incident between Max Verstappen and George Russell spoiled the red team’s strategy. The Prancing Horse’s pit wall chose not to call car number 16 into the pits since it had stopped five laps earlier.
The used Hard tire did not allow Charles a good warm-up after the neutralization period, favoring early graining compared to the two Red Bulls that ultimately won again, thanks to the usual Verstappen. The Mexican driver maximized the benefits of the two incidents, climbing to the first position and being able to make a “free” second pit stop. However, in the final laps, Sergio Perez was less shrewd. He did not defend the inside of turn 14 and succumbed on the last lap, depriving the Milton Keynes team of another one-two finish.
Las Vegas GP 2023/Degradation Analysis 1st: Ferrari suffers more degradation by delaying the pit stop
The following graph shows, through broken lines, the lap time trend during the first part of the race in which the illustrated drivers used the medium tire. The dashed straight lines are interpolations and allow visualizing the degradation; the lower the number they represent, the greater the decrease in lap time.
It can be observed how, progressively, as the fuel level decreased, the lap times improved for all drivers. Lewis Hamilton has lower tire consumption than his competitors, while Carlos Sainz, after the pit stop under the Safety Car regime at the start of the race, put together a decidedly long run with negative degradation among the lowest in the field.
The Spaniard, along with Ocon, significantly lowered the times in the middle phase of the stint, recovering the lost ground in the early part of the race due to traffic in the middle of the pack. Additionally, Sainz was forced to manage the temperatures of his car, as requested via radio by his race engineer, to avoid retirement due to factors related to the reliability of internal components.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen at the top of the race had a very similar pace, allowing the Monegasque to stay with the world champion and then make the overtake when Max suffered graining. The choice of Ferrari engineers to continue the stint highlighted a slight degradation due to the difficulty of keeping the tires in temperature. Wear that, in turn, causes an increase in lap times, as can be seen from the dashed line indicating a smaller negative tire consumption.
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Las Vegas GP 2023/Degradation Analysis 2nd stint: Ferrari experiences less degradation. Could a new set of Hard tires have led to victory?
Shifting attention to what happens in the second part of the race, we consider the laps completed after the second Safety Car period. The race’s neutralization phase was a joker for many drivers, who could complete the race strategy with a practically free pit stop. From lap 29, the return lap of the car driven by Bernd Mayländer, until the end of the race, the top drivers chose to mount the hard tire.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
The graph shows how Charles Leclerc experienced more negative degradation compared to Max Verstappen, proving to be the best among the top drivers. The Monegasque suffered from the mid-stint with the tire 5 laps older. Later on, Charles managed this condition well, but the seconds lost due to early wear did not allow him to be closer to the Dutchman and try to take the win.
The best performers of the second stint were Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, who gained 3 and 9 positions, respectively, from the restart. The two suffered practically identical negative degradation, with the Englishman chasing the Spaniard in the last part of the race. However, Ferrari cannot be considered disappointed. Although the Safety Car spoiled the strategy, Mercedes’ underwhelming weekend allowed the Italian side to gain crucial points in the constructor’s championship. There are only 4 points, in fact, separating the two teams with one race yet to be contested.
Source: Leonardo Pasqual and Alessandro Arcari for FUnoanalisitecnica
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