2019 United States GP: Can you overtake?

Much has been said recently about Ferrari’s speed advantage on the straights. Austin is a tricky circuit, but one that still allows the driver to look for overtaking opportunities. Can the drivers use effectively a straigh-line speed advantage to overtake at the 2019 USA GP? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Maximum speeds at finish line and speed trap

Ferrari is once again the speed leader at the finish line, with a top speed of 225.5 km/h done by Sebastian Vettel. This time, however, Mercedes and Red Bull are right behind the Scuderia. Lewis Hamilton was able to get within 3 km/h of Ferrari’s maximum speed, with Red Bull right behind by less than half a kilometer per hour.

Sure, turn 20 is not exactly the best place for overtaking, but having the teams so close in top speed at the finish line means that they should be able to use DRS effectively to close the gap before reaching turn 1.

At the end of the speed trap we get another nice surprise. Toro Rosso, Alfa Romeo and McLaren top the charts here. Pierre Gasly’s top speed of 328.2 km/h was the fastest seen during the session, with Antonio Giovinazzi behing just 0.1 km/h slower than the Frenchman.

Ferrari leads the way for the top teams, as they have done recently, but not by much. Vettel’s top speed of 326.1 km/h was just 0.3 km/h faster than Alex Albon’s, and just 3.1 km/h faster than Valtteri Bottas’ top speed. With DRS, a car should be able to reduce the gap before turn 12.

Maximum speeds at intermediate 1 and intermediate 2

The intermediate speeds are measured at the end of sectors 1 and to respectively. The numbers these speed traps are encouraging for Mercedes and Red Bull. Why, you may ask? Let me explain.

The end of sector 1 is found between turns 6 and 7, one of the twisty parts of the circuit. Red Bull showed their speed here, as you would expect for an aerodynamically inclined team. Ferrari wasn’t far from the Austrian team, with Mercedes slightly trailing. As long as the speed difference isn’t massive, a car should be able to follow closely without losing too much time to the car ahead. Dirty air plays a big role, that is true, but at least we didn’t see massive 10 km/h+ differences between the cars during the quali session.

The end of sector 2 is encouraging for overtakes as well. Mercedes was the fastest here, with a speed of 198.4 km/h, with Ferrari and Red Bull slightly behind. The speed here is not good for measuring engine performance though. What is the importance of this speed trap? It allows us to see which teams are able to quickly accelerate after the DRS section and corner 12. If a driver is able to overtake in corner 12, a slight speed advantage after turning the car could be the difference between maintaining or losing a position before entering the tricky sector 3.

Final remarks

Ferrari looks once again as the fastest team at the speed traps, but the differences are not massive this time. Red Bull had a surprising performance in Q3, and with their strong race pace, they may be able to challenge for a podium finish. Hell, why not even think about a victory?

Lewis Hamilton will be starting from a disappointing 5th place. However, his strong race pace on the hard compound, combined with the speed trap data, will be encouraging for the Britishman. Will we see him at his best? It is hard to say. The chance is there for the taking, but we’ll have to see if Lewis is willing to risk a DNF in order to climb the positions. Let’s remember that the title is there for the taking for him, as long as he doesn’t crash the car of course.

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