2020 Italian GP: FP2 maximum speeds

Let’s take a quick look at the maximum speeds seen during the qualifying free practice 2 session of the 2020 Italian Grand Prix weekend.

Methodology

To get the maximum speeds of the session, I processed the data from the official F1 live timing app and filtered the fastest speed recorded for each driver.

For the maximum speeds obtained at the detection points, l took the maximum speed done by each driver in each of the four speed traps. I then just organized the data into a simple but informative chart.

Remember that the intermediate 1 and intermediate 2 speed traps are at the end of the first and sector sectors respectively.

Qualifying session maximum speeds

Monza is the fastest track of the season. While not necessarily the track with the highest top speed, it’s still important to reach maximum speed to overtake during the race.

Daniil Kvyat recorded the fastest speed of the FP2 session, with a top speed of 358 km/h. Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly all trailed by less than 8 km/h, and all of them posted a top speed of more than 350 km/h.

On the other side of the spectrum, Max Verstappen was the driver with the lowest top speed of the session. Perhaps the Austrian team will look to slightly reduce the downforce tomorrow to get a better place at the quali session. Both Ferrari drivers struggled to get a high top speed, despite their low-downforce setup. Charles Leclerc was the driver with the 3rd lowest top speed (340 km/h), while Vettel ranked second to last in this same category with a top speed of 337 km/h.

Qualifying session maximum speeds at detection points

This analysis only considers the top speeds obtained at the official detection points, allowing us to get more information about the behaviour of the cars throughout the track.

The information from the speed trap is quite similar to the one seen in the previous chart, with Sainz, Gasly, Perez and Kvyat topping the charts. On the lowest end, we once again see both Ferrari drivers as well as Max Verstappen.

The data recorded at the finish lines gives us information about the acceleration of the cars coming out of turn 11. Drivers like Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas rank among the top in this area, showing they focused more on acceleration than pure top speed.

Interestingly, Charles Leclerc topped the charts at the intermediate 1 detection point, tied with Norris and Sainz with a top speed of 327 km/h. We see other Ferrari powered teams near the top of this chart, with Kevin Magnussen and Kimi Raikkonen achieving a maximum speed of 325 km/h. This trend may be since the I2 detection point is right after the long sweeping turn 3, in which aerodynamics take greater importance than pure engine power.

At the intermediate 2 speed trap, we see Alex Albon topping the chart, followed by Antonio Giovinazzi and Daniel Ricciardo. This is the measuring point which the least variation, with the difference between the top performer (Albon/336 km/h) and the worst performer (Sainz/326 km/h) being of only 10 km/h.

Final remarks

Monza is the fastest track of the season. While top speed is not everything in Formula 1, it still has major importance in tracks like this one. Teams like Mercedes and Red Bull don’t have to focus so much on top speed since they have cars that are strong enough to be out of the reach of everyone else. Midfield teams require higher top speeds to fight for positions during the race.

At the moment, AlphaTauri, McLaren and Racing Point seem like the strongest midfield teams. Renault shouldn’t be counted out though, since they may have had the wrong aerodynamic setup today.

Ferrari-powered teams appear to be in trouble. Most of their drivers struggled to compete with the Mercedes and Renault-powered teams, and it will be interesting to see what type of adjustments they do before the quali session.

In any case, I hope that you have enjoyed this short article. If you did, please share it with your friends so that I can continue to post more of these posts that I enjoy so much.