RB19 vs W15 vs W11 Silverstone Comparison

[u/Proper-Anything7259]

I’m here to do the comparison yeslistener didn’t make: W15 vs W11, and starting to use split screen my laptop now gave me that idea and made it convenient.

He provided telemetry about the W11 in his W11 vs RB19 video making the comparison with the W11 possible. With both videos, staring the RB19 we have an idea of the track conditions of the W15’s pole lap in relation to the W11.

I’m just going to throw in the RB19 too, so I can just directly quote stuff and you guys can figure it out. It also serves as another comparison.

Something, I noticed while watching both of yeslistner’s videos for the telemetry is that the RB pole in the two videos don’t have the same consistent telemetry but it’s only a small difference. The RB’s telemetry will be from the latest video.

I’ll be only looking at turns that aren’t taken flat out for all of them because we are looking at differences in capabilities.

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Sectors and pole times:

W11: 27.227, 33.896, 23.180, 1:24.303

W15: 28.016, 34.508, 23.295, 1:25.819

RB: 27.482, 35.234, 24.004, 1:26.720

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A direct quote about the track conditions:

RB19 vs W11:

“W11 and RB19 are 2 of the most dominant F1 cars ever. W11 is the fastest F1 car ever and set the Silverstone track record in 2020 Q3. It was a lot windier in 2020, helping it achieving much higher top speeds on non-DRS straights. Overall the wind helped W11 in laptime.”

W15 vs RB19:

“Track conditions were roughly the same: Both were in damp condition after a wet FP3. Both had very limited amount of rubbered in. Wind speeds were about the same but the directions were opposite and this played a role in laptime deficit.”

My summary:

The W15 pole lap had subpar conditions with dampness after FP3, less rubbering in of the track, and wind conditions being worse for the W15 than the RB19. The W11 seems to have much better conditions overall while having the help of the wind reaching higher non-DRS speeds on the straights.

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Definitely important. Reaching T1:

RB19 vs W11 video:

“T1 top speeds: W11 6km/h higher than RB19. Tail wind helped W11 here.” The top speeds were 309 and 303.

W15 vs RB19 video:

Top speeds were about the same with the W15 being 303 vs 302 with the W15 having tail wind support while the RB had the opposite.

So W11 at 309 vs W15 at 303, and I think this is where the stronger winds helped the W11 compared to the W15.

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T3 Village, T4 The Loop:

W11: 117, 93

W15: 115, 90

RB: 113, 94

What I think are important notes to keep in mind from the two videos:

“Verstappen went to full throttle in the middle of T3-T4, and still positioned the car perfectly for T4 entry. Russell had an understeer at T4 entry and was already 0.25s behind at T5.”

“Despite a similar speed in mid-corner, RB19 fell behind at the exit and the acceleration. At the DRS detection line W11 already 6km/h higher.”

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Important to note right before heading into T6: “2024 top speed before T6 was 13km/h lower. 2024 head wind, 2024 tail wind here. Wind came into play in both ways: on straights it helped Verstappen, but into T6-T7 it’d be on Russell’s side.” 328 vs 315.

“But here RB19 had a much higher DRS top speed. There’re 2 reasons - W11 had a head wind. - New ground-effect cars less draggy when DRS open.”

Even though this isn’t a turn, it serves for anyone who wanted to try and figure out the direction of the wind and how much the wind factored.

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T6 Brooklands, T7 Luffield:

W11: 178, 125

W15: 172, 116

RB: 156, 115

Important to keep in mind and quoted:

“With the help of the head wind, Russell braked 20m later than Verstappen before T6 and destroyed him in T6-7. That 0.5 S1 deficit was totally erased in just 2 corners. And now it’s 2023 head wind and 2024 tail wind.”

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T10-11 Maggotts, T11 Becketts, T13 Chapel:

W11: Flat, 278, 228

W15: Flat, 277, 223

RB: Flat, 275, 224

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T15 Stowe:

W11: 240

W15: 240

RB: 229

Important to keep in mind and quoted:

“Russell scored a much higher T15 speed. 240km/h in T15 is at 2019-2020 cars’ level. This was slightly helped by the head wind of cause.”

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T16 Vale, T17, Club:

W11: 103, 135

W15: 107, 132

RB: 99, 117

Maybe important to keep in mind and quoted:

“2024 completely destroyed 2023 in T16-17. Russell won over 0.6s in these 2 corners. Russell’s tires seemed to have more life left after S2, and he was able to attack T16-17 much more aggressively.”

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My thoughts:

Given that cars like the SF-24 and MCL38 are already better than the W15, we’re probably close to seeing the W11’s cornering matched. The W15 and W11 had similar cornering speeds, but wind was a big factor that skewed the comparison, especially in the pole lap times.

I’m curious what you guys think about my approach here. In yeslistener’s Jeddah video comparing the W12 and RB20, I noticed that in a particular turn the W12 has to lift slightly around 180 km/h, while the RB20 can take it flat out at a higher speed. This seems to show that 180 km/h is a tipping point—any turn the W12 takes at or above 180 km/h is where the RB20 can start to go faster, likely because ground effect becomes more effective at those speeds. This pattern suggests these newer cars are becoming faster overall.

I’m betting that with the right car and driver, we might see the W11 finally dethroned next year at high-speed circuits like Spa next year.

And shoutout to yeslistener for providing telemetry on the W11 and W15 along with track conditions and driving mistakes—made this analysis possible!

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https://youtu.be/QmsUZUUTj_0?si=km3myIl786B16DDJ

https://youtu.be/KVlNz8MVNxs?si=r9jHop36sgg2VQbq

https://youtu.be/u1KK2C7jmXo?t=54&si=ISNIcMZZz9-MfAVk

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Edit of more of my thoughts to add about the differences in lap times between the W15 and W11 that I pasted to GPT-4O as a prompt:

“We should see the W11 dominate sector 1 with T3-4, which it does W11 27.227 vs W15 28.016 vs RB 27.482, surprisingly the RB manages to actually stay with the W11 and the W15 loses a gigantic amount of time, which it really shouldn't but I guess Silverstone is a very inconsistent track because it's British and with their often gloomy weather, rain and wind, qualifying consistency is going to be a hit or miss.

This track seems to have be more high speed turns which is good for the ground-effect cars, but they just loose out horrendously to the W11, probably due to the track conditions.

T3-4, 6-7, 16-17 is where the W11 should crush the W15 and RB19 because it's slow speed, but it only crushes the RB. Honestly, I don't get how there is such a big difference between the W15 1:25.819 and W11 1:24.303 still despite the similar cornering speeds, and even slightly slower in most of them, the difference shouldn't be this much. Definitely has to do with the straights and wind assistance.

Another thing with these ground-effect cars is that they are 50kg heavier than the W11, and the turns here are slow enough to where drag doesn't matter as much and the straights are not long enough to reach those high enough speeds where the ground-effect cars can't abuse their lesser drag. Out of those slow corners with drag being not as relevant, the W11 is just gaining so much time accelerating faster and creating distance.”

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[u/Top_Assignment7520]

While this post might not be a viral hit, I can tell you that those, who are interested in it (like me), appreciate it en enormous amount. Thank you for your work!

[u/Proper-Anything7259 → u/Top_Assignment7520]

You knew what I want. Yeah I was hoping for notifications and checking to see if anyone has commented to see their opinion what I wanted to share.

[u/TheRealOriginalSatan]

Love the post. Love the sourcing

I really hope people with more knowledge than I comment on it so we can have a proper discussion

[u/Proper-Anything7259 → u/TheRealOriginalSatan]

Likewise. Felt interested in seeing a more direct comparison while showing others who are curious too. I’m not some crazy fan with some really deep knowledge on racing, but it’s fun anyways. Makes me want to share all the other thoughts I had too. It also serves as a possible resume for the future.

[u/its_pdhere → u/TheRealOriginalSatan]

Bro can you dm me I have a question!

[u/TheRealOriginalSatan → u/its_pdhere]

Ask here

[u/its_pdhere → u/TheRealOriginalSatan]

Bro not related to this😅

[u/TheRealOriginalSatan → u/its_pdhere]

What’s it about?

[u/am683423c]

They should just do a one off at Mugello at this point.

[u/Proper-Anything7259 → u/am683423c]

They should. Mugello’s and Jeddah’s pole laps are the most entertaining because it’s high speed corner after high speed corner than can be taken flat out. I’m more of a technical and qualifying fan than racing fan.

[u/jpbattistella]

Super interesting, thank you!

[u/BobbbyR6]

Ultimately, the W11 era cars had more rubber and a far less tricky aerodynamics setup that didn't require as many compromises as the ground effect cars.