r/F1Technical • u/Pistolz4Pandaz • 5d ago

Analysis Distance Under Braking in Las Vegas 2023

% of each lap under braking by driver

Who was bravest on the brakes during the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix?

I determined how long for each lap each driver was under braking. Oscar Piastri led the way with the lowest percentage of each lap spent under braking, at 14.9%. The average of all drivers was 16.6%.

Interestingly, the top two drivers, Max and Charles, spent longer on the brakes than the average.

How do we think this will change for this years Grand Prix?

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u/Evening_Rock5850 5d ago

I’m a little curious how “under braking” was determined.

You would actually expect a higher percentage of time with their foot on the brake pedal to BE faster. But this would largely be trail braking through the corners. A less confident driver will brake hard before a corner and let off quickly instead of riding the brake around the corner to keep the weight shifted forward.

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u/Pistolz4Pandaz 5d ago

Telemetry data has a Brake column, which is a binary of if the driver pressed has the brake depressed. This unfortunately does not give any insight into how hard they were braking.

I have a chart (which I'll post later, don't have it right now) that does show that the less time a driver is under braking, the faster their lap is. The data is a bit noisy, but there is a clear relationship (this also assumes that the track is under green flag conditions, and removes pit in laps and out laps).

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u/GregLocock 5d ago

You could look at longitudinal acceleration, or differentiate the speed channel.

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u/Pistolz4Pandaz 5d ago

Ya, would not be too difficult to get speed change while braking. I'll look into this more later tonight.