Formula 1 tries to determine who travels a certain distance in the shortest possible time. But it is not as simple as going as fast as possible all the time and that is when strategy comes into play. This is how you do it.
We’ve all been there, sitting on our couches, watching a Formula 1 race and questioning a strategic decision made by a team. It seems simple from the outside, but what you don’t see at home is the amount of data and analysis that goes into those radio calls: “Box, box, box!”.
What is strategy in F1?
Most people associate an F1 ‘strategy’ with the call to the pits and the decision of which tires to mount. And that is true. During the race itself, the goal of the strategy department is to optimize the car against the competition to finish the race in the highest possible position. But it is necessary to go back many steps to really see the larger work of the strategy department.
Starting before the race, the strategy team works on how it wants to approach qualifying. But let’s take another step backwards to take a broader approach to the weekend, that is, how to allocate resources and tires during sessions. Now another step back to a broader view of the season: in which circuits a better or worse performance is expected, how to approach these and what is the overall performance expected for the season.
How does the strategy team prepare for a race weekend?
The strategy team usually works several races in advance, ensuring that base preparations are made well in advance. The team will use all available data to create a detailed picture of all possible scenarios and their implications for the strategy. “As each race weekend is completed, our systems are updated to re-analyze what to expect from upcoming eventss; Every race weekend gives a great insight into where we are weak, where we are strong and how we can improve, ”explains Mercedes.
During Friday’s practice sessions, a key focus is to identify how the tires work and how long they last
Before a race weekend, the strategy team has a wealth of data and information at its disposal, seeking to understand the weather patterns and detailed learnings obtained the last time the team visited that circuit, the performance of the tires. and what I have learned since then. Car patterns and performance will also be analyzed, developments followed and much more. «The key result of these preparations is to determine how fast we hope to beHow will our rivals be and how do we think the tires will work.
What is the strategy team focused on during practice and qualifying?
During practice sessions on Friday, a key focus is identifying how the tires work and how long they last. For it, the data of the entire grid is used, thus building an understanding from multiple samples. It is difficult to get the necessary learning from hour-long training sessions, but the goal is to extract as much understanding as possible.
“We will have lap time, GPS, tire data and a great deal of additional data for both ourselves and our rivals, and our strategists will absorb this information to make the necessary decisions,” says Mercedes. “At the end of FP2, the goal is to know what setup decisions are required and to have a plan for qualifying. But without any doubt the most important thing is the decision on which tire we want to use to start the race, something that must be decided before Free Practice 3 ».
Therefore, the focus on Saturday is to grow from the existing dataset and focus on running on low fuel, finalizing the plans for qualifying: which tires to use in each session, what the race plans should be, the timing of the pit exits, slipstream or not, to name just a few of the elements at play. “We formulate a plan (fuel loads, lap counts and other fundamentals) and then adjust the plan throughout qualifying based on new information (track evolution, competitor performance, offsets and race problems. tires). We also need to react to anything that is out of our controllike the weather and red flags. ‘
There is a finite number of tires to use, so the execution plans and which tires to put on for each race are a very important strategy decision. Everything that is done in Q1 has an impact on the next two sessions, so using resources correctly and to the best of your ability, to start as high up on the grid as possible, is a difficult balancing act.
What elements come into play during the race?
During the race itself, thousands of data samples hit the strategy tools every second. Each team will start the race with a good baseline on things like tire degradation curves, missed pit stops, weather predictions, ease of overtaking and much more, but the tools are continually adjusted as new data emerges, allowing the strategy team to predict what will happen next.
The strategy team continually reviews this information and detects things that appear in its tools, which may indicate a planned strategy change or generate an existing strategy. There are intercom channels with strict protocols – to allow for clear and concise communication – in which the strategy team can raise and discuss what is happening, what the race forecaster is saying and what could happen in the future, and therefore how to react.
«In another of the channels of intercom strategy throughout the race is also discussed, with Toto (Wolff, Mercedes director) and other members of the pit wall and the race engineering team taking advantage of their knowledge and experience to share their thoughts », details the report of the German team.
Teams will also start with plans for different scenarios and these will be constantly monitored. Advance planning is essential to be able to react quickly and calmly to unexpected moments, like security cars. Therefore, when they appear, it is about executing the plan that is already in place.
Do you have to make some decisions at the last minute?
Of course, no matter how much planning is involved, some decisions still need to be made live. Time can be so unpredictable that it creates some of the toughest decisions for the strategy team to make. The severity of a rain, its location on the track and its effect on grip Available tires make choosing tires in the rain a tortuous decision.
Some developments during a race are obvious and decisions to deviate from the plan are made in the blink of an eye. “For example, the decision to stop Lewis (Hamilton) at Monza was quick, having seen the time of their sectors after their rivals entered the pits, that it was not going to be fast enough and that the planned strategy was not going to work.
Over the course of a race weekend, there are thousands of decisions to make, many of which are invisible to outsiders. There are many elements in motion in every session and particularly in qualifying and the race, with hundreds of different strategy options to analyze before selecting the one that works best for your two cars.
F1 strategy is an ongoing game of multidimensional chessBut it’s a challenge that strategy teams across the grid enjoy; it’s what keeps them coming back for more.