An in-depth analysis of the F1® United States GP 2022

Another victory for newly crowned 2022 World Champion Max Verstappen and Red Bull at the 2022 United States Grand Prix, hosted at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. With deliberately widened corners to encourage wheel-to-wheel racing and a long straight, the 5.513km, 20-turn circuit provides a fine spectacle and a rigorous test for drivers and their machinery over 56 laps. It replicates legendary elements from other famous circuits such as Senna Esses of Interlagos, Hockenheim’s arena bends, Silverstone’s Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel combination and Istanbul’s Turn Eight.

Verstappen’s 13^th victory of the year matches Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher's shared record for the most victories in a single year and also sealed the constructor’s championship for Red Bull, their 5^th title ever and 1^st since 2013. It has been a tumultuous week for Red Bull after allegations of cheating for breaching the 2021 cost caps and the passing of Red Bull’s Austrian entrepreneur founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, on Saturday night.

The drama on the track was no less engaging, despite Verstappen swiftly assuming his usual ascendency in the early phase of the race. However, the safety car was deployed after Valtteri Bottas span his Alfa Romeo, which compressed the field and allowed Lewis Hamilton to catch up and the fortunate Charles Leclerc to benefit from an impromptu pit stop. Almost immediately after the racing resumed, a spectacular air-borne shunt between Fernando Alonso and his future teammate Lance Stroll brought the safety car out again for duty.

Once the racing started again, Verstappen assumed the field, but a horrendous pitstop cost him the lead. In a wonderful coda to a competitive race, Hamilton and Verstappen fought a titanic battle in the final few laps reminiscent of the 2021 season. Verstappen held on to win and deny the competitive Hamilton his first victory of the season, but not before flirting with the limits of the track and Hamilton’s ire as he received a number of warnings from the stewards.

Yet another masterclass from Verstappen and the Red Bull team. But what makes the RB18 car so effective?

One consistent factor through the analysis performed this year is the superior straight-line speed of the RB18. Our analysis has shown that on the straights and through the speed traps, the RB 18 is routinely faster since the very first GP in Bahrain, where Verstappen’s Red Bull was 25km/h faster than Leclerc’s 302.6km/h top speed. This gap in straight-line speed has not been bridged as the season has progressed. Choosing Austin, Saudi Arabia and France as a sample to focus on top speed deltas rather than averages, Verstappen’s top speed was 6.7, 7.1, 6.1 km/h faster than Leclerc and 7.9, 35.2, 27.2 km/h faster than Hamilton respectively.

Straight-line speed can be determined mathematically through a combination of power and aerodynamic drag. The physics of aerodynamics drag are very well understood and mathematically defined as a function of the properties of the fluid (air), the size, shape, and speed of the object. Importantly, in a simplified model, the aerodynamic drag is proportional to the velocity for low-speed flow and the square of the velocity for high-speed flow. The faster a Formula 1 car travels, the greater the resistance due to aerodynamic drag – proportional to the square of the speed. If the speed of the car doubles, drag quadruples.

At high altitude circuits, such as Mexico, where the air is thinner, there is less aerodynamic drag as the air is less dense – which is why Valtteri Bottas currently holds the record for the highest speed in an F1 race, reaching an astounding 372.5km/h in 2016.

Due to the square of the velocity factor, the most effective means of increasing top speed for a formula one car is to reduce the amount of aerodynamic drag, rather than increase power. Amongst the top 5 teams, there is probably very little to choose between the engines in terms of performance. Historically, Formula One heuristics suggest that on average, one horsepower is equivalent to about sixteen-hundredths of a second per lap, which is relatively small. The Red Bull-Honda powertrain is certainly one of the better-performing engines, but it would not account for Red Bull’s domination this season.

Analysis of telemetry between Verstappen and Hamilton during the race suggests that both the Mercedes and Red Bull power trains are evenly matched. Although the granularity and accuracy of the telemetry is not sufficient to form precise measurements, it can reveal insights. The acceleration phase out of a corner is a true indicator for the power of a car. A more powerful car will accelerate faster than a less powerful car at low speeds. However, at high speeds the advantage of engine power is reduced as the aerodynamic effect is proportionally much greater.

Lap 45 is an excellent example where both drivers had clean air and were able to drive their cars approaching their limit. Although Hamilton shades the lap times through his speed through the low and mid-speed corners, what is apparent from the telemetry is the disparity in the respective top speeds. This is also characteristic of previous comparisons between both Ferraris and both Red Bulls.

Focusing on the speed at the start of the long back straight, the telemetry suggests that both cars are very evenly matched for acceleration. Taking the analysis further, we can plot the acceleration of each car over the same telemetry points using the Finite Difference numerical analysis technique applied to the speed and time telemetry data. Using forward-differencing, we can calculate the acceleration at each data point.

The smooth plot shows very similar performance in terms of acceleration, suggesting that the powertrains for Mercedes and Red Bull are very evenly matched. Acceleration is initially high, peaking at 1.5g, as the car accelerates out of the corner and on to the main straight. As the car increases speed, aerodynamic drag increases by the squared factor and acceleration gradually decreases asymptotically towards zero as the car reaches top speed – where the force due to the mechanical power of the car is equal to the air resistance.

Comparing the at relative speeds down the straight illustrate that the Red Bull is significantly from about 2650m of lap distance, suggesting much less aerodynamic drag assuming similar power.

As discussed in previous posts, aerodynamic design must balance straight-line speed and downforce (cornering speed). With the extensive, new aerodynamic rules introduced this year, all the teams had to design their cars from scratch. Initial thoughts were that maximising ground effect (creating downforce through an underfloor profile) would be critical to the success of the car. This hypothesis has been proven true, however, it is how this ground effect is achieved is where the genius of the Red Bull design manifests. Most teams assumed that the ground effect should be achieved through a more aggressive ride height- the lower to the ground, the better. However, through it’s advanced, flexible floor, Red Bull were able to achieve an aerodynamic seal without compromising ride height. This allowed the Red Bull’s to develop an overall aerodynamic package which produces relatively little air resistance and avoid the porpoising issues that plagued other teams at the beginning of the season. It also meant that the Red Bull could run with much lower wing than competitors and still be competitive through the corners.

Based on the evidence this season, and with Mexico next on the calendar, no reasonable F1® fan would bet against Red Bull and Verstappen extending their victories and Verstappen setting a new record in the remaining three races.