2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Race- Report
In this post I compare the race pace of the top 4 finishers in the Saudi Arabian GP race. In each of the following graphs the lap times of two drivers over the course of the race are compared. The color of the solid lines indicate to which driver specific lap times correspond (lap times are read on the left axis) and the color of the markers on those lines indicates the tyre compound that was used for any given lap. Also, a dotted line showing the difference between the two drivers lap times is drawn. The scale of the axis of this dotted line (right axis) is linear from -1 to 1, and logarithmic outside that range (remember: 10⁰ = 1 and 10¹ = 10). I chose to use this scale so that time deltas under one second could be read more easily. For cars closely matched in pace time differences are often under one second and small changes within this range better indicate the evolution of the race. This difference jumps dramatically when safety cars (virtual or real) come out or when pit stops ocurr causing the delta line to jump outside the figure or, if made to fit inside the figure, causes the changes within the -1 to 1 range to be less visible.
Furthermore I should point out that there is no lap 1 time recorded for any of the drivers. This is because the lap time of the first lap is inherently considered innacurate. Also, no lap times are recorded during safety car periods so gaps in timing data can be explained by this. In this race a saftey car came out on lap 16 due to Nicholas Latifi's crash on the previous lap. The safety car period ended on lap 21.
Having said all that, here are the graphs.
