High-downforce tracks versus power tracks in F1 – differences explained

If you watch F1 coverage regularly, you have no doubt heard the experts and commentators talk about high downforce, high performance tracks.

While these are not official terms, they help describe the different characteristics of each new circuit and explain why teams don’t just qualify in the same order each week.

Ideally, teams want to develop cars that generate as much downforce as possible in order to increase speed on corners. The challenge, however, is to do this in a way that doesn’t create too much drag.

More drag slows a car in a straight line, and consequently more force is needed to overcome that drag and achieve the best possible acceleration and top speed.

This equation is why some cars do better than others on certain tracks, and why it’s impossible to build a car that is bespoke for every single Grand Prix.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35, Sergio Perez, RP20 race point

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

What is a high downforce track in F1?

A high downforce track is a track where most of a car’s performance over the course of a lap is due to aerodynamic downforce rather than the performance of its engine. High downforce tracks have fewer and shorter straights than low downforce tracks, with more emphasis on curves.

What is a power track?

A power track is more or less the opposite of a high downforce track. Most of a car’s performance depends on the power, acceleration, and top speed that the engine allows. Long straights and short, slow corners are typical characteristics of traces of force.

How is driving style changing?

All drivers have a subtly different approach to driving an F1 car, and the fastest drivers tend to be the ones who can adjust their style each week to get the best performance out of their car in the particular circumstances of each track.

More downforce creates more grip in corners, which means the driver can carry more speed and achieve faster lap times. However, it can also degrade performance in a straight line by causing drag, and great drivers can figure out whether to hit the brakes later into a corner or hit the gas earlier to get the maximum speed out of their car.

The downside of this is that more aggressive turns tend to wear out tires faster, so smoother steering wheel inputs may be required to extend the life of the rubber. Most cars stop once or twice during a race. Knowing which strategy is faster can help you decide which style a driver needs to choose to get the best possible result.

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What is a Red Bull track? What is a Mercedes track?

Over the past few years, certain teams have pursued aerodynamic philosophies that have made them stronger on some tracks than others. As the teams achieved historical success, these tracks have become unofficially known as “Mercedes tracks” or “Red Bull tracks”.

Sochi is a prime example of a Mercedes track: the Silver Arrows have won there every year since the F1 started in the Russian coastal city in 2014, after reaching pole position in five of seven attempts.

A Red Bull track is a bit more difficult to define, as the team has only won more than three races in one season once (2018) since Sebastian Vettel secured his fourth world title with the outfit in 2013. And even in that 2018 season, it only won four.

Red Bull has traditionally done well on tracks where downforce is rewarded more than power. Counterintuitively, the most successful tracks in the last few seasons were the Red Bull Ring in Austria and the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico. Both tracks have long straights and few corners with high downforce, but other factors have made Red Bull a force to be reckoned with in these places.

Dominating the Mexican Grand Prix from second on the grid in 2018, Max Verstappen bounced back from a terrible start to win the Austrian Grand Prix the following season after falling from second to eighth on the first lap. In both cases it was the Dutchman’s second victory in a row on these routes.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL34, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1, Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing RB15

Photo by: Erik Junius

Routes with high downforce

There is no official guide to a high downforce course, but the teams’ approach to each course shows where downforce is their priority and where performance is less important.

Hungary, Imola, Singapore, Spain and Monaco are examples of routes with high downforce, with relatively short straights and many bends placing greater emphasis on cornering speed. Sector 3 in Barcelona in particular, which has a number of slow corners, is historically a good measure of car performance in Monaco, which usually follows Spain on the F1 calendar.

Tracks like Silverstone and Spa offer high downforce sequences where riders can pull up to 6G in some cases. However, due to the long straights and fast corners in these sectors, performance still has a huge impact on the pecking order.

Traces of electricity

The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is the closest thing to a real power track in F1. The riders are believed to spend 75% of the lap at full throttle in Monza. The fastest laps ever taken in the history of the sport are usually done here. Lewis Hamilton holds the record for the highest average speed recorded in a single lap, averaging 254.362 km / h on the way to pole position at Monza in 2020.

Other power courses with long straights include Russia, Mexico, Canada, Baku and Austria.

Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-20, Nicholas Latifi, Williams FW43

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

How do teams prepare for different types of routes?

Monza is a special case in F1. Most teams bring a unique package to the track that is no longer used during the season. With so little downforce required throughout the lap, the teams tend to have extremely flat rear wings, which significantly reduce drag compared to a normal setup. The additional load on the engine for the duration of the race and the frequency with which the cars have to brake from full speed must also be taken into account.

Spa is another track with long straights, and the stretch from the exit of Turn 1 to the end of the Kemmel Straight is one of the longest tracks that F1 cars go full throttle during qualifying. However, there are several high speed turns in Sector 2 and Sector 3. That’s why the teams in Belgium always try to find the right compromise between straight-line speed and downforce.

The Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is something of an outlier. Its long straights and low to medium speed corners should make it a pure power circuit, but the teams here usually ride at full downforce. This is because the circuit is 2,285 meters above sea level and the air is so thin that teams can afford to drive their cars as much downforce as they want without developing excessive drag.

Some analysts believe that Red Bull has done so well in Mexico in recent years, despite the team having a performance disadvantage when the team was using Renault engines until late 2018.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

What is a high deterioration track?

Power and downforce aren’t the only factors that determine how well cars perform on a track. Teams also need to take into account the deterioration, which causes a tire to lose grip if it gets too hot.

Different circuits use different types of material to construct the track surface, which means that degradation can be more of a threat in some locations than in others. High degradation tracks force drivers to drive in such a way that their tires do not build up excessive heat and result in loss of lap time.

Deterioration should not be confused with wear and tear, which is the gradual erosion of the tire tread as a result of the friction caused by the road surface.

Road tracks such as those used in Baku, Monaco and Sochi are considered low grade tracks and the track surface is not as abrasive as on a purpose built racetrack. The F1 circuits used in Canada, Austria, Mexico and Abu Dhabi are usually also tire-friendly.

High degradation can be caused by a mixture of two things: the roughness of the asphalt and the force that the tires exert as a result of moving at speed. Silverstone, Spa and Suzuka have some of the fastest cornering speeds on the F1 calendar, so obviously these tracks are pretty tough on tires. Bahrain is also seen as a high-deg track and Pirelli has selected its most durable connections for the Grand Prix of Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands in 2021.

Deterioration is also linked to downforce: on some tracks, high downforce can be a good thing as it helps get the tires up to their preferred operating temperature and makes cars run faster. For others, this can result in the rubber holding fewer laps. If drivers have to make an extra pit stop compared to their competitors, it can sometimes be slower overall.

What other factors do teams consider?

Temperature also has a big impact on how cars perform in qualifying and in the race. A warm track can make tires easier to heat up, but temperatures that are too high can make it difficult to prevent the rubber from overheating. Meanwhile, higher air temperatures create less drag than cooler air temperatures, which also affects performance.

The most extreme and recent example of all of these factors was the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix. A combination of a new, grippy surface and relatively cool track temperatures meant that most of the field struggled to get the tires up to temperature around Istanbul Park, the championship front-runners, Mercedes, remain in the middle of the field and Lance Strolls Racing Point on pole position.

The car’s ability to produce a better temperature in the tires than the rest of the grid under these conditions is the reason why he and his teammate Sergio Perez finished first and second for more than half of the race. The reason Lewis Hamilton took the checkered flag is because the Briton, realizing that it would take several laps to warm up a new set of tires, could take care of his intermediates almost the entire length of the circuit and effectively wear them down to slicks as a drying line appeared on the otherwise soaking wet track.

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes F1 W11, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W11

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images