Wouldn’t they all be flooring it? If the lane is straight how does one driver speed up and pass another?
Edit: straight aways
In: Engineering
It’s hard, there isn’t a lot of passing in F1 because of it.
Some drivers have worse cars, it’s not hard for the top cars to pass the worst cars. They are just faster.
Usually it’s because the driver in front screws up the corner before the straight, so they go into the straight with less initial speed. The car behind is starting with more speed, so they can overtake. They may be on different tire strategies, so the car with fresh tires will have an easier time than the car with old tires.
The car in front may brake earlier, so the car behind will pass going into the corner at the end of the straight.
Going down the straight, the car behind is drafting. The car in front is pushing the air out of the way. The car behind can accelerate into the low pressure air behind the front car, get a higher speed, come out of the draft and pass. This doesn’t really work anymore, there is so much ‘dirty air’, the car behind doesn’t handle as well.
F1 cars have an energy recovery system, like a hybrid car. If the car behind has its ERS system fully charged and the other car doesn’t, it’ll get an extra 160 horsepower, allowing a pass.
Latest Answers