How do I overtake you on the racetrack? 🏎🏁

Outbraking on the inside

This is the old-school way to do it. If we're about to turn left, we're normally on the right hand side of the track, but if I stay to the left and brake later than you, I get to the corner either ahead of you (job done) or along side you (in which case I'm now in your way). I have to judge it just right because I could hit you, or not make the corner at all and go off, or lock my wheels and damage my tyres. But if I get it right then I'm out of the corner ahead of you. Purists love this, and when you see it done well, it's a thing of beauty.

To stop me doing this, you might make a defensive move to the left, or try to keep going around the outside of me hoping that my less-than-ideal line through the corner will give me no speed on the following straight.

Round the outside

It's a left hand corner, and you've made a defensive move to the left. I can stay on the normal (faster) line on the right. If I get my braking just right, I can still get along side you, and although I'm trusting you not to slide into me, I can go around you on the right. Even if I don't get decisively in front, we can stay side by side and the next corner probably goes the other way, giving me the inside (shorter) line.

To stop me doing this, you might make a defensive move to the right. But you can't go left *and* right, so you're always open to one of these two moves.

The DRS pass

For years, catching was one thing but passing was another. I couldn't do it unless I had a big performance advantage. Then rule makers added DRS, the drag reduction system. On some parts of the track, if I'm less than a second behind you, my rear wing pops open to reduce aerodynamic drag and give me more speed. Sometimes it looks too easy - I just a drive-by. Purists hate that. Sometimes it's a neat plaything - I'll let you past so that I'll then have DRS and I can pass you back. Charles Leclerc has (sometimes) been a master of that.

Slipstreaming

This was more powerful when races were in black and white and cars had no wings, but it still can work. I stay directly behind in your aerodynamic wake, giving me less drag. My speed increases, and just before I run into the back of you, I pull out and sail by. For this to work, I need a long straight, and probably a faster car because the advantage of the slipstream is lost as soon as I pull out from behind you.

Overtaking on traction

There isn't usually such a big gap in engine power that I can pass you when we're accelerating, especially as you get to put your foot down first because you're ahead. But sometimes if you defended too hard into a corner, then you're not pointing in the right direction soon enough. If I can turn my car quicker, I can get on the power sooner and pass you as we leave the corner. Quite an unusual one, but fun when you see it.

Pit stops

This is a bit of a dull one. My team figure out that if I make a pit stop a bit sooner than you, I can use my new tyres to do an extra fast lap or two and then you stop and I'm ahead. This is called the undercut. It's effective, but no fun, and also means that later in the race you'll have tyres that are well past their best. There is also an overcut: if I'm faster than you but I can't get past, then when you make a pit stop I can pick up my speed and try to make enough gap that I can pit and still be ahead. This is tough because you should be faster with the new tyres, so I need to be confident that I could go a lot faster when you're out of the way.

Safety car pit stop

The safety car slows the cars down if there's been an incident. If I pit under the safety car the time lost in my pit stop is effectively less: I lost 20 seconds of slow running instead of 20 seconds of full speed racing. So when we both have to make pit stops, but I did mine under the safety car, I can end up ahead because I lost less time. Thank heaven no one would ever crash deliberately to bring out a safety car to help their team mate win a race. Oh, wait... that did happen.

#F1

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