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Count to three: 1…2...3. The McLaren Formula 1 (F1) team pit stop just happened!
This pit stop wouldn’t have happened so quickly without having all the relevant data. Kind of reminds me of the feeling I had when I ran my first Alteryx workflow.
Alteryx is really excited about our technology partnership with McLaren. For me, the smile hasn’t left my face since I heard the news. Car racing has been a huge interest of mine since I was a kid. The speed, the courage, the technology and the track fascinate me.
No, I don’t own a lot of cars and I sure don’t know how to work on them. I’m not that kind of car guy. I look up to the engineers and mechanics who work on them, but my mind doesn’t work that way. I admire the details of the car. The lines, the lights, the wheels, the art of the car. And, of course, the technology.
What’s interesting about McLaren is they started out a race team and used the production of cars to fund the team. People may not realize that most car companies get into the racing business to improve the technology of their production cars. Everything from safety features to tires is used and analyzed in racing to make the street cars better and safer.
People might ask, Why did Alteryx decide to get involved with F1 and McLaren? It’s simple: Alteryx and McLaren are driven by making their customers smile when they use the product. That’s really what it’s all about. McLaren puts a smile on their customers' faces by providing the ride of a lifetime, and Alteryx does the same. They're just different rides. Plus, F1 and McLaren are the leaders in their categories just like Alteryx. We’ve got a lot in common and hope to learn from each other to make the smiles even bigger!
So let’s get into how this blog series will evolve so that you don’t fall asleep with my boring car stories.
We want this blog series to accomplish three things:
- Provide a race history of each race event and where it took place that weekend.
- Give you a race recap in case you missed the race.
- Provide technology information about F1 so you can begin to grasp how much analytics plays a part in teams’ decision making.
We’ll add other interesting and entertaining facts about F1, McLaren, and how data science and analytics are shaping the sport. We’re going to give you a calm and educated stance on the races plus a special focus on the role data plays in the races.
Monaco Grand Prix 2021
This place makes me want to buy a boat! Well, boat probably is not the word for it — more like super yacht!
Many people know Monaco as a glitzy, glamorous destination. Most people who are not even race fans know about this race because of how famous it is. It’s right there with the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The first race was held here in 1929, and it’s had many changes and interesting happenings throughout its history.
The Circuit de Monaco is the slowest track on the event calendar. The amount of time between breaking, turning, accelerating, then reaching the next breaking point, the cars are never able to reach top speed, but that doesn’t make it less demanding. This is a track that will test the drivers’ ability to process information very quickly. There’s really no time on this track to take a break or to lose focus: no run offs, barely any curbs, a lot of elevation changes, and not a whole lot of room to pass. The drivers are pretty boxed into the circuit and must use all their skills to pass other drivers. Not only is this a beautiful place to see a race, but the competition here is amazingly intense since every driver wants to win this race.
McLaren ran their special livery (paint scheme) this weekend to commemorate over a 60-year relationship with Gulf Oil.
Free Practice Times Recap*
How to read: session#, best lap time, (time behind first place time) number of laps in session, best place finish in session.
Lando Norris #4
FP1 1m13.236s (+0.749s) 31 laps 7th
FP2 1m12.379s (+0.695s) 24 laps 6th
Daniel Ricciardo #3
FP1 1m14.281s (+1.794s) 36 laps 15th
FP2 1m13.257s (+1.573s) 26 laps 15th
Qualifying Times Recap**
How to Read: session#, fastest lap time, (tyre compound) best place finish in session.
Lando Norris #4
Q1 1m11.321s (Softs) 4th
Q2 1m11.031s (Softs) 6th
Q3 1m10.620s (Softs) 5th
Daniel Ricciardo #3
Q1 1m11.747s (Softs) 11th
Q2 1m11.598s (Softs) 12th
Race Recap
As the red lights went out to start the race, the pole sitter Max Verstappen (Red Bull) jumped out in front of Mercedes Valtteri Bottas with Carlos Sianz (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren) rounding out the top 4. This order would stay that way for quite some time. Daniel Ricciardo slipped back a few spots to 13th.
As the pit window opened for the cars, shuffling of position started to happen and race strategy came into play. Monaco is a track where timing your pits correctly can jump you up in position if done correctly. If not, you can easily slip back in position. It seemed this day Mercedes uncharacteristically ruined their chances with Valtteri Bottas getting a wheel nut stuck on the left front tire while pitting. The wheel nut would not come off no matter what the crew did which kept them from removing the tire. This ended the race for Valtteri, which was good for McLaren as Valtteri was running in second. This moved McLaren into third behind Red Bull and Ferrari.
With tire wear starting to become a concern later in the race, Sergio Perez (Red Bull) in 4th place began to catch Lando Norris. This happens quite often late in the race as the tire degradation starts to take effect. This became the focus of the race, as Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Carlos Sianz (Ferrari) looked to have positions 1 and 2 locked.
Sergio pushed himself to within a second of Lando with less than 10 laps to go. This allowed Sergio to use DRS (Drag Reduction System). On each track there are DRS zones which allow the driver to enable DRS if they are within a second of the driver in front. When DRS is activated, the rear wing of the car separates allowing air to flow through the wing. This lessens the down force and allows for a higher speed. The DRS gets deactivated upon the driver pressing the brakes. Typically, you will see the car's speed increase 10–12 km/h. When a car is within a second of another adding 10 km/h can propel that car ahead of the other. Monaco’s DRS zones are very short and it makes it difficult to effectively use the DRS to pass. Due to this Lando was able to stay ahead of Sergio and keep his 3rd place podium finish.
| Monaco 2021 Podium | Points | Drivers Championship Points | Points | Constructor Championship Points | Points |
| Max Verstappen | 25 | Max Verstappen | 105 | Red Bull | 149 |
| Carlos Sainz | 18 | Lewis Hamilton | 101 | Mercedes | 148 |
| Lando Norris | 15 | Lando Norris | 56 | McLaren | 80 |
2021 Monaco was a very interesting race. While there isn’t a lot of passing here there’s always drama and interesting plays on strategy. Teams are going to be scratching and clawing for every point for the rest of the season. McLaren showed their continued strength this weekend at Monaco. I can’t wait for the next round in Azerbaijan the weekend of June 6th. Azerbaijan is an incredible city track like Monaco with extremely fast areas and very tricky turns.
Hope you come check out the next blog on June 7th! For the coming races, we’ll discuss everything from hybrid engine systems to the g-forces the drivers experience when taking turns. We hope you enjoy the blog posts, and please feel free to comment about F1 subjects you’d like us to discuss.
*Free practice allows the teams to perfect their car setups, see the competition, and get the driver used to the race track and conditions. Lots of activity and discussion to watch. Each practice session is 60 minutes. Races will have three practice sessions usually taking place over three days.
**Consists of 3 rounds. There will be a shift to new qualifying rules for several races.
Round 1: All 20 cars available to post a qualifying time in 20 minutes. Top 15 move onto second round.
Round 2: Top 15 from round 1 are able to post qualifying time in 15 minutes. Top 10 move onto final round.
Round 3: Top 10 from round two able to post qualifying time in 10 minutes. Pole position confirmed along with full race start order.
