F1 Fastest Laps

[Kai]

Just wondering if anyone knows why the "lap records" of circuits only seem to be taken from races and not qualifying etc.

If I want to know the fastest lap of a circuit I want to know how fast someone has ever been around there. If its just under race conditions that isn't entirely true then.

[diffuser]

My guess is Qualifying doesn't count for anything really. The only thing it counts for is the starting order. All the points are distributed based on the race and hence the Lap record stems from that. Not sure I agree with it. I don't really look at it. I always refer to the previous year's qualifying to get an idea of what to expect in times.

[timbo]

I remember qualifying was refered as practice, when there were two qualifying sessions on friday and saturday. So it's kinda preliminary event.

[SectorOne]

Bit of a bummer really.
It´s even more irrelevant today with full fuel load where your last pitstop determines your chances of snatching it or not.
Gutierrez even took one this year.

I´m not entirely sure but i think the only close laptime in these very late years was Vettel in Monaco with the RB7 narrowly missing the "ultimate" lap record set by Kimi.

(apart from new tracks like India etc)

[f1316]

In fairness, I don't see the current cars getting close to the lap records from older circuits (nearly always set in 2004) no matter how hard they push.

[Cam]

In fairness, I don't see the current cars getting close to the lap records from older circuits (nearly always set in 2004) no matter how hard they push.

Unless someone does an in-depth comparison across a range of tracks, I'd tend to agree. As an example, on a track that doesn't change (Melbourne), it's interesting that Schumacher has the record from almost 10 years ago..in 2004 @ 1:24.125 vs 2013 with Vettel @ 1:27.407 in qualifying with Kimi setting the fastest lap in the race @ 1:29.274.

Source: f1.com

[Kai]

In fairness, I don't see the current cars getting close to the lap records from older circuits (nearly always set in 2004) no matter how hard they push.

Unless someone does an in-depth comparison across a range of tracks, I'd tend to agree. As an example, on a track that doesn't change (Melbourne), it's interesting that Schumacher has the record from almost 10 years ago..in 2004 @ 1:24.125 vs 2013 with Vettel @ 1:27.407 in qualifying with Kimi setting the fastest lap in the race @ 1:29.274.

Source: f1.com

This was actually the track that made me question it. Because Vettel did a 1:23.529 in qualy there in 2011.

[Cam]

In fairness, I don't see the current cars getting close to the lap records from older circuits (nearly always set in 2004) no matter how hard they push.

Unless someone does an in-depth comparison across a range of tracks, I'd tend to agree. As an example, on a track that doesn't change (Melbourne), it's interesting that Schumacher has the record from almost 10 years ago..in 2004 @ 1:24.125 vs 2013 with Vettel @ 1:27.407 in qualifying with Kimi setting the fastest lap in the race @ 1:29.274.

Source: f1.com

This was actually the track that made me question it. Because Vettel did a 1:23.529 in qualy there in 2011.

I think you have to have one benchmark - the race. There's too many variables in practice/qualifying etc to get a realistic idea. Sure, you could set the car up purely to beat the time over one lap, but it's the race that counts. One could argue that drivers don't push anymore, so we'll never know just how fast the cars could go (I agree) but that's the benchmark and it'll be too difficult to try and compare to different scenarios.

[Cam]

Pedrosa set the fastest 'laptime' in qualifying for the recent Barcelona MotoGP. The media actually promoted that fact:

Dani Pedrosa took a dominant pole position for the MotoGP race at Barcelona, smashing Casey Stoner's qualifying lap record from 2008 in the process.

His 1m40.893s was nearly 0.3 seconds faster than Stoner's record, which was set when qualifying tyres were still used in MotoGP.

So it seems, perhaps, it depends on the category and how they promote it, as to what's important. For the record, the wiki for the lap record at the same track 'lap record' belongs to:

1:21.670 (Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari, 2008)

Does having a lap record being beaten equate to being seen as an improvement?

[ForzaFer]

In fairness, I don't see the current cars getting close to the lap records from older circuits (nearly always set in 2004) no matter how hard they push.

Unless someone does an in-depth comparison across a range of tracks, I'd tend to agree. As an example, on a track that doesn't change (Melbourne), it's interesting that Schumacher has the record from almost 10 years ago..in 2004 @ 1:24.125 vs 2013 with Vettel @ 1:27.407 in qualifying with Kimi setting the fastest lap in the race @ 1:29.274.

Source: f1.com

This was actually the track that made me question it. Because Vettel did a 1:23.529 in qualy there in 2011.

Yes, but Schumi did it in race with race fuel and worn grooved tyres, and Vettel did it with new slicks, almost empty fuel, DRS, KERS, EBD

[Juzh]

Yes, but Schumi did it in race with race fuel and worn grooved tyres, and Vettel did it with new slicks, almost empty fuel, DRS, KERS, EBD

V10 >>>> V8 with kers + drs
F2004 605kg >>> RB7 640kg
2004 fastest lap was done on almost empty tank. 2004 tyres didnt fall apart in 2 laps.
grooved tyres during tyre war had nearly as much grip as currect slicks

[timbo]

grooved tyres during tyre war had nearly as much grip as currect slicks

Nowhere near. Just look how brake distances shrunk.

[SiLo]

They shrunk because the cars are moving a lot slower in a straight line. They were stupidly fast back at the height of the v10 era

[timbo]

They shrunk because the cars are moving a lot slower in a straight line. They were stupidly fast back at the height of the v10 era

You have 2006-2008 to compare. Still a lot shorter nowadays than that.