What does Barcelona tires tell us about who is fastest

It's pretty clear that Aldo Costa has produced another dominating car
It's pretty clear that Aldo Costa has produced another dominating car

Pirelli said there is around 0.7 seconds between the ultrasoft and the hypersoft F1 tires. It is understood the delta between the medium and soft is around 0.85s, the soft to supersoft around 0.4s and supersoft to ultrasoft around 0.6s.

So let's see if we can tell which car is fastest using each drivers fastest time of the day and what tire they were on. We then use the above differences between the tire type and compute the theoretical lap time the driver would have turned if he was on hyper-soft tires at the time. From this analysis the Mercedes car is about 3/4 sec. per lap faster than the Red Bull and 9/10ths sec per lap faster than the Ferrari.

Of course we do not know what fuel load the drivers were running, or whether their engines were turned up to maximum power, but from this analysis it appears the Aldo Costa designed Mercedes will dominate once again in 2018.

Medium – Base
Soft -0.85s
Supersoft – 1.25s
Ultrasoft – 1.85s
Hypersoft – 2.55s

Theoretical Fastest possible Times if on Hyper-Soft Tires

Pos Driver Car Tires Lap
Time (Sec.)
Theoretical time
on hypers
1 Bottas Mercedes Medium 78.825 76.275
2 Bottas Mercedes Medium 79.532 76.982
3 Ricciardo Red Bull Super-Soft 78.327 77.027
4 Magnussen Haas Super-Soft 78.360 77.060
5 Vettel Ferrari Hyper-Soft 77.182 77.182
6 Raikkonen Ferrari Hyper-Soft 77.221 77.221
7 Sirotkin Williams Soft 79.189 77.489
8 Sainz Renault Medium 80.042 77.492
9 Hamilton Mercedes Ultra-Soft 78.400 77.700
10 Grosjean Haas Ultra-Soft 78.412 77.712
11 Alonso McLaren Hyper-Soft 77.784 77.784
12 Vettel Ferrari Soft 79.541 77.841
13 Vettel Ferrari Medium 80.396 77.846
14 Bottas Mercedes Ultra-Soft 78.560 77.860
15 Ricciardo Red Bull Hyper-Soft 78.047 78.047
16 Sainz Renault Hyper-Soft 78.092 78.092
17 Verstappen Red Bull Medium 80.649 78.099
18 Verstappen Red Bull Soft 79.842 78.142
19 Hamilton Mercedes Super-Soft 79.464 78.164
20 Stroll Williams Soft 79.954 78.254
21 Kubica Williams Super-Soft 79.629 78.329
22 Gasly Toro Rosso Hyper-Soft 78.363 78.363
23 Grosjean Haas Soft 80.237 78.537
24 Raikkonen Ferrari Soft 80.242 78.542
25 Hamilton Mercedes Ultra-Soft 79.296 78.596
26 Stroll Williams Soft 80.349 78.649
27 Hulkenberg Renault Hyper-Soft 78.675 78.675
28 Sainz Renault Hyper-Soft 78.725 78.725
29 Vandoorne McLaren Hyper-Soft 78.855 78.855
30 Bottas Mercedes Soft 80.596 78.896
31 Hartley Toro Rosso Hyper-Soft 78.949 78.949
32 Ocon Force India Hyper-Soft 78.967 78.967
33 Ocon Force India Soft 80.805 79.105
34 Hamilton Mercedes Soft 80.808 79.108
35 Leclerc Sauber Hyper-Soft 79.118 79.118
36 Ericsson Sauber Hyper-Soft 79.244 79.244
37 Gasly Toro Rosso Soft 80.973 79.273
38 Hulkenberg Renault Super-Soft 80.758 79.458
39 Stroll Williams Ultra-Soft 80.262 79.562
40 Magnussen Haas/Ferrari Soft 81.298 79.598
41 Leclerc Sauber Super-Soft 80.919 79.619
42 Perez Force India Hyper-Soft 79.634 79.634
43 Hulkenberg Renault Soft 81.432 79.732
44 Sainz Renault Soft 81.455 79.755
45 Alonso McLaren Hyper-Soft 79.856 79.856
46 Sirotkin Williams Soft 81.588 79.888
47 Perez Force India Soft 81.643 79.943
48 Ericsson Sauber Super-Soft 81.706 80.406
49 Vandoorne McLaren Super-Soft 81.946 80.646
50 Sirotkin Williams Soft 82.350 80.650
51 Hartley Toro Rosso Hyper-Soft 80.834 80.834
52 Stroll Williams Hyper-Soft 82.937 82.937