So, you’ve put your new tyres and you’re ready to go into qualifying but are looking for some tips to improve your qualifying.
Maybe you’re not so good in qualifying right now, maybe you’re better in the races but struggling to make that ultimate performance in qualifying. If that is you, then listen carefully to this top five tips for improving your time attack.
So essentially, these five tips will help you to improve not only your tires warm up but also your performance overall.
I have actually been struggling so much in the early beginning of my career. Because I was really good in the races, I would make up so many positions during the heats, during the finals and eventually winning races and making podiums, but I was struggling to start from the pole position.
Because somehow I was always making some little mistakes or just not optimizing the grip on the tyres.
Until something changed in me when I finally figured out the right way to do it.
Warm the tires properly
So, let’s get started with the first step, which is to warm the tires properly. And this is something that I really feel that it’s very underestimated.
And something that if you learn how to do properly, not only will improve your qualifying speed but also your overall driving abilities, because warming up tyres will help you a lot, especially in the wintertime when the track is cold and the tyres are cold, they are going to benefit so much in the beginning of the race.
And so, what you want to do is as you get out of the pits, when you’re starting the qualifying, you have to really warm the tyres properly, especially, the front tyres because they tend to be the ones that struggle the most in the beginning..
But don’t pick up the rubber, don’t pick up the marbles so that you can keep your tyres nice and clean. So, first thing that you want to do focus on warming up the tyres properly.
Stay away from too much traffic
Second tip you want to do is to make sure you don’t have so much traffic. Now, I know this is not easy, especially when it’s a very crowded qualifying, when it’s very crowded grid.
You want to make sure that you are not in the middle of the pack when you begin your flying laps. You cannot predict what the others are going to do. But with a rule of thumb, you want to be with a group of two, three drivers maximum.
You don’t want to be in a group of 10 people because statistically speaking if you’re starting in a group of 15 drivers or 12 drivers, you’re going to for sure gonna get traffic 2, 3, 4 laps down the road.
So, make sure you’re not in a lot of traffic because that will really hurt your times, especially if you are around slow speed drivers. That way you’re going to really get your qualifying into the trash. So, make sure you are avoiding a lot of traffic.
Have a “nice” toe in front of you
The third tip I have for you is a bit counterintuitive but it’s really important for you to have a nice tow in front of you. You have to have nice tow because that tow will allow you to get some extra speed on the straights and most importantly give you some good references.
So, you can be able to brake a little bit later, go on the throttle a little bit sooner. It acts both as a slipstream thing but also for just references. And I really like to use it because it gives me some reasons for going forward.
Of course, I always had the motivation by myself to make the best lap, but when you have somebody in front especially that guy has to be fast. The slipstream you have in front has to be fast. Because that will really allow you to catch up his rhythm and eventually be faster in him.
But if you have somebody in front of you who is slow, then you’re going to be probably as slow as him if you don’t overtake him.
Anyways, if you have to overtake him, you will lose a lot of time, esèecially if it’s in your best lap that you do so.
So please make sure that you start the laps, especially the laps that counts, so lap three lap four with a nice toe in front of you. So, when you have the highest peak of the tyres, it has to be not too close from you but not too far, around 50, 70 meters is really good.
Half a second, one second in front of you, It’s perfect. But you shouldn’t be too close at the beginning of the lap otherwise it’s going to hurt you instead of help you.
Focus on cornering speed (Mid speed)
Then Tip number four is to focus on cornering speed. Now, when you have new tyres, you have to use the extra grip from the tyre and the only way to do that is to carry more speed in the corners.
Be soon on the throttle
But most importantly you want to make sure the exits are good. So, the exits which is the tip number five have to be better. That’s because you have to use the extra grip from the new tyres. And that traction will make you much, much faster especially out of these slower corners.
Generally, what I found out in my career is that the braking doesn’t improve so much with new tyres. But what does really improve is the fast corners. And so, the cornering speed for the fast corners and the exits.
So, the traction out of the lower speed corners. So, what you can do is that you can go on throttle earlier because your new tyres willl have more traction.
So just pick up the throttle sooner and you will see that your speed is going to improve a lot. Make sure you use the exit curbs a lot so that you are again going to improve your exit speed.
Conclusion:
And then having said that, here were my top five tips for the new tyres Time Attack. I hope they were helpful.
And please just let me know if you have any sort of comments or if you want to have a quick one on one call on Zoom. I will be very happy to do that. I offer these kinds of services.
I truly believe that if you improve your new tyres approach, the rest of the weekend will be much better. Because if you start the weekend with the bad qualifying and then you’re going to be struggling the rest of the race because you just have to catch up.
You have to recover, you cannot go ahead.
So yeah, I do feel that improving yourself in qualifying will make you a really fast driver overall and it will get you much more podiums and wins than perhaps what you are right now.
So, having said that, I hope that was helpful. See you soon.