Formula 1: Undercut & Overcut Explained

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Formula 1 has many technical words, rules, and concepts that can be difficult for new fans to understand. When it comes to pit stops, many questions arise, such as the types of tires or when and how drivers stop. Two of the concepts most frequently used by commentators are the undercut and the overcut. What do they really mean?

The undercut is when a driver pits before the driver in front with whom he is fighting to get out on fresh tires, do a faster lap, and overtake him. The overcut is the opposite when a driver pits after his rival to overtake him on older tires while the other driver\’s new tires warm up.

Whether to use the undercut or overcut to overtake someone depends on many factors, such as track temperature, weather conditions, tire condition, or the driver(s) you are fighting against, and it is up to the team to make a quick decision.

What Is An Undercut In F1?

Undercutting is one of the most used techniques in F1 to overtake a driver. The undercut consists of stopping to change tires before the rival you are following to take advantage of the grip of the fresher tires and gain time over the other driver who is on old tires until he stops in the next or few laps.

In this way, to stay ahead, both the driver who has attempted the undercut and his rival must go as fast as possible during the lap or laps between their pit stops.

The driver who has stopped earlier must first warm up the tires and then take advantage of the performance of the fresh tires, while the driver who has not stopped will suffer from the loss of performance of the old tires and the increased degradation, so he has to make a greater effort to make a lap as fast or faster than the other driver. Therein lies the key to the undercut.

In this way, the driver who stopped to change tires earlier overtakes his rival when the latter makes a pit stop, as he takes advantage of the better performance of his tires during the lap or laps that the other driver remained on the track.

The undercut can also be used when there is a Safety Car. When a Safety Car is signaled, all the cars must slow down and go at a predetermined pace before being grouped. During this time, the drivers can make a pit stop, taking advantage of the fact that the race is neutralized without losing time and having fresh tires at the end of the Safety Car period.

Does The Undercut Always Work?

Although it seems an easy and simple technique, in reality, it is not. Each team plans a strategy for the race before it starts, which they believe is the most ideal, but as the lights go out and as the laps go by, this can be modified on the fly.

When two or more drivers are fighting, and one of them wants to try the overcut, the race engineers must deduce when the driver in front is going to stop on the right lap and get it right. The undercut is never planned before a race but is decided as the race progresses.

This does not always work well, as in many cases, the undercut is made too early, which is ultimately detrimental, as the driver will arrive at the end of the stint or race with tires that are too worn, while the opponent has fresher tires, thus losing the position and the time he initially gained.

Another important thing to emphasize is that the undercut can only be done if the driver you want to overtake is 2.5 seconds or less away from you. This is because if he is further away, no matter how fast your lap is after the pit stop, it is very difficult to get 4 or more seconds of advantage over the other driver. 2.5 or fewer seconds is a feasible distance to cut in one or a few laps, but more is very difficult.

What Is An Overcut In F1?

The overcut is the opposite of the undercut. In this case, it is when a driver extends his stint and stops later to overtake his rival. The driver attempting the overcut takes advantage of the clean air of not having a driver in front of him, which presents less resistance to the car and allows better preservation of the old tires, while the driver who has stopped tries to warm up his new tires.

As in the undercut, the driver who extends his stint tries to do the fastest lap or laps possible to take advantage of his rival. The good thing about the overcut is that since the driver has old tires and knows he will stop soon, he does not need to take care of them but can give 100%.

In this way, the driver who has made the overcut by stopping later has fresher tires than the rest during the race\’s closing stages, so he can take advantage of his performance to gain more time.

How Much Difference Is There Between A New Tire And An Old One?

The key to the undercut and overcut is to take advantage of the new tires at some point in the race, either before or after, as they offer better grip and, therefore, better performance. However, how much difference is there between the two tires?

Formula 1 has 5 different tire compounds, ranging from harder to softer. The softer a tire is, the faster it is, but it wears out sooner, and vice versa. For each weekend, 3 types of compounds are used, depending on the characteristics, so there is a soft, a medium, and a hard tire.

Therefore, there are already differences depending on what type of compound the drivers are using, even if they are all new. The differences between tires can be from 3 to 5 tenths of a second between soft and medium, and up to one second between soft and hard, depending on the circuit and car.

Drivers who start the race on soft tires are faster than those who start on hard tires, but as the laps go by, the soft tire will wear faster and lose performance, while the hard tire will last longer.

The difference between an old and a new tire can range from half a second per lap to even more than a second, depending on what type of tire each driver is wearing and how worn they are. Therefore, it is crucial to determine how many laps pass between one driver\’s stop and the other driver’s stop and how fast each driver is going.

How Much Time Is Lost During A Pit Stop In F1?

Pit stops are one of the most critical parts of the race, as we have seen, and the driver\’s result in the race often depends on them. A good pit stop can gain you time and positions, while a slow pit stop can doom your race.

The pit stop itself is a dance of perfectly coordinated mechanics who change tires between 2 and 3 seconds, the record being 1.82 seconds for the Red Bull team. However, the time lost in making a pit stop is much greater, as the drivers have to enter the pit lane to stop, which has a speed limit.

The pit lane speed limit varies from circuit to circuit, ranging from 60 to 80 kilometers per hour. Because each circuit has a different speed limit, different pit lane distances, and even trickier pit lane entries/exits, the time lost during a pit stop is different for each circuit.

However, the general rule of thumb for time lost during a pit stop is 20 to 25 seconds. On some circuits, it takes slightly less, about 18 to 19 seconds, while up to 30 seconds can be lost on other circuits.

How Long Do F1 Tires Last?

Unlike road car tires, which last about 15,000 km, as they are intended for long-term use, the life of an F1 tire is between 60 and 120 km. F1 tires are built for extreme performance at high speeds, so the rubber wears out in a short time. They offer maximum performance but for a very limited time.

As F1 races last around 305 km, drivers pit between 2 and 3 times per race, although there are circuits where some drivers stop only once, while at other circuits, some drivers stop up to 4 times, depending on track conditions and temperature.

Translated into laps, this depends a lot on each circuit because the distance of each one, the average speed, and the degradation change completely. To understand this better, we will give two examples.

In 2021, at the British GP, held at Silverstone, a fast 5.891 km circuit, the race was composed of 52 laps. Well, the hard compound (C1) lasted around 33 laps, while the medium compound (C2) lasted 30 and the soft compound only 6.

In the Monaco GP of the same season, as the circuit was only 3.337 km long, the race consisted of 78 laps, and the hard compound (C3 in this case) lasted about 64 laps, while the medium compound (C4) lasted 45 and the soft compound (C5) 37.

Is Undercutting Or Overcutting More Effective?

The undercut and the overcut are the opposite, but the essence is the same: stop to change tires before or after your rival to take advantage of its better condition and performance at some point in the race and thus be able to overtake him.

They are techniques that are very often used in races since it is a great resource to overtake if you can\’t count on the track. However, we cannot say if one is more effective than the other because, as we said before, with the undercut, its use depends on how the race situation is and how it evolves.

The race engineers and the drivers decide whether to use the undercut or the overcut depending on what they consider appropriate in that particular situation. There are situations where the undercut is the best option, while the opposite is true in others.

There may also be scenarios where it is not entirely clear, so teams will have to take a risk and opt for one of the two options. Sometimes it works out well, and sometimes not so well.

Undercut vs. Overcut In Real Life

To see how to undercut and overcut work in reality, there is nothing better than to look at two real cases.

At the 2021 French GP, Max Verstappen used the undercut on Lewis Hamilton to gain position on the Englishman. Hamilton was leading the race on lap 19, just over 3 seconds behind Verstappen, who pitted at the end of the lap.

Faced with the Dutchman\’s move, Hamilton stopped just one lap later, but Verstappen overtook him coming out of the pitlane. Hamilton later returned the overtake, but in the end, it was Verstappen who prevailed to win the race.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CxmB_GoTunk

On the other hand, at the 2021 Monaco GP, Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel successfully used the overcut against Hamilton. The 3 were battling during the race\’s early stages, and the Englishman leading the pack was the first to pit. Gasly stopped a couple of laps later, on lap 30, and overtook Hamilton.

Vettel was the one who made the best use of the overcut, as he stopped on lap 31 and ended up ahead of Gasly and Hamilton, so the move worked out perfectly for him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARONnUb30i4

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Conclusion

The undercut and the overcut are two of the most used techniques in F1 to overtake, taking advantage of the condition of the new tires before or after your rival. They are tremendously effective techniques when they work well, but there are also many cases in which they do not work as expected.