Where will ‘yo-yo’ F1 racing return?

After a static sprint event on Saturday which prompted no less an eminence than Tiff Needell to rant on social media about why the folk in the grandstands hadn’t turned up for the Formula 2 race, Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix offered rather more drama.

Pleasingly, there was relatively little of the so-called ‘yo-yo racing’, triggered by disparities in battery charge levels, which has become a polarising feature for F1’s fanbase. Although Lando Norris was advised by his McLaren race engineer Will Joseph to sit back and allow the yo-yo battle for the lead between Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli to play out in the early stages, most of the passing was of the earned variety.

But how much of this was a result of the tweaks applied to electrical harvesting and deployment levels this weekend? Less than you might hope.

The changes applied to races were less extensive than those governing qualifying and wet-weather protocols, since the general consensus among the stakeholders remains that the racing is not a problem to solve, and yo-yo passing is a feature rather than a bug. Boost mode has been limited to 150 kilowatts in race conditions, while electrical deployment is permitted at 350kW in defined “key acceleration zones” but capped at 250kW elsewhere on the lap.

This has been done for safety rather than to enhance the spectacle, reducing scenarios where cars encounter one another at vastly different speeds because of disparities in electrical deployment and charge.

“It's improved a little bit,” said Leclerc of the effect of the rule changes. “The battles in itself, I don't think changed massively.

“I think the fact that it was so warm, being behind you overheat quite quickly the tyres, and that made it very difficult for me to be closer compared to the first two or three races. So it’s probably a bit more dependent on today, but let’s see.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Over the first few races the general commentary had been that it was easier for the new cars to follow one another through corners than it had been for the previous ones – at least in comparison with the final iteration of the ground-effect cars. One of the key targets for that formula had been to make following through corners easier, creating more overtaking opportunities, but by last season performance convergence combined with increased wake turbulence to scupper this aim.

In Miami the circuit layout and ambient temperatures made following a problem again. Drivers had to manage tyre temperatures, particularly on the rear axle because several corner exits demanded lots of traction. Engine temperatures also began to spike when cars were following one another.

The layout of the track also had a funnelling effect on electrical deployment choices. There was some scope to use a little more power during the opening sector, and the start/finish straight, but mostly it boiled down to a choice between taking extra top speed on the run between Turns 10 and 11 or the back straight. This was the key to the ‘optimal lap’.

Other drivers commented on the ineffectiveness of overtaking mode, which unlocks an extra half-megajoule of deployable energy when a car is within one second of the car ahead. If the car ahead also has overtake mode available, it becomes analogous to the previous era of the Drag Reduction System (DRS), where the car behind was able to drop a rear wing plane and gain more speed in defined areas of the track.

If several cars were all within a second of one another, the advantage was negated.

“Everything is a bit better,” said Carlos Sainz. “I think we just need to find a solution when the car in front is also in overtake mode. Overtaking is impossible. I think it's very similar to the DRS train. 

“Maybe we could find something. The [yo-yo] racing has never really been the problem of these regulations.”

Pierre Gasly, Alpine, Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

So it would be premature to say F1 has freed itself of “artificial” overtakes. They have merely gone on hiatus until the calendar reaches a track where the layout and conditions offer more deployment options. Fortunately this point will not arrive until summer.

“I would say Montreal would be more challenging to pass than here,” said George Russell. “Because you've got two clear straights where you're going to deploy all of your energy. And all of the drivers are going to be using that same strategy.

“Whereas tracks like Melbourne, or maybe when we get to Silverstone, where you can deploy at different places, you'll probably see a bit more of this yo-yo racing.

“But Montreal, I think, with the current rule set, will probably be a bit of a challenge again.”