Mark Hughes: F1's Inside Line

The complexity of how a great Formula 1 qualifying lap is pulled together is always immense - even just from the driver's view, let alone the multiple layers of engineering behind it. Arguably the best qualifying lap of the Turkish weekend was that of Anthony Davidson, who succeeded in putting the Super Aguri 11th.

Sitting him down and getting him to describe it just reinforces how F1 cannot even begin to get across the fascination that lies deep within it - because interest in it is so over-subscribed that the detail invariably gets lost. There just isn't time for the participants to convey it.

Even when you know this, it's still brought home to you forcibly when you actually get a driver to describe something which in this case took just 1m28.002s. Another thing that strikes you is that most of the focus and detail is in the preparation and background to the lap.

The driving may have been brilliant - and in this case it was - but the actual inputs are so rapid, everything is happening so fast, that it's often more of a ride than a conscious series of actions. Anyway, enjoy the ride as he saw it:

"I was still learning the track when we first went out on Friday because last year I only got in one session when my car broke down. Obviously I knew which way it went but there's a level of detail you need to get the best out of yourself, the car and the tyres and I didn't really have that coming into the weekend. Then I had a little shunt and that sets you back a bit further so I really had to work hard to find where the speed was.

"I looked hard at what to do with the tyres, particularly the option tyre. The prime was an easier tyre to get a lap out of but the option had the ultimate pace, though it tended to destroy itself before the end of the lap - with both the front and rears graining.

"The main culprit was turn eight, where you see the highest g-loadings through the tyres and the highest temperatures. So I was thinking about how to do the out-laps on the option. We saw that the warm-up characteristics of the option were very good, so maybe that would allow you to do a very slow out-lap to protect it but still have the necessary temperature from the start of the flying lap.

"Into Q1 I did my first run fairly fast. The warm-up was good, turn eight was good, but by the end of the lap the graining was there. So the tyre was giving up at just the very section where you're really relying on it giving you its best grip and traction. Those slow turns of 12, 13 and 14 make it such a technical end to the lap but the car was just sliding and that really costs you there.

"So for my next Q1 run I tried an even slower out-lap and really focused on trying to keep the tyre together for the whole lap, and see how the last sector was then. But the problem with that was because you hadn't warmed up the tyre enough, the pressures dropped, making the car bottom out through turn eight, making it a real handful.

"I had a massive moment and nearly spun and was so, so close to going out there and not getting through Q1. But the end of the lap was brilliant, because the tyres hadn't grained. So I learned something there.

"For my first run in Q2 I asked them to increase the pressures to try to get a bit more warm-up so I could still do a slow out-lap but without the car bottoming.

Turn eight was okay this time but the graining was back at the end of the lap. The higher pressures had meant it grained up easier. So that taught me there wasn't really a window where you could have a stable easy car through turn eight but not have graining at the end. You were going to have to accept one or the other.

"So for my final Q2 run I just went halfway house with the pressures and accepted it was going to be difficult through turn eight, knowing I was just going to have to keep my foot in. I had nothing to lose. Getting through to Q2 at all was a result for us.

"This time I came very close to going off through eight. It bottomed out, ran wide and just about touched the exit kerb. I could feel the car going light, getting ready to go off, but I just kept my foot in. Then somehow the car just came back onto the rubbered-in line and I hadn't lost any momentum at all and just gripped at the final apex.

"I knew when I came out the corner I was well on my way to a mega lap. The car had been so nervous, twitchy and hitting the deck that I knew the tyres were going to live through to the end of the lap. I'd taken the pain, yet still hung onto it. Now it was going to be all gain. I now had a really big buzz going. Going into the chicane was pretty perfect and I got a great exit onto the back straight.

"Turn 12 was a bit of a struggle throughout qualifying because the wind was blowing in a different direction to the day before when we had a headwind that helps the car under braking.

"Now we had a slight tailwind that was trying to push the car on, making it want to lock up the front tyre - and that would run you out wide and ruin the lap. It really is risky attacking that last bit because you lose an awful lot if you over-commit. But I attacked it because I had nothing to lose.

"I braked as late as I dared. The perfect scenario is that you just about have a lock up, and I looked over at the wheel as I turned in and it was just slowing down almost to a standstill.

"As I was turning in I was thinking please don't lock, please don't lock and it didn't quite lock, then freed up again. 'I've bloody done it' I thought and I hugged that inside kerb, whacked my foot down because I had the traction because the tyres were still alive and the whole last sector was just beautiful.

"I exited like a rocket. I've watched a few onboard shots of other cars from the session and I really do believe my lap was one of the best - if not the best - lap that anyone did. I knew what it looked and felt like in my car and I saw Felipe's pole lap and I thought mine was better. I know he was faster, because he's in a faster car, but in terms of precision mine was better.

"That's what a perfect lap is. It's when you nearly crash at every corner, where you nearly lock up but it doesn't, the car nearly twitches on the exit but doesn't. I wouldn't say this was an absolutely perfect lap.

"I don't believe anyone can ever do that - to get the car on the brink like it was in turn eight and the last sector in every single corner and braking zone on the track - it's impossible. The track's changing all the time, the wind is changing and you can't judge that, especially round a big open space like this.

"But it was damn well as close as it can get."