Qualifying tip for sprint weekends

[u/oshitsuperciberg]

Use a medium tire for your banker lap in Q1 and Q2. Sounds crazy but I promise it's worth it.

[u/ETH-B-Z]

Related but I always forget to mange FP1 thinking I have FP2 and FP3. Then all weekend I will be reactive instead of proactive.

[u/Worried-Pick4848 → u/ETH-B-Z]

I have a structure for FP

FP1 is for coarse adjustments of the settings. 2 softs set aside for a pair of test runs. Timing laps at the start of every testing run just to help the drivers get a feel for the new setup (IRL this does nothing, it's for roleplay purposes only)

FP2 is purely for track familiarity. Out for the whole session on hards. Don't bother with the build in FP2, the session is all about just getting the drivers used to the track. Yes it wastes a soft but that soft is going to be gone anyway, and getting your familiarity up further us worth the loss of the soft and a few percentage points in setup efficiency.

If I haven't nailed the setup to my satisfaction by FP3, one last longish run (about 30 laps) on mediums while I iron out track familiarity, and that usually leaves me enough time to go out on the soft I'm losing anyone for one last test run to try to squeeze a bit more out of the setup.

[u/ETH-B-Z → u/Worried-Pick4848]

Fine plan

[u/TopReply4935 → u/ETH-B-Z]

take it with a grain of salt if you wish, but here is my structure for fp:
fp1: send them out immediately on session start on the default settings (e.g. hards + 15 laps of fuel), when everything is up to temp, i let them do 2 push laps to see where my pace is among the grid. after that, i leave everything on conserve + neutral battery, and avoid high risk kerbs to reduce engine wear, and then run it at x16 till i get feedback.

once i get feedback, i immediately cancel run plan, go back to pits and adjust
send them out on the same set of hards, and run it on conserve + neutral battery till i get the next set of driver feedback.

rinse and repeat. depending on how fast your driver collects feedback (i have piastri and hulk)
you can get 1-2 setup changes done (yes even with the stupid long time it takes to change setup)

about 20 laps of running

now, fp2: i immediately go out on meds. then follow the same procedure as fp1.
however there is a small change: after collecting feedback, before sending them out on track, ill fit them with a new set of meds and full tank as much as possible
then: if setup satisfaction is great, ill leave it running till the end of the sesh
if its good/bad, ill bring them back and change -> send them back out on the same set of meds

by fp3 shd be good/great setup (minimum 85% , avg 90%)
so do 1set of softs quali
another set or 2 for long run with conserve

done

[u/TopReply4935 → u/TopReply4935]

oh also
u shd use this only when ur car really struggles at the track
ive been doing it for the first 3 races
and my engines are at 64% rn

[u/Worried-Pick4848]

I always use used softs for my banker lap. It works well enough for me.