Expert Advice
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Wet or dry track: telemetry looks at the different driving styles
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When you drive on a wet surface, all normal reference points are thrown out the window because of the reduced grip that the track offers. In a situation like this, you’re clearly obliged to modify your driving style significantly, moving up braking points and modifying your line and speed in turns. All of this is easily observable in data analysis as well which, as such, help highlight the differences.
In this article, therefore, we focus precisely on the comparison between the data obtained during a lap in dry conditions and one on a wet track.
Even by simply watching a driver going around a wet track, we immediately notice how the braking points are noticeably moved up compared to what happens in dry conditions. The driver’s overall line changes too, as well, of course, as their speed.
All it takes, in fact, is a first summary look at the data comparison to see how much the “wet” course differs from the “dry” one.
Certainly! The first thing that jumps out, obviously, is the speed profile. In wet track conditions (highlighted in red on the telemetry screen) both the top speed and, above all, the speed through turns are much lower.
It’s no surprise that lap times aren’t anywhere close to comparable.
You can make an analogous argument concerning driving style, with the data pointing to a notably different use of the throttle and steering wheel: on a wet track, the time spent with the driver’s foot completely off the throttle pedal is much greater, just as steering corrections are more pronounced and numerous.
All of this is also confirmed by several indices that help understand the driver’s overall style (and which we explained in the previous article): the dynamics of the steering sensor and the integral of throttle.
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