Strategies during a Formula 1 race are one of the most important aspects of the Grand Circus . Countless grand prix have been decided by the decisions of the engineers from the pit wall, who give instructions to the drivers to change the tires or to stay on the track, all with the sole objective of beating your rival.
For this reason it is key to know two words used in the world of motorsports and that always come up in broadcasts: undercut and overcut .
Why are pit stops so important?
The highest category of motorsports has a component of innate skill in the driving of those who occupy a hole on the grid every weekend, however, the duty of each and every one of the teams is to give their drivers an optimal plan of pit stops, taking into account the degradation, the weather, the possibility of the appearance of the safety car and the rivals.
Hours, even days before the lights go out, a select group dedicated exclusively to studying the compounds available in each grand prix of each set, selects the appropriate strategies that can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
In addition, the mechanic team plays an essential role when it comes to changing the tires, as everything is orchestrated to try to ensure that the car spends as little time as possible in the pitlane, and that translates into an advantage over the rest.
Having seen the importance of pit stops, let’s see what these two terms mean.
What is an undercut in F1? One stop before your rival
In reality, this word does not have a translation into Spanish, which is why it is commonly called that in English. The undercut happens when a driver who is behind another decides to enter the pitlane earlier to change the worn tires for new ones and do a faster next lap because he has more grip than his rival.
For the undercut to work, the driver in front stays on the track with more worn tires and, therefore, slower in theory. After a few laps, if he decides to go through the pits to change compounds and the driver who was behind with more speed due to his new tires overtakes him, then we will say that the undercut has been effective.
To put it in perspective and with a very simple example, it is as if in an athletics race an athlete who is behind changes his shoes for newer ones and after that faster than the rival in front of him. The one who was in the lead realizes that he is slower with the old shoes and also chooses to change them, but since he has lost time running with those other ones, he loses the position.
After seeing what the undercut is, there is the opposite concept, the overcut.
What is an overcut in F1? Stop after your rival
When two drivers are very close in a Grand Prix, the decision to stop or not is vital, and in most cases the driver behind is the one who decides to go in first to change tires to get ahead.
However, on rare occasions, the team believes that it is better to stay on the asphalt, spinning without stopping, trusting that they have enough pace to open a gap.
Therefore, to know what an overcut is, let’s imagine a duel between two cars. The one in front prefers to stop first to make sure they don’t undercut him, and since the one behind knows that if he stops right after he won’t gain position, he stays in the circuit.
If the driver who was behind was being blocked by the one in front, with a free lane after the stop of his rival he will be able to ride faster, and create enough time cushion to then make his stop and come out ahead. When the one behind and has not changed tires decides to stop, if he has been able to keep up and his rival’s has deflated (or has had a slow stop), he chooses to stop, and leaves the pitlane ahead.
That would be an overcut , a term that does not have a translation as such and is more difficult to see, since many factors must be brought together for it to work out well, such as the car having speed even with old tires, the rival being in traffic , or that the rest make mistakes.
There, it is about stretching the life of the tire to the maximum, and it is possible to see it on tracks with less wear, where a single stop is made.
