30 replies to this topic

[hmm]

I have got used to reviewing the F1 races laptimes and gaps from the autosport.com website. Unfortunately that feature seems to have disappeared for this year?

What I am looking for is the gaps chart like this: http://f1.autosport....pchart.php/id/1 or the laptimes: http://f1.autosport....2/laptimes1.php

[MortenF1]

Was just about to post this question myself! I miss that too, and hopes it's just me having somehow missed seeing it!

[Skanka]

Was just about to post this question myself! I miss that too, and hopes it's just me having somehow missed seeing it!

Same here, I really hope it will be available again at some point. I have the laptimes on Forix, but the laptimes & gaps charts are one of the best features of Autosport for me.

[Wolfgang Leipert]

I was looking for the laptimes and gaps charts, too. They are the main reason why I have subscribed to autosport.com.

I hope the service has just been delayed. Deleting a service without telling your customers is not very professional, I guess.

[scheivlak]

+ 1

Absolutely essential!

[The Kanisteri]

http://forix.autosport.com/

[hmm]

http://forix.autosport.com/

For some reason I am never able to find anything from Forix unless by accident, can you point where the data is available there?

I know nowadays there are other sources for the laptimes etc as well but I have not found anywhere them displayed in the format of the horizontal laptime chart or the gaps chart which I like for having an overview of the race development.

[scheivlak]

http://forix.autosport.com/

Not good enough as a substitution.

I miss e.g. the horizontal laptimes.

[MrAerodynamicist]

The links to the stats was last added to the Indian GP report, although the data is there for the US and Bra GP. As a substitute, Forix does have a 'Gap Analysis' option in the drop down, but lacks any lap time information.

[MortenF1]

Not good enough as a substitution.

I miss e.g. the horizontal laptimes.

Yes, same here.

...and actually, a friend of mine, not a forumer, is very interested in a forthcoming reply, as any eventual renewal of his subscription relies totally on this service being available.

Edited by race addicted, 20 March 2013 - 12:18.

[hmm]

The links to the stats was last added to the Indian GP report, although the data is there for the US and Bra GP. As a substitute, Forix does have a 'Gap Analysis' option in the drop down, but lacks any lap time information.

You can't see "trains" from the Gap Analysis as it's always just between two cars. I have used the Gap Chart for reviewing if cars were bunched together behind a slower car. Also the Gap Chart was great for analysing alternate pit stop strategy options as you can see when the car could have got into clear air after a stop.

[b195]

Yes, same here.

You can add me to the list too. The horizontal laptimes are (were?) a great way of seeing a particular driver's performance in a race (and if there was a particular section he was faster than someone, or held up, or lost ground etc). In this past race, it may have been a good tool to see how Raikkonen's times changed after being 'released' from the 3-stoppers, or how fast he was going at the end of his final stint compared to the start. Or whether Hamilton's two-stop plan had a chance of working before he locked his brakes.

The lap gap chart is also similarly useful for seeing gaps changing lap by lap, and where drivers slot in both position and timewise after a pitstop.

Before this (apparent) change, I would have said the website's coverage was more informative for me. Now, I would say the mag's is (though it has not really changed, more that the website's coverage isn't what it used to be)

[b195]

http://forix.autosport.com/

There are some similar (in a few cases, probably the same) stats on the FORIX site. But not all of those that were formerly on autosport.com and not presented in such a comprehensive way, eg multi-driver lap times, gap lap charts. If all the same exact charts etc. were represented on FORIX, then I think they would be linked from autosport.com in the first place.

So while it is somewhat of a substitute, it's not a complete substitute (and I find it much harder to find what I'm looking for on FORIX than I do on autosport.com, even when I know what I'm trying to find - not entirely a criticism of FORIX due to all the various options available, but still)

[Grayson]

A few people have mentioned Forix - the idea was that since the stats pages were part of AUTOSPORT+ and all subscribers have access to Forix, it made more sense to keep all of the stats in one place.

We had thought that the Forix page for each race (you can find the page for Australia here) contained all of the information that we were previously including with the race stats other than the "watch the race unfold" Java tool. In particular, the lap by lap classification here contains more information than we could ever squeeze into a feature layout or into the magazine.

(Incidentally, the fact that there are so many security issues around Java and the related fact that modern operating systems and browsers are discouraging Java usage meant that the Java tool was becoming unusable for most readers of the site. Since we thought that this was the only part not replicated by Forix, it was the shutting down of this tool that promted us to make changes to the way that the information is presented.)

Can I ask that you guys have a play around with the Forix page and let me know what information is missing (and which you'd make use of) so that I can pass your feedback onto the editorial and Forix teams (you can contact me at Simon.Grayson@Haymarket.com as well as on here)? In an ideal world we'd also like to rebuild the front end of Forix so that it looks a bit more modern and everything is easier to find, but with jobs such as a Forum upgrade and a better gallery interface being a higher priority, it's unlikely that a Forix redesign will be happening in the short to medium term.

[hmm]

Thanks Grayson for the clarification of the situation. I was not aware of the lap by lap classification in Forix which looks like a great tool.

However, the common theme for the views that I (and probably some others in this thread) am missing now is the grid view. In Forix you are able to see the gaps for one lap which is good for simplicity but hard for detecting how gaps between cars change as you have to go through many pages for that.

If I for example would like to know for how many laps driver X was held up by driver Y before overtake or pit stop the gaps chart was great for that.

The horizontal laptimes view was also similarly great for spotting who was fast on a certain part of the race and also pointing out phases where the track was slower/faster for some reason, especially on races which involved rain.

I don't think I ever bothered with the Java race unfold tool, I had that information already from watching the race, some other pages I looked occasionally but the two I mentioned in my first post were the ones I checked after every race.

[babbel]

The race in action is dead, long live the race in action!

I can hardly believe it has been 10 years since bira suggested the feature after I came up with the "how the grid was formed" applet. IIRC we had it ready for the 2003 Brazilian GP but we ran into last minute troubles and we ended up launching it for the San Marino GP two weeks later.

[Skanka]

A few people have mentioned Forix - the idea was that since the stats pages were part of AUTOSPORT+ and all subscribers have access to Forix, it made more sense to keep all of the stats in one place.

We had thought that the Forix page for each race (you can find the page for Australia here) contained all of the information that we were previously including with the race stats other than the "watch the race unfold" Java tool. In particular, the lap by lap classification here contains more information than we could ever squeeze into a feature layout or into the magazine.

What we need, I think, is to find these very features again on Forix:
http://f1.autosport....2/laptimes1.php
http://f1.autosport....pchart.php/id/1

So we can have in one go all the information at our disposal, and it makes a massive difference (quicker, easier = more efficient) when it comes to analyse the race. I know the laptimes can be found individually for each driver and I'm aware of the lap by lap classification (which is still useful nonetheless), but if, for example, you have to analyse a segment of the race, let's say, between two or three drivers, you have to go back and forth between various pages on Forix, while the charts on Autosport were on this instance very handy as it gave an instant and clear picture of the race.

Forix is truly fantastic, but without these charts it wouldn't be the same (at least for me ).

[MortenF1]

Absolutely, Skanka, that's exactly what I miss as well, and badly want back. I have e-mailed you, btw, Grayson.

[scheivlak]

Excellent post, Skanka!

[MortenF1]

Especially after a race like today, I would love having the full lap time-data.
Simple question; can we get them back?

[Sir Frank]

I'm missing the gapcharts too. It is simply the best tool for analysis.

[MortenF1]

......?

[MortenF1]

No answer forthcoming?

[Skanka]

Hello Autosport, we're waiting for an answer, please reply to your customers

[Grayson]

We're looking into the feasibility of incorporating the missing features into the Forix page for each Grand Prix. Hopefully I'll be able to give you some news on this in the next couple of weeks. Even though the horizontal gap chart page got a very small number of views after each race in 2012, it's become clear from the feedback in this thread and by E-mail that the few people who were using it valued it very highly, so we're going to see whether it's possible to include them as part of this page.

(Incidentally, the last four days have been a public holiday in the UK. Usually I'd spend a bit more time on this site over the weekend but after a rather hectic start to the season I only popped on here to see a few of the weekend's results rather than making a proper visit to the forums!)

[Skanka]

Thanks very much for the update, Grayson!

[Grayson]

Following many requests, I'm happy to say that the gap charts are now available through Forix for all races since the start of 2012 and that they will be appearing on the Forix page for each race in the future.

The two which didn't appear on AUTOSPORT this year can be found here:

Australian GP 2013
Malaysian GP 2013

Full lap times for each driver (with a nifty graph) can be found here (you can choose other drivers from the same race under the first menu on the left hand side - the one with 2013 - Malaysia written above it):

Lewis Hamilton's lap times in Malaysia

If you're looking for more detail on a single driver's race, including practice and qualy times and graphs showing how their lap times and positions evolved throughout the course of the race, each driver has a stats hub for each individual race.

Nico Rosberg's race in Malaysia

[Buttoneer]

Fantastic stuff.

Thanks for taking notice and sorting it out so quickly.

[Skanka]

Brilliant, thank you so much

Edited by Skanka, 04 April 2013 - 14:06.

[MortenF1]

I'm extremely pleased about this, so thank you very much!

...but, will it be possible to also incorporate a feature that allows you to make comparison-graphs from two different drivers laptimes?

(some people are never happy )

Edited by race addicted, 04 April 2013 - 16:19.

[Sir Frank]

Mega!

I wasnt expecting them so quickly. Top job having them out now.

Can we move a little closer to their old format please? With highlighted pit stops for each driver and a grid for easier viewing?


Is there a place where the old gap charts can be viewed now?


Many thanks