1) Races with the Most “<1 Second” Running (DRS-Train Magnets)
Updated: Feb 2
By Total <1s Time (Whole Field Combined)
Bahrain GP — 11h 49m 42s total in <1s (35.5 min per driver avg)
Dutch GP — 11h 16m 15s (33.8 min/driver)
Qatar GP — 10h 38m 03s (31.9 min/driver)
Monaco GP — 9h 52m 44s (29.6 min/driver)
Emilia Romagna GP — 9h 51m 31s (29.6 min/driver)
By Share of the Race Spent in <1s (This is the “Train” Indicator)
Qatar GP — 39.8% of all driver-time was <1s
Bahrain GP — 37.2%
Dutch GP — 36.4%
Emilia Romagna GP — 33.7%
Saudi Arabian GP — 33.6%
Conclusion: If you want to label races as “DRS-train heavy,” Qatar, Bahrain, Dutch, Imola, Saudi are your headline tracks from this dataset. High <1s share usually means constant chasing, not necessarily overtaking.
2) Races with the Most Clean Air (>4 Seconds Ahead)
By Clean-Air Share (The “Spread-Out” Indicator)
Spain GP — 44.4% clean air (avg 39.6 min per driver in clean air)
Hungarian GP — 39.8%
Las Vegas GP — 39.7%
USA GP — 39.6%
Italian GP — 38.6%
Conclusion: Spain stands out massively. It’s the most “everyone got separated” race in your dataset by a clear margin.
Driver | Seconds spent in Clean Air |
VER | 74201 |
PIA | 68405 |
NOR | 66611 |
LEC | 57191 |
RUS | 49900 |
HAM | 46417 |
TSU | 41242 |
ANT | 35850 |
LAW | 35181 |
OCO | 34788 |
ALB | 34335 |
HUL | 34128 |
HAD | 33750 |
GAS | 33182 |
STR | 32201 |
BEA | 30800 |
SAI | 30361 |
ALO | 30177 |
BOR | 29073 |
COL | 28272 |
DOO | 4647 |
Total | 830715 |
3) The “Traffic Index”: Races Where Drivers Spent the Most Time Within 4 Seconds (<4s)
This combines <1s + 1–2s + 2–4s, i.e. “you had someone ahead close enough to matter.”
Top 5 by traffic share:
Bahrain GP — 74.7% of the time in traffic
Japanese GP — 72.7%
Dutch GP — 72.5%
Qatar GP — 72.1%
Emilia Romagna GP — 71.1%
Bottom 5 (most “free air” overall):
Spain GP — 55.6%
Hungarian GP — 60.2%
Las Vegas GP — 60.3%
USA GP — 60.4%
Italian GP — 61.4% in traffic
Conclusion: Bahrain is the king of constant proximity, while the Italian GP is the king of gaps.
4) Heavy Dirty Air (1–2s) vs Low Dirty Air (2–4s): What Kind of “Traffic” Was It?
Highest 1–2s Share (Tight but Not Always Attacking)
Australian GP — 22.1%
Japanese GP — 21.3%
Saudi Arabian GP — 20.4%
Emilia Romagna GP — 19.6%
British GP — 19.4%
Highest 2–4s Share (Close-ish, but More “Managed Gaps”)
Japanese GP — 23.3%
Mexico GP — 22.2%
British GP — 21.2%
Chinese GP — 21.0%
Azerbaijan GP — 21.0%
Conclusion:
Australia/Japan/Saudi = lots of “almost attacking but not quite” running (1–2s).
Japan/Mexico/Britain = lots of “in-range but not nose-to-tail” running (2–4s).
Japan appears in both lists → it was “busy” at multiple distances, not just one type of traffic.
5) Fun Driver-Level Notes
The “I Saw Nobody All Day” Club (100% Clean Air)
These are races where the driver recorded 0s in all traffic bins and all time in clean air:
PIA — Dutch GP (5900.581s clean air)
NOR — Mexico GP (5869.780s)
VER — USA GP (5631.218s)
VER — Azerbaijan GP (5595.321s)
That’s a perfect “dominance / isolation” storytelling hook.
Who Lived in DRS Trains All Season?
Across the season totals, the biggest <1s guys are mostly midfield runners — exactly what you’d expect:
OCO, TSU, GAS, ALB, SAI, ALO near the top for total time in <1s.
Meanwhile, the clean-air kings are your front-runners:
VER has the highest clean-air share overall (~58.9% of his time).
What This Data Really Tells You?
A race can be “close” in lap-time terms but still be hard to pass. High <1s share often means DRS trains (Qatar is the poster child here).
A race can look calm because everyone is in clean air, but that usually means gaps formed early and stayed (Spain is the standout).
The best “race type” fingerprint is the mix:
- High <1s + high traffic → train-heavy, pressure without movement.
- High 1–2s → constant dirty-air management, strategic pace control.
- High clean air → spread-out, “drive your own race” territory.
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