In general, among current drivers Gasly Tsunoda Stroll are the 3 fastest downshifters and Alfa Romeo's two drivers are the slowest. In T3, Gasly downshifts and then turns the wheel. Kimi downshifts while turning. From braking to 2nd gear, Gasly spends 1.25s while Kimi spends 2s, a 0.75s deficit. Interestingly, they have exactly the same deficit in T4. Among current drivers, Stroll is the fastest in terms of from braking to the first downshift. His onboard of braking always sounds like he brakes and downshifts at the same time. His teammate Vettel on the other hand downshifts a lot slower, even though they're driving the same car (well, almost the same). This is of cause all down to the cars' characteristic and the drivers' preference with the latter taking the determining role. Track condition and regulation changes as well, if viewed from a broader perspective. These comparisons are purely based on visual analysis of the audio waveform and frequency spectrum. There're inevitably some tiny inaccuraries but they can be ignored because the idea of this video is not to measure brake or downshift point to 0.01s, but to give a general image. BTW, on this particular case, TV footage telemetry is actually not a reliable source for analysis due to the 10fps low refresh rate, but this is the best we can get as normal F1 audience, unless of cause you have access to teams' telemetry which has a hell lot higher frequency, which can be seen in one of my earlier vids: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e9CXlJlqppebhn0.html

“Downshifting is more like a hobby for me. So, obviously, I don’t need to do it if I don’t want.” -Most recent Ferrari World Champion

Kimi has PTSD for all those Merc engines exploding, when he was at Mclaren

legend kimi . just needs one gearbox per season

Kimi's downshift is every gearbox engineer dreams

kimi, has the smoothest transition, also almost seems hes not scared to downshift slower as if he feels the car better...

Raikkonen learned this in the V10 era, with fewer gears and engines running at the actual redline. With those cars you do a Gasly stile downshift and you spin out immediately or break the gearbox, cause you are basically moneyshifting.

gasly is really aggressive in his driving style, he also likes to send the car into the corner without braking, like in turn 9 in austria or turn 11 in Hungary this year

I am sure it's no coincidence that the two slowest are from Alfa and the fastest from AlphaTauri, probably has to do with the car setup/engine/geabox.

It's incredible to see the differences between the Alfas and the Alphas! Clearly Gio has been influenced by the presence of the veteran Kimi who really stays in tune with the car throughout the turn and can therefore squeeze a bit more speed out of it when exiting the turn.

The way Kimi nursed that gearbox is just so masterful. What a legend.

I find it crazy how they’re braking at the same point still when it feels like Gasly is using the gears to slow him down also and Kimi is doing it a lot more “sensitively” and reducing gearbox wear.

Magnussens lap at Austria 2019 was probably the fastest one I've heard

The kimi's soft tyres and gearbox are proud of him. All well in good conditions

Even with shifting, Kimi is like, "eh."

kimi's slow downshifting is also healthier for the engine. thanks to that he doesn't need to switch power units as often.

I don’t think it’s necessarily the drivers techniques I think it’s just how the engine is attuned to the downshifts. Red Bull and Alpha Tauri are probably faster and more effective with the faster downshifts as it seems because some other drivers don’t always do it unless there on a different team. Some of the teams engines would probably break with the aggressive downshifts for a whole 3 hour race. Just a comparison to think about.

Early years kimi was actually one of the best shortshifters, I think it has a lot to do with the car

Downshifting is a bit more complicated. It is directly related to engine braking, which is a key to shorter brake distances. The earlier you downshift, the more rpm deceleration engine will have to do for the next downshift, thus increasing braking performance. Sometimes, if you downshift too early the rpm deceleration may be so high, that you lock your rear wheels. Downshift too late and you brake longer and more gradually. Now take a look at Gasly's corner entry line: he goes for a deeper dive, then makes a sharper turn and after that he is able to get to full throttle sooner. Kimi, on the other hand, starts turning in earlier, rolls more speed into the corner, but has to make a more gradual throttle up. So Gasly's style relies on heavier braking and sharper exits, thus faster downshifting. Kimi goes for rolling into corners and that takes more gradual braking approach. None of this is the right/wrong way, just different styles. Or i am completely wrong and overanalysing:)

Kimi is super chill even with the downshifts :D

I just realized the reason. I went and saw every driver's onboard quali for Austria and realized it's more of how much engine braking that car is tuned up for. Gasly and Tsunoda are heavily reliant on engine braking compared to Kimi and GIO here. More interesting is between Seb and Stoll. Seb is less reliant on engine braking than Stroll, possibly due to steup differences.

Just leave Kimi alone and give him his drink. He knows what he has to do XD

Kimi still has PTSD from blowing engines ;)

When you check the rpm you will notice that Gasly keeps the car running at high rpm throughout the turn. It maximizes the braking capability of the car.

Exhaust mics just make the video better!

Good lord Kimi is a smooth driver, downshifting on the apex while having his drink

You're looking at the difference between a 25 year old trying to make it to the top, and a 42 year old who's been at the top and just wants to be able to walk away from F1 still in one piece.

Can we just sit back and appreciate that throaty AF downshift by that glorious Honda engine. Good god that is sweet to listen to.

it shows the old habits of the older drivers as that level of downshifting shown by the newer drivers would have cooked an older transmission with all the engine braking

The Honda engine makes it even better:)

I reckon the down shifting is a result of the car rather than the driver. Really interesting analysis. So few focus on this topic.

The only reason I don’t downshift as fast as Gasly is that I’m clicking my paddle on my wheel so rapidly that it doesn’t pick up some of the downshifts lmao

As a budding audio engineer, this is the coolest analysis of anything F1 related I’ve ever seen.

Generally the older drivers treat their equipment more gentle. When a gearbox and engine may not last the whole race you do not abuse it.

Gasly qualifying performances have been supreme this season

Kimi: slowest downshifter, fastest upshifter by short shifting through the gears (he doesn't do it all the time but he does it a lot!).

Honestly saving the wear might be worth the 0.02s it costs, especially if you're uncompetitive either way.

Hamilton at the start of his career was all about braking in top gear and doing all the downshifting at the last minute. Check out his Spa pole in 2007.

“No, no I’m downshifting but is it…is the bottle emptying or not?”

Damn the L and R side by side and seperated sound was amazing. Never seen it on any other vid be4

I remember Rosberg telling the drivers don't control the speed of the downshifts. They just input how many downshifts they require and the ECU does the correct amount based on the speed set.

I'm gonna miss kimi a lot what a unique character

Actually one of my favorite videos. I would’ve never thought you could pick up so much about someone’s style from their shifting.

Apart from personal preference, one of the main factors will be diff settings. The different settings allow for more or less engine braking without unsettling the rear of the car. A confident/talented driver like Kimi can continue down shifting into the turn and afford to run a more aggressive setup. Whereas others like Gasly want to get all their shifting done before they need to turn so they don’t risk any oversteer.

Kimi saying "he's here because it's his hobby" is no joke. Look how layback kimi downshifting 😂

According to the last graph, Yuki is the fastest downshifter. Would have been interesting to compare with same engine suppliers, since this clearly depends on the engine breaking characteristics. AT to RB and AR to Ferrari.

As others have said this has much more to do with how the engine manufacturer/team set up the engine braking to work with the kers and brake pressure bias than in does driver preference/skill

Gasly: me when I started driving games on PS2 Kimi: me now

This is so interesting wth 😂

The Alfa romeo must have the ability to rely on the brakes as opposed to engine braking. It's likely no coincidence that the Alpha Tauri drivers vs the Alfa Romeo ones have similar shift styles. Interesting stuff

Damn that's a really great video, thanks man ! I don't know exactly what it means in terms of performance, but this is spot on for the comparison

This wonderful medley of Honda and Ferrari F1 V6s is the best thing Ive ever heard

Kimi did it so smoothly, better exit acceleration

Rosberg has given some very interesting insights on downshifting on his channel. He shows that after a long straight and before steering into slow turn he makes almost instant 8-2 downshift. Why? On every downshift you get slightly disbalanced, so it helps a bit. So I suspect _in general_ fast downshifting is more correct behaviour, brakes overheating should be considered. For each individual case it depends heavily on gearbox/balance/brakes (differential settings probably). I was unable to notice any significant difference in braking point and speed (_before_ the apex, Gasly looks faster on the exit).

Antonio learning that smooth slow downshift from Kimi, hell yes!

Downshift speed varies by turn and car setup, because it also affects brake balance (and in return, the ideal downshift rhythm is affected by the selected brake balance). A fast downshift moves brake balance to the rear, a slow downshift moves brake balance to the front. So on its own downshift speed doesn't say anything about the car or the driver. It could simply be that Kimi has his brake balance set more to the rear on that turn, so he needs less engine braking than Gasly.

When you downshift that fast your using the gearbox to slow down the car. So if your fine with replacing it constantly then keep downshift fast.

Maldonado and Grosjean were the fastest downshiters i think. You can find oboard back from 2014 or 2015 from them, it is quite something.

This is what onboard cameras should sound like live

The effort you put in making these videos is really good you are a f1 nerd bro👍🏻

Two very opposite driving styles. Gasly hard & late on the brakes, early on gas. Kimi carries a lot of speed into the corner and brakes early. This is why he's so good at the twisties of Spa.

how does this affect the car? does downshifting faster hurt it or save the gearbox?

I think this is because older drivers like Kimi have started so long ago that their cars gearbox was much more unreliable and thus you had to care for it to not have a new one every session. Nowadays the new drivers can downshift almost as fast as they can because the gearbox breaking isn't that big of a problem anymore. Like you can clearly hear the gearbox be in pain when Gasly's clip plays.

So many unknown factors. Saving fuel? Saving brakes? Tire temperature management favoring corner exit? Ideal MGU-K torque map? Raikkonen’s approach makes more sense as the turn 3 braking zone is uphill and the exit is downhill.

I think the slow downshift has to do with some gearbox configuration or engine, for example watch Hamilton downshift in 2013 and then compare it with 2021 or 2011, it's way faster

In years gone past, you’d say that was the older experienced guy showing mechanical sympathy to his machinery. Or just trying to control the rear axel more carefully to maintain traction and not u settle the car. I don’t know if any of that still applies in modern F1 with the regen on that axel , I’m sure the computers would control it all now.

Surprising considering downshifting quickly and earlier means more front loading and therefore a pointy car. Kimi Raikkonen is famous for wanting a pointy car, Gasly struggled in 2019 in the Red Bull which was pointy. Now I’m wondering if perhaps Gasly’s natural tendency is like this and that’s why an already pointy car was just too much for him. Plus if Raikkonen’s used to a pointy car, you’re best bet is to control that by not trying to lose the rear or even overstress/overheat/overscrub the rear tires.

I think it's more to do with the car characteristics. Alfa Romeo is known for instability while braking, which is why both drivers do it.

Kimi has more mechanical sympathy and uses engine braking more.The result, a smoother less stressful race on the gearbox. There is no need to smash down threw the gears like that.

fast downshift hurts gearbox more right?

Lift and coast technique indications possibly on Kimi’s situation, for saving fuel, cool down engine o saving battery energy ass well

exhaust mics are so satisfying especially the Honda engine's crackle

TSU’s the fastest, since he started later than Gasly, finished earlier

eyyy Inside's shockwave sequence in the outro!

that Honda sound needs to be my ringtone

I think its because kimi knows how to keep the motor, drivetrain and wheels connected to the road

Always amazes me that the cars sound so similar with different manufacturers

I loved the music at the end. Did you produce it or know who did?

I think its kinda smart to downshift slower, because the engine braking helps a bit to slow down

More videos like this. Please! This is very good for analysis.

The honda sound so good😍😍

GOOD GOD that Honda F1 engine sounds amazing!

Sound effect at the end was awesome!

These downshifting sounds from the Honda engine sounds so good

Old drivers may remain in the habit of handling natural intake engines. Or maybe it's a feature of Jauber and Ferrari gearboxes.

its also interesting that gio does the same sort of downshifting that kimi does. shows how kimi had influenced him at their time at alfa.

Early downshift helps you turn the car earlier. And Iceman upshifts early sometimes, to get good traction. Actually early downshift along with early braking helps you save your tires as well

I never really gave it much thought until watching this on how and when drivers downshift pretty interesting to be fair

That Honda engines just sound like heaven🤤

Alfa romeo : kimi you only have 1 gearbox kimi : just leave me alone, i know what to do kimi : i love short shiffting 😎

Downshifting sometimes is used as engine braking and knowing how to manage it helps you manage the cat balance a lot- Nico Rosberg

Quick downshift: Pros: faster braking Cons: more load on the gearbox, more fuel consumption because of high rpm, more likely to lock brakes, unstable rear, heavy tyre wear. Slow downshift: basically the opposite.

great channel. keep it up man

The TV mics don’t do these cars justice. Sure the V8s and V10s were SO much better, but these cars actually don’t sound too bad.

Also downshifting slower is used for fuel management. Basically downshift in lower rpms to save fuel on non push laps.

Pierre completes his downshifts just as he begins to turn the car whereas Kimi completes his downshifts just before the apex. Its all about the different braking styles, something that is quite overlooked at when analyzing driving styles. But that also explains why Alfa's 2020 car has a lower rake than Alpha Tauri's. The rake angles are built around the braking styles of the drivers, 2021 being the exception.

Gasly: FURIOUSLY SPAMMING DOWNSHIFT

Looks like the Alfa's use the final downshift to get some extra rotation as they turn towards the apex whereas the AT's can just smash down the gears to maximise engine braking and throw the car in.

Every sim racer knows that if you downshift too fast and your brake balance is on the rear side, you can cause the rear wheels to spin, so it's not recomended in all circunstances and it's very setup dependent. Sometimes it's more important to wait until the car is less loaded in the front so you can downshift safely, sometimes you have to space your shifts to maximize grip through a corner. Downshifting is not all about speed.

In general you want to be done with your downshifting before turning in but at the same time you need to pick the point that unsettles the car less. It is sometimes unavoidable to keep the car unsettle so you need to chose where to unsettle it. Personally I avoid unsettling too early or too late and prefer to do it once the heavy braking is done but before trailbraking, of course i don't know how F1 cars brake or downshift as I have never experience such a marvel of engineering.