Track Position Against Clean Air
The arithmetic above assumes a car can use its pace once it has fresh tyres, and often it cannot. A car following another closely runs in disturbed air, which reduces downforce and forces the driver to either lift earlier or slide the tyres more, both of which cost lap time and accelerate degradation. Being stuck behind a slower car does not merely hold a driver up. It damages the tyres they are trying to preserve.
This is what makes track position an asset in its own right and what generates the two classic moves. Stopping earlier than a rival puts a car on fresh rubber into clear air, where it can use the pace advantage immediately, aiming to be ahead when the rival stops. Staying out longer relies on the rival losing that advantage behind traffic, or on the old set holding on well enough that the delayed stop lands in clean air. Which works depends almost entirely on how hard passing is at that circuit. Where it is straightforward, a team can accept losing position for a better tyre outcome. Where it is nearly impossible, holding position outweighs a substantial pace deficit.
