Strategy tool

Undercut calculator

The pit wall's favorite weapon, interactive. Set the gap, the fresh-tire advantage, and how quickly the rival responds; see whether the undercut gets you out ahead, and whether a pit stop is "free" against the car behind.

The undercut: can you jump the car ahead?

You pit first; the rival stays out on worn tires. You gain your fresh-tire advantage every lap until they respond, minus what cold tires and traffic cost you on the out-lap.

Gap to the car ahead: 2s

Fresh-tire advantage: 1.2s/lap

Laps before the rival responds: 1

Out-lap warm-up loss: 0.8s

Traffic on the out-lap: 0s

Your stop slower by: 0s

Falls short by ~1.6s. They keep track position.

1.2 s/lap × 1 lap = 1.2s gross, minus 0.8s out-lap cost = 0.4s net, vs 2s gap. Break-even fresh-tire pace was 2.8 s/lap.

The free stop: can you pit without losing the place behind?

A pit stop costs roughly the pit-lane time loss. If your lead over the car behind is bigger, the stop is "free".

Your lead over the car behind: 21s

Pit-lane time loss: 22s

Not free: you rejoin ~1s behind and must re-pass.

21s lead vs ~22s pit loss.

Simplified model: steady tire advantage and no safety car. The out-lap warm-up and traffic sliders let you stress the clear-air assumption most calculators hide. Real pit walls run this with live degradation curves; the structure is the same. Read the theory: what is the undercut?, the overcut, and how pit windows work.

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