mackenzies-analysis-archive

[mackenzies-analysis-archive]

How to do F1 data analysis (EASY)

Hi guys it’s Mackenzie here <3 I’ve been getting questions about how I did my F1 data analysis on my main & social, so I decide to write something about this topic here.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a data science / computer science major student and I’m still very new to this, so if there’s something wrong with what I write/better way to do stuff, please don’t hesitate to tell me! I’m always eager to learn <3

WHAT I USE TO DO MY ANALYSIS

- I use Python as my choice of programming language (bc this is the only one I can work with lol).

   I learned introductionary & intermediate Python and some basic data science toolkits from school, and IMO that’s pretty much what you need to understand most of the codes. (YES YOU DON’T REALLY NEED TO WRITE THEM YOURSELVES!!... Well maybe sometimes ;D ) If you feel a little bit uncomfortable with all these codes, there are a bunch of resources (free/paid) on the Internet that can get you familiar with Python~

- The package I usually use with the analysis (don’t forget to install them):

   Numpy / Pandas: because we’ll be working with DataFrames ~

   Matplotlib: for visualizations (yes telemetry graphs!)

   Fastf1: More about it down below

- Personally I use Jupyter notebook for writing my codes, but basically any platform that you feel comfortable should do.

- Where I get the data:

   There is a great python package by theOehrly named Fastf1 which contains an unimaginable amount of data from each F1 session! It’s based on Pandas DataFrame (I think), so I recommend some prior knowledge about how it works, but don’t worry bc normally the few lines I write myself is just .head() function to browse the dataset or do some splicings/selections to see what I want at the moment :D

   The link to the introduction of fastf1 package: https://theoehrly.github.io/Fast-F1/

- Tutorial:

   I’ve been following Jasper’s tutorials about the data analysis and he writes AMAZING tutorials on F1 data analysis! His codes are great and he explains it very clearly, so you can always learn something new instead of blindly copy-paste codes. His Medium page: https://medium.com/@jaspervhat

   Normally I would just follow his codes step-by-step, but tweak the parameters a little bit (like changing the session to what I’m interested in). And when I have any questions I would head to either fastf1′s website or Github <3

So that’s basically what I can think about at the moment, I’ll update more if I have something new to share! Thank you so much for reading <3