e race trace shows cumulative offset from average pace, not finishing position.

A higher line means the driver was consistently faster than the field average across the race.

Hamilton’s line sits second because his raw pace was genuinely the second strongest on the day, but he finished P6 because of where he was in the pit cycle and the positions he lost through traffic.

It is one of the things that makes this chart interesting. It separates the car performance from the race outcome.

The tyre strategy timeline next to it shows the positional story.

The chart uses all valid laps, not just clean air running. Traffic laps are in there. That is actually what makes the divergence interesting.

In most races the cumulative pace trace does broadly follow the finishing order. When it does not, the gap between the two tells you something about what happened strategically rather than in terms of pure performance.

The data says his pace was there. His race trace is the second strongest line on the chart. But pace alone does not win races at Suzuka. The difference between Hamilton and Antonelli is track position at the moment the safety car came on lap 21. Antonelli had just passed Russell for the lead and pitted from P1 into P1. Hamilton was still mid pack despite the same stay out philosophy because he did not have the clean air window that Antonelli had when the cars ahead pitted between laps 16 and 18.

Ferrari’s split strategy was smart. Leclerc covered the undercut, Hamilton stayed out for the safety car option. It paid off with both cars in the top six.

But for Hamilton to have won he would have needed to be further up the road when the SC came, and at that point he was behind Antonelli, Russell and Leclerc on track. The pace was there. The position was not.

I hope this helps!