Right out of Turn 1 we can see the Porsche uses the 440PS on-demand front axle electric motor to good effect when combined with the 720PS V4 engine at the rear to provide all-wheel drive traction, helping it to pull ahead of the Mercedes. Both cars are incredibly quick through Eau Rouge with the Mercedes hitting 316kph through the speed trap, but the LMP1 car manages to stay ahead and keep pulling to a top speed of 359kph on the Kemmel Straight by using its powerful DRS which acts on the rear wing, but unlike F1 can also influence the diffuser aeroflow. At this point things are looking very good for the modified LMP1 car as it has pulled out a massive 2second lead. Toward the end of the Kemmel Straight, the Porsche backs off early to recharge the battery (PBatteryLoad goes negative) in preparation for using the front axle electric motor to accelerate out of the next corner. It generates 40% of it’s electric energy through an exhaust energy recovery system, but the remaining 60% must be generated in the braking zones.

In the second sector, we can see the laptime takes a tumble (∆tRun). While the LMP1 car is super-efficient in a straight line, which makes sense for a car with shrouded wheels which was developed to win on the long straights of Le Mans, it lacks the high overall downforce of the F1 car and can’t match the apex speeds in this twisty section of the track. When we get to the start of the final sector, the Porsche is now 1.2seconds behind.

The Porsche has to claw this time back again in the final sector. Blanchimont is a very high-speed corner, and the LMP1 car can stay flat on the throttle through here, just as the F1 can, but the more efficient aerodynamics package on the Porsche gets it to a higher top speed. In addition, it has the advantage of not being limited to the FIA stipulated DRS zones and can gain an additional straight-line advantage through extra DRS deployment.

Towards the end of the lap, the LMP1 car uses brake regen into the final chicane, of which 80% of the energy collected can be deployed by the all-wheel drive system on the start-finish straight which cements this lead and sees the LMP1 car finish 0.783seconds ahead.

We have seen from Spa that the LMP1 car has incredible straight-line speed, but through tight corners, the Mercedes F1 car has the edge on performance. One could argue that Spa was a wise circuit choice from the team planning to set a lap record, but we shouldn’t take this away from them. The Porsche has incredible energy management, and it uses the 8.49MJ of electrical energy that it recovers intelligently around the circuit to help it boost acceleration performance.

Now back to the question in hand though, which car would win around the Nordschleife? To answer this, we have two options; my preferred being for an F1 team to attempt this record as a marketing exercise. Failing that we must use a powerful laptime simulation that can solve for optimal energy deployment, active aero, clever torque vectoring and racing line optimisation.

Applying the same 3% drop in grip and 5.3% downforce to the F1 car as required for correlation with the Porsche 919 Evo gave the following result around the Nordschleife: