First Lap Time

[IceDragons37]

import pandas as pd
import fastf1 as ff1
from fastf1 import plotting

race = ff1.get_session(Year-1, Grand_Prix, 'R')
race.load()
laps = race.laps

ff1.Cache.enable_cache('cache')
pd.options.mode.chained_assignment = None

laps_rus = laps.pick_driver('RUS') # pick a driver
lap = laps_rus[laps_rus['LapNumber'] == 1].iloc[0]
print(lap)

When I print the info, the lap time and the Sector1 time are stated as "NaT". Is there a way to find the lap time and the time taken to complete the 1st sector?

[theOehrly]

No, there isn't because the sector 1 time and lap time do not exist for the first lap of a race.

You can take a look at https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2022%20Spanish%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Event%20Notes%20-%20Circuit%20Map%20v2.pdf for example.
The control line marks the beginning of the lap (i.e. the beginning of sector 1) but the cars are lined up at the start line. So they are already inside sector 1. They're not covering the full distance of the first sector. Therefore, the sector and the lap are incomplete and there is no time for them. This is not a limitation of FastF1.

[psychemedia]

You can get lap times for all laps, including the first lap, from the ergast API.

For example:

from fastf1.ergast import base_url, _parse_ergast, _parse_json_response, _headers
from fastf1.api import Cache
from pandas import json_normalize
import pandas as pd

def _parse_ergast(data, table="RaceTable:Races", as_df=False):
    """Parse specified table from ergast data."""
    data_table = data['MRData']
    for t in table.split(":"):
        if t:
            data_table = data_table[t]
    return data_table if not as_df else json_normalize(data_table)

#http://ergast.com/api/f1/drivers
#http://ergast.com/api/f1/2010/drivers
#http://ergast.com/api/f1/2010/2/drivers
def fetch_driver(year, gp=None, as_df=False):
    """Get driver information from ergast API by year and optionally by race."""
    if gp is None:
        url = f"{base_url}/{year}/drivers.json"
    else:
        url = f"{base_url}/{year}/{gp}/drivers.json"
    return _parse_ergast(_parse_json_response(
        Cache.requests_get(url, headers=_headers)),
                         "DriverTable:Drivers", as_df
    )

def ergast_driver_code_number(year, gp=None, typ="code", index="driverId"):
    """Get driver codes via ergast API."""
    _driver_details = fetch_driver(year, gp, as_df=True)
    _driver_details["permanentNumber"] = _driver_details["permanentNumber"].astype(int)
    typ = "permanentNumber" if typ.startswith("num") else typ
    if typ in ["code", "permanentNumber"]:
        return _driver_details[["driverId", typ]].set_index(index).squeeze().to_dict()
    return _driver_details[["code", "permanentNumber", "driverId"]]
 

ERGAST_CODES = ergast_driver_code_number(2022)

#http://ergast.com/api/f1/2011/5/laps/1
#http://ergast.com/api/f1/2011/5/drivers/alonso/laps/1
def fetch_laptimes(year, gp, lap=None, driver=None, as_df=False):
    """Get laptime information from ergast API by year and race,
        and optionally by driver and/or lap."""
    url = f"{base_url}/{year}/{gp}"
    if driver:
        url = f"{url}/drivers/{driver}"
    url = f"{url}/laps"
    if lap:
        url = f"{url}/{lap}"
    url = f"{url}.json"
    _laps = _parse_ergast(_parse_json_response(
        Cache.requests_get(url, headers=_headers))
    )[0]["Laps"]
    if as_df:
        _df = pd.DataFrame(_laps[0]["Timings"])
        _df['driverId'] = _df['driverId'].map(ERGAST_CODES)
        return _df
    return _laps

# Get laptimes for first lap for second race of 2022
fetch_laptimes(2022, 2, 1)

[theOehrly]

@psychemedia Thank you for summarizing this in such a concise form. I need to take some time and work through this information. And I need to check what we actually can use this data for. Potentially, it could allow to better synchronize laps.
But as I already said, implementing this requires a better strategy for merging data from F1 and Ergast. Furthermore, the order of downloading, post-processing and merging operations might need to be changed to implement this properly. At this point, it becomes a major (but anyway necessary) refactoring operation. I don't just want to hack this into the current FastF1 core. Also, I do anticipate some necessary breaking changes.
I can see this being part of a new major release, but this very likely won't happen within the current season still.

[psychemedia]

It might be better to represent laptimes separate from the provider, so that differemt laptiime providers (ergast, fia pdf scrape, derived from timescreen, etc) can be accommodated

[theOehrly]

Can you explain a bit more in detail what you mean by that?

[psychemedia]

In functional terms, being able to do something like: getLaptimes(..., provider='ergast')

To support introspection of the provider, class Laps, could also have a self.provider attribute.

[theOehrly]

This has the one major disadvantage, that Ergast as a single provider can by far not provide all the data that the Laps class currently makes available. And this is true as well for any other potential provider that I can think of. Apart from empty fields this will also break all functionality related to getting telemetry from laps data. I'm not sure whether this would not create more problems than it solves.

If something like this were to be added, it must be well thought trough, with the appropriate errors and informational messages to guide users. I fully support the idea of unifying different backends/providers through FastF1. But the issue is that these backends partially have very different capabilities. Therefore, there will always be things that stop working when switching between backends/providers.