Race History: RIC - Circuit of the Americas

Same-Lap Constraint: Only races where both drivers completed the full distance on the lead lap are included in time deltas. Lapped cars are classified laps behind rather than having exact millisecond finish margins.

Median vs. Mean: We highlight the Median Gap as the primary benchmark because outlier incidents (punctures, front-wing damage, team orders) heavily skew the arithmetic mean.

Late Safety Car (LSC): Races where a late Safety Car or VSC bunched the field together are flagged with an LSC badge because the final margin reflects pack compression rather than true green-flag race pace.