Don’t think I’ve ever seen those “S” before. And I think it was only during Q3.
That is the tire that the lap was set with. It is colored the same as the banding on the tires. Red s, yellow M, or white H.
And in case it wasn’t clear: S oft, M edium, H ard. Sometimes you’ll see W et, or I ntermediate.
Those drivers are on soft tyres Edit: Or maybe they set their fastest lap on softs? I’m actually not sure.
It shows the fastest lap compound. You can see it in fp2, when they go into the long runs on meds. You’ll still only see S everywhere because they did q sims before.
That they were speedy.
It’s the tire compound used. They are all relative now, with there being hard, medium, and soft.
I believe they changed the rules so hard is used in Q1, medium is used in Q2, and soft is used in Q3.
No they did not. They tried it a couple of times last season. There is no restriction on compound during any qualy session and there is no longer the need to start on your q2 tyre.