[BUG] Throttle greater than 100%?

[Rafa-Russo]

Describe the issue:

In the FastF1 API docs, throttle is described as ranging from 0 to 100%:

Throttle (float): 0-100 Throttle pedal pressure [%]

However, in some sessions (e.g., 2022 Japanese GP), I’m seeing throttle values above 100% for several drivers. I expected throttle to max out at 100%. Is this a known issue in the data or a misinterpretation on my side?

Thank you in advance!

Python version: 3.13.1
FastF1 version: 3.6.0

Reproduce the code example:

import fastf1

session = fastf1.get_session(2022, 'Japanese Grand Prix', 'R')
session.load()

drivers = session.laps['Driver'].unique()
for driver in drivers:
    laps = session.laps.pick_drivers([driver])
    throttle_above_100 = (laps.get_telemetry()['Throttle'] > 100).sum()
    print(f"Driver: {driver}, Throttle > 100: {throttle_above_100}")

Error message:

req         WARNING     DEFAULT CACHE ENABLED! (13.06 GB) C:\Users\rafam\AppData\Local\Temp\fastf1
core           INFO     Loading data for Japanese Grand Prix - Race [v3.6.0]
req            INFO     Using cached data for session_info
req            INFO     Using cached data for driver_info
req            INFO     Using cached data for session_status_data
req            INFO     Using cached data for lap_count
req            INFO     Using cached data for track_status_data
req            INFO     Using cached data for _extended_timing_data
req            INFO     Using cached data for timing_app_data
core           INFO     Processing timing data...
req            INFO     Using cached data for car_data
req            INFO     Using cached data for position_data
req            INFO     Using cached data for weather_data
req            INFO     Using cached data for race_control_messages
core           INFO     Finished loading data for 20 drivers: ['1', '11', '16', '31', '44', '5', '14', '63', '6', '4', '3', '18', '22', '20', '77', '24', '47', '10', '55', '23']
Driver: VER, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: GAS, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: PER, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: ALO, Throttle > 100: 21064
Driver: LEC, Throttle > 100: 18402
Driver: STR, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: MAG, Throttle > 100: 20792
Driver: TSU, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: ALB, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: ZHO, Throttle > 100: 30561
Driver: RIC, Throttle > 100: 200
Driver: OCO, Throttle > 100: 24336
Driver: NOR, Throttle > 100: 169
Driver: HAM, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: MSC, Throttle > 100: 278
Driver: VET, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: SAI, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: LAT, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: RUS, Throttle > 100: 0
Driver: BOT, Throttle > 100: 45662

[theOehrly]

I gave this a quick look over. When the throttle value is greater than 100, the value is always 104. This value is only observed before the start, during the time when the GP was aborted for more than an hour and after the end of the GP. This seems to be some kind of error/unavailable value.

When you obtain telemetry for a specific lap, this value should never be observed in the data. The reason why you see it here is that .get_telemetry(), when applied to multiple laps, returns all the data between the start of the first lap and the end of the last lap. This then includes the multiple hour-long break during which the GP was red flagged. When the cars were shut off, there was no proper telemetry.

I should probably add this to the documentation, even though it is an edge case and not really important when just looking at "useful" data.