What is an overcut in racing?
An overcut is a pit stop strategy: you stay out longer than a rival, push on worn tyres while they are in the pits and warming up new ones, and come out ahead when you finally stop.
How it works
Two cars are running close. The one behind pits first for fresh tyres. Over the next two or three laps, three things happen to it at once: it loses time in the pit lane, it loses more on an out-lap where the new tyres are still cold, and it often rejoins in traffic.
The car that stayed out has none of those problems. Its tyres are worn, but it has clear air and a track whose temperature it already knows. If it can lap fast enough during that window to cover the pit stop it has not taken yet, it comes out ahead when it does stop. That is the overcut.
Overcut and undercut
The undercut is the mirror image: pit earlier, and use the pace of brand-new tyres to build the gap before the rival stops. The undercut is a weapon of immediate impact. The overcut is the slower play, and it asks more of the driver, because all of it rests on managing tyres that are already past their best.
| Undercut | Overcut | |
|---|---|---|
| You pit | Earlier than the rival | Later than the rival |
| It depends on | Fresh-tyre pace on the out-lap | Holding pace on worn tyres |
| Favoured by | High degradation, warm track | Low degradation, cool track |
| The risk | Rejoining in traffic on cold tyres | The tyres fall away before you gain enough |
When it works
- Cool conditions. New tyres take longer to reach temperature, so the rival's out-lap stays slow for longer and the window you are racing into is wider.
- Low tyre degradation. If staying out costs you little lap time, the arithmetic works in your favour. High degradation flips it, and favours the undercut instead.
- Clear air ahead of you. An overcut is made entirely of the laps you set while your rival is not on track, so anything that slows those laps takes the strategy with it.
- Monaco is the classic example: slow corners, a cool track, and fresh tyres that need two or three laps to switch on.
Why the product is called Overcut
Overcut, the sim racing telemetry platform at overcut.gg, takes its name from this strategy. An overcut is won by knowing exactly how much pace you still have when the tyres say you should be slower. That is what the software is for: showing you where your lap time actually goes, corner by corner.
References
This page describes a standard motorsport term. Two independent explanations of the same strategy: