Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

Post by happyjack » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 1:20 PM UTC

meditative wrote: post #116

happyjack wrote: post #82

F1 is an extremely difficult position these days. How can a team(s) increase lap speed YoY, have competitive racing, make money, stay safe, and still have incentives for OEMs to participate? The answer is they can't. At least in the current formula. I think Bernie did a great job running the sport as a dictator, but he set up a house of cards that was doomed. I don't think Chase Carey and Liberty really had a chance.…

I watch F1 for the engineering, but unfortunately it's not covered much due to the secretive nature of the sport. > The only pair of teammates on the grid right now who have any legitimate gap are Albon and Verstappen. Other than that, it's par for the course. Abon and Verstappen are no the only legitimate gaps; Leclerc vs Vettle and Ricc vs Ocon are also substantial. A better driver can take 250ms off their team mat…

Post by happyjack » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 1:22 PM UTC

wil421 wrote: post #131

WalterBright wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've idly thought that if I was the F1 Czar I'd ban all transistors in the cars, except for in safety equipment. Not even a radio. Have the operation of the car be up to driver skill, not computer programmer virtuosity. (And I'm a programmer!) Of course, it is possible to make mechanical computers, but they are very costly to develop, heavy, take up lots of space, hard to modify, etc. Besides, it's a lost art.

Sounds like you would like NASCAR.

Post by bsanr2 » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 3:31 PM UTC

axegon_ wrote: post #124

mft_ wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hamilton, the working class boy from Stevenage whose Dad had to work multiple jobs to support him being able to go racing in karts, is the “silver spoon boy”?

As I said, all of them have immense talent, but apart from the Red Bull-Vettel dominance era, Hamilton has always been in the best car and he was initially pushed forward by Ron Dennis of all people. I honestly can't think of anyone in F1 history who can say they were at all times backed up by people like Dennis, Fry, Lacey, Hakkinen, Wolff, Lauda from their first day in F1... No one comes even close to that. He's ha…

Post by beastieboyce » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 3:53 PM UTC

atmosx wrote: post #99

dboreham wrote: post #65

Apart from watching on TV and the movies, my only brush with this world was a 1/2 day spent interviewing at McLaren in 1990. It was very clear from every engineer I talked to that they had fairly low opinion of the drivers. One of the projects we discussed was a new telemetry system, its primary purpose to allow them to prove conclusively when the driver did something stupid. I didn't take the job if anyone was curio…

McLaren’s driver duo in 1990 were Ayrton Senna and Allen Prost. Are you sure the engineers weren’t just petty little creatures trying to get some spotlight? I can assure you that no engineer could win a race against either one. Additionally, Senna has proved that he do “well” with much inferior cars, there must be something going on there as well... As someone who races every now and then for fun, I can assure you th…

Post by segmondy » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 4:03 PM UTC

focom wrote: post #85

segmondy wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give me a break, let me guess, you are not black. Since Lewis got on top I have seen this argument come up, this rubbish didn't come up in the past. This same behavior happens all the time when a black person performs very well, folks find ways to take it away.

I am Caribbean but unlike you, I don't fall for the victim hood narrative. Racism is not the reason for every issues in our community.