Quote:
Originally Posted by MFAFF
I'm not so sure they are incapable of driving the cars... I think that its the overall amount of effort required to get the car working well.
If you look at J Villeneuve.. he was very quick with a well developed car (thanks D.Hill) and in 96 almost took the title. He did so in 97 with a Hill developed car and his success rate thereafter fell gently to almost nothing as it was clear that his skill lay in racing a car... not developing it.
Montoya was much the same... great racing spirit.. much less development talent. The recent WDCs however have shown above average racing spirit and above average development skill....they bring a better car to the grid than the others and so have an advantage.
I think SeaBass, in spite of his skills simply didn't 'get' the amount of work he was required to do to develop the car to his liking in order to maximise his racing skills.. he can't have been too bad a racer to win in the US.. they don't give race wins away in a Corn Flake packet...
But if the car isn't working well for you.. but its working better for your team mate you look like the weaker link..and so you go..
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Agreed. Cart was and IRL is a spec class, cars are basically equally matched with identical engines and components and races are won and lost in the garage and pits.
F1 is a different world, where cars are not equal. Each is better at some things and worse at others, the drivers are a very important part of the development which never ends. The driver needs to help determine what will work and what won't and what compromises should be made. that is what made MS the greatest ever. he was an engineer who could race.
Another part of the equation that many do not realize is that the car changes with every race. Different chassis, different suspension, different everything except maybe engine and transmission. Very rarely do the drivers drive the same car in two different races. F1 is more instinct, more talent, less getting used to something. not much opportunity to develop a technique or skill, it has to be inherent.
A good F1 driver can adapt and drive anything well.
Some drivers are good at driving the same car every race with only minor tweaks, some are not.
I suspect seabass was not.
I was conflicted with him. Part of me wanted to root against him because of his nationality, part of me wanted him to suicceed because he was coming from an American (based) racing league.
I expected him to fail but in some ways hoped he wouldn't.
I dream of the day some fool with lots of money tried to put Danica Patrick in an F1 car. That would be an epic fail.