Driver styles/preferences

[SectorOne]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm24_eAy3pc[/youtube]
Reposted from Mercedes car thread.
Interesting that Rosberg seems to have higher lock.

I think it´s the other way around, Hamilton running more lock,

[jamsbong]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj8y7-OPHLg[/youtube]

go to 46:45
Kimi vs Bottas driving style described. by Rob Wilson

So straight line -> side ways.
Vettel - Kimi - Bottas - Hamilton.

[JimClarkFan]

So if any of you subscribe to F1 Racing, there's a fantastic piece in there where Brembo Performance director Mauro Piccoli talks about the drivers as brakers. Brembo AFAIK supplies Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Sauber, McLaren(?) and Toro Rosso.

Lewis Hamilton - He's pretty hard, very quick on and off the brakes and he releases quickly. It's not the best way, as to be effective under braking you need to introduce the car at the right speed. But he's mastered that: he learned it in GP2 when tyres were high-grip.

Jenson Button - Drivers now are more focused on modulation. Jenson is less hard, but very good during release. His modulation is a bit like ABS, which helps him a lot in low-grip conditions. The bleed-off effect has assumed increasing importance.

Sebastian Vettel - His style is extremely similar to that of Alonso. Both have mastered introducing the car into the corner at the right speed at the right directionality. They also have similar feel requirements and sympathetic material usage.

Nico Rosberg - He is very similar to his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, which is probably because they were both competing in GP2 at the same time.

Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher - These two have very similar styles - both being ultra-hard, physical brakers.

Robert Kubica - He braked really, really hard. And he had short pedal travel. His brakes were always either on or off.

Interestingly it seems to allude that Alonso and Vettel have very similar styles and requirements from a car. It would be very interesting to see them both in the same car, on that basis, because it alludes that a Vettel-Alonso superteam would mean a clear development direction. Interestingly it says that Nico and Hamilton are the same too, which would be very interesting to see developing.

Thanks Ray.

Question - how does he know that Lewis and Nico's style is not the best?

I understand that introducing the car to the right speed as it corners is important, but both these guys are super fast, it therefore seems logical that in spite of their sharp and punchy breaking style that they are still able to get the car into the corner well enough to offset the detrimental effect that sharp sudden braking might have.

The one direct comparison we have is Lewis vs Button, and Lewis vs Alonso. I don't think many doubt that Lewis is faster on average over one lap than certainly Button; and possibly Alonso too.

[jamsbong]

[raymondu999]

Here's something in the latest Autosport, combining an old interview with Clark & Hill Sr. then comparing to one with Button and Hamilton (asking the same questions)

What’s your ideal car? Do you have a car to oversteer or understeer?
Jim Clark
Well, when I started I used to prefer an oversteering car. At first it was very difficult for me to drive a Lotus. It was fabulous to drive on tramlines, but as soon as you started to get the back out it became very twitchy. I feel that I can get somewhere near the limit with an oversteering car. Mind you, it mustn’t oversteer too much. As far as Formula 1 is concerned a slight tendency to understeer is probably a good thing, because understeer can be corrected without losing too much time, whereas correcting oversteer is liable to waste time.

Lewis Hamilton
Oversteer, good traction, anyone would think the same thing. I just quite like an oversteering car.

Graham Hill
Well, I think those days, the days of accepting a car as it is, are over. Practically all drivers have a different way of driving, so what is oversteer for one person can be understeer for another in the same car. Understeer and oversteer are mainly a function of the amount of power being used.
Early this year BRM did some testing at Zandvoort, and I tried Richie Ginther’s car. Richie was complaining of understeer, but I thought the car was oversteering. We were both right because we drive differently. On the whole I would like to think that I prefer a car with neutral characteristics. The whole basis of motor racing – the criterion of going round a circuit quickly – is the amount of power you can get on the road. If you have a chronic oversteering car, you have to lift off – otherwise the back will come round. In an understeering car you can kill a lot of the understeer by setting the car up and then putting the power on; this holds it in a power drift which in effect kills the understeer. But there are some corners which you just cannot get round without backing off and starting again.
I like to be able to set the car up at the entrance to a corner and go through the corner in a power drift. Nowadays I think it is essential for a driver to be able to set the car up for his own particular needs. I think the days have gone when a driver used to turn up, put his gloves and hat on, do a few laps and then go home. Nowadays a driver must make the car suit his style, because competition is so fierce that every little tenth is going to count.

[SectorOne]

Hamilton on himself, BBC column,

What is the favourite F1 car you have driven?
Jimbo's F1 ‏‬@JamesHayter447m

"The one I'm driving right now. I have always needed a car with good rear grip. I don't mind if I have to struggle with the front because you can catch that up. But I've always wanted to make sure I have plenty of rear grip and I've rarely had that before. Now, I've finally got a 'rear-ended' car and it's driving into understeer, and you have to work around it with mechanical balance.

"I know people have this impression of me as a driver who likes to dance the rear end out, but that's just the way my cars have been. I'm quite comfortable being on the edge and having to balance it when it looks 'oversteery'.
"That's what I had to do with my aggressive style to get the car as far up as possible. Driving in that way enables me to make that kind of car shine more than it would do if I drove it normally. But I prefer the car like the Mercedes is now."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/22209168

[raymondu999]

How odd - telling two credible news sources opposing things - Autosport, that he "like(s) an oversteering car" and to BBC that he prefers a planted rear.

[f1316]

Interestingly it seems to allude that Alonso and Vettel have very similar styles and requirements from a car. It would be very interesting to see them both in the same car, on that basis, because it alludes that a Vettel-Alonso superteam would mean a clear development direction. Interestingly it says that Nico and Hamilton are the same too, which would be very interesting to see developing.

I think you could also infer that this not a question of 'their style' but that both have adapted their driving better than most to the current requirements.

If you look - and it's been brought up here before - at Alonso's driving throughout the years, you can see that this is very much the case.

[JimClarkFan]

How odd - telling two credible news sources opposing things - Autosport, that he "like(s) an oversteering car" and to BBC that he prefers a planted rear.

I was thinking that as well.

From my perspective: I think he does like to drift the rear end, but he likes to do that on his own terms which requires a grippy rear which he can manipulate with confidence. Perhaps what he means is that with under steer he can pivot the car at rear end to counteract that.

It's not clear though, I don't think I have ever seen him 'chase' the front end, certainly not in the manner he describes.

[PlatinumZealot]

I think he is saying hes like a planted car, but he has the skill required to get the maximum of an over-steery car if needs be.

[jamsbong]

Regarding Graham Hill preference of understeered car then setup to be powerdrift out of corner, i think this can be done assuming the engine is powerful enough to break traction. A good example is a nose heavy muscle car. There is a surplus of torque and the heavy engine in front makes the car inherently understeers. To drive it around a corner, you would stomp hard on the brakes and then initiate the steer. Then loosen up the brakes so that wheels don't lock up. After that apply power to start the power drift. Because the car understeers, you don't really need a lot of countersteer.

It is fun to drive like that!

[raymondu999]

Hill says he power drifts the entry though, not the exit.

About Hamilton, I don't buy that he's talking about skill. He clearly says he likes oversteer to AUTOSPORT, and he likes grippy rear to BBC. Both clearly referred to preference, not ability (though I don't doubt hamilton's gladiatorial abilities to swashbuckle a car driving like its rear tyres are on snow)

I could almost buy the one that he has adapted between the interviews (thus meaning he was truthful in both interviews, just that his preferences changed) but I don't think they were that far apart.

To add fuel to the fire, he has said in the Silverstone quali press conference that the Mercedes' balance is the least favorable to him of all the cars he's driven. Or something to that effect - I forget his words

[timbo]

Hill says he power drifts the entry though, not the exit.

But you don't power drift on entry=)

About Hamilton, I don't buy that he's talking about skill. He clearly says he likes oversteer to AUTOSPORT, and he likes grippy rear to BBC. Both clearly referred to preference, not ability (though I don't doubt hamilton's gladiatorial abilities to swashbuckle a car driving like its rear tyres are on snow)

I think he talks about entry/exit.
Ultimately I believe any driver wants grippy front on entry and planted rear on exit. Probably with emphasis on exit.

[raymondu999]

Hill says he power drifts the entry though, not the exit.

But you don't power drift on entry=)

But Graham Hill said he does =)

I like to be able to set the car up at the entrance to a corner and go through the corner in a power drift.

[timbo]

Hill says he power drifts the entry though, not the exit.

But you don't power drift on entry=)

But Graham Hill said he does =)

I like to be able to set the car up at the entrance to a corner and go through the corner in a power drift.

But it is about going throgh a corner not into a corner!