The most dominant car in F1 history

[1158]

I wouldn´t consider fastest laps, as they´re usually achieved in the last laps and it depend on the race circumstances, the leader might be dominating so much he could be cruising around, for example, RB7 did it frequently

It also depend on the teammate, Senna and Prost were usually threatening each other so they were forced to push hard, while Schumacher or Vettel usually were so dominant with their teammates far away they didn´t need to push that hard

Agree about the fastest laps. Also have to consider the fuel regs for the listed cars. The F2004 was during the refueling era so at each race it had multiple attempts to set the fastest lap. The cars loaded with fuel would only be able to do so late in the race, just when they were more likely to be in fuel/engine saving mode. Also with the Pirelli tires if one of the mid field teams pits in the last 5 laps and puts on the softer tire choice they are almost assured of setting the fastest lap.

I am glad OP included the fastest lap graphs, I find it interesting but I don't know how well it can be used to depict dominance.

[Daliracing]

What about the RB8 in 2013?

you mean the rb9?

[Moose]

Indeed, the RB8 (the 2012 car) was far from dominant - the MP4-27 was in general a quicker machine. Just McLaren did everything they could to throw the title away.

[RZS10]

What about the RB8 in 2013?

you mean the rb9?

The car wasn't at the front at the beginning of the season, also having to change illegal details on the car after racing with those parts on the car several times, the domination came with the mid-season tyre change from which they benefitted monumentally

[elf341]

RB5 to RB9:


RB9 therefore apparently the most dominant according to 'race supremacy' metric.

Interestingly, 86% of the events where RB9 displayed race supremacy were in the second half of the year. If you discount those, you see a performance hump with the RB6 being the peak performance of the RB5-lineage. Maybe I'm just seeing too many patterns in this data however! After all, you'd have to say the Red Bull had a difficult 2012 not because the competition caught up, but rather because one of their main weapons (direct EBD) was banned.

[SiLo]

I still think the W05 was more dominant than the MP4-4. It was just let down by some poor tactics.

[FoxHound]

It should be noted that the W05 was also hampered by having limited engine usage for a season.

[Kingshark]

The most dominant car in qualifying is neither the Mercedes WO5 nor the McLaren MP4/4, but rather the Williams FW14B, which was on average over 1.3 seconds faster than its nearest rivals on Saturday.

I'll post some qualifying statistics later.

[Kingshark]

AVERAGE QUALIFYING GAP (IN SECONDS)



All 3 of these cars scored all bar one pole position in their respective dominant seasons.

RB7 and WO5: 18 out of 19 poles
MP4/4 and FW14B: 14 out of 15 poles

Comparing the average qualifying advantage they had over the nearest competitors in these qualifying sessions;

The FW14B tops it with an average advantage of 1.307 seconds.
Then comes the MP4/4, with an advantage of 1.190 seconds.
Then the WO5, with 0.678 seconds to spare.
Finally the RB7, with a 0.380 second advantage.

[tarzoon]

The most dominant car in qualifying is neither the Mercedes WO5 nor the McLaren MP4/4, but rather the Williams FW14B, which was on average over 1.3 seconds faster than its nearest rivals on Saturday.

I'll post some qualifying statistics later.

Yep. It was common to see nearly all cars except for 2 or 3 being lapped.

Still remember Senna fending off Mansell in Monaco in 92. What a drive!

[i70q7m7ghw]

It should be noted that the W05 was also hampered by having limited engine usage for a season.

That's part of the regulations, it was the same for every car on the grid, so it doesn't affect how dominant the W05 was.

[Artur Craft]

They only had 1 lap, it was very unforgiving. I think with multiple attempts the F2004 could have scored more poles, BUT that's just my opinion.

Yes, it was only a single lap during 2004 QLFs and that had already race fuel onboard and Ferrari usually had more fuel than others. Additionally, there was tyre war, so in places like Monaco, Bridgestone was no match for Michelin:
Trulli's pole 1.13.9 first pit with 24 laps
Schumacher QLF 1.14.5 first pit with 26 laps and Barrichello with a lot less fuel did 1.14.7 (first pit with 20 laps)

The other Bridgestones were all at the bottom and Michelin runners dominated in that "mechanical grip" track.
http://www.newsonf1.com/2004/races/monaco/qres.htm

The Barrichello argument in particular I find compelling, he also drove the BGP-001 in early '09 when it was meant to have a second a lap advantage, yet you wouldn't think it from some of his early race results!

He would be, at least, second in every race if it wasn't for misfortunes.

He even won two races, in the second half of the season, when BGP was not the dominant car anymore.

Imho, the most dominant car ever was the MP4/4 overall, with the FW14B being the absolute QLF car

[TzeiTzei]

Looking at the time gaps the 1993 Williams might have been even more dominant in qualifying than the 1992 car.

[gray41]

Whichever way you looks at it, the W05 has joined a very elite of F1 cars.

[SiLo]

Whichever way you looks at it, the W05 has joined a very elite of F1 cars.

Spot on. Basically, we can't really compare it's performance to other cars of different eras because of other factors, but it's safe to say, it was by far the best car on the grid this year, and were pretty much cruising from the get go.