Trough the years pole positions are very tricky to see how fast the cars really were. In the turbo days, BMW and Honda (to a lesser extent) had special qualifying engines, with super boost, which would freeze up or explode in 5 laps where McLaren ran more or less race engines. 1200hp in Q, 700 in the race. There was also a period where you had to qualify with the fuel you would start the race with. With a good car you could almosr choose to be on pole, but then you had to pit very early.NathanOlder wrote:But on that philosophy,FoxHound wrote:To this day, I never saw a driver faster than a car. I still will never see the day.
Massa and Raikkonen may not ultimately be up to Hamilton's level, but the chasm will never be as big as a host of other variables that faced all 3 in 2008.
The end result is that the Ferrari had 8 poles, and so did the McLaren. Therefore both as quick as the other.
An example : 1985
Lotus 8 poles.
Williams 3
Mclaren 2
Ferrari 1
Brabham 1
Toleman 1.
Does that mean the Lotus was the best car by a country mile ? Or did the driver outdrive his car ?
It's practical impossible to go faster then the car. In a well balanced car without changing conditions, most drivers can come very close to the max of a car. The good drivers excell when it's not the case.