Driver styles/preferences

[PlatinumZealot]

A snippet from a user Autosport.

Jock Clear interview.

"I'll be brutally honest here. I don't think Michael is the quickest driver there has been for the last 20 years - because Mika Hakkinen on a good lap would be as quick and certainly Hamilton would be"

"In general terms, what is required of these tyres does not suit Michael's driving style as well as it suits others. Drivers like Michael, who turn the car using the rear tyres as opposed to the front, will suffer more from these tyres. The rears just can't handle being stressed in that way. Which prompts the question of could Michael have adjusted his driving style? I'm not sure any of them can. I think drivers develop their skill and style around their predisposition to using certain cues and I think they are probably hard-wired in.

Whatever yaw rate Michael needs to feel only comes from turning the car in on the rear tyres. This is the way all the really good kartists drive, but then you get to F1 with these tyres and it's not the appropriate way. It doesn't suit Michael, doesn't suit Lewis Hamilton, but it does suit Nico, it probably suits Fernando, seems to suit Sergio Perez"

[Red Schneider]

So Mr. Clear is basically saying that Schumacher used oversteer to help the car around the corner?

(Presumably we're talking slower corners here. I can't imagine trying to pull that off through the first sector at Suzuka.)

[PlatinumZealot]

I think he means using the throttle to balance the car. The influence on rear wheel torque on turning the car perhaps.

[timbo]

So Mr. Clear is basically saying that Schumacher used oversteer to help the car around the corner?

(Presumably we're talking slower corners here. I can't imagine trying to pull that off through the first sector at Suzuka.)

That's nothing new. It was discussed a lot. Look here for example
http://8w.forix.com/mschumacher.html
Scroll all the way to the end.

<rant>
And the way he puts who's fastest... Well, Schuey was beaten from time to time by Irvine, Barrichello, Massa. But, so was Senna sometimes beaten by Berger (and even by Hakkinen). And Hakkinen was beaten by Coulthard not once. Surely, Hakkinen is a good driver, quite likely there were drivers able to put an ultra banzai lap (e.g. Montoya) on a good day to be faster than Schumacher. But Schumacher had his good days too, and what put him to the from was that he had good days much more often than anybody else.
</rant>

[raymondu999]

Yeah - it's quite a fallacy to think that a driver can be quickest in all cars at all times. There will obviously be off days, as all humans have.

[godlameroso]

It's true, to a certain extent there are a lot of fast drivers in the world, some are better with certain types of cars than others. When Grosjean was racing that Ford GT he was pretty much in a league of his own, in F1 different story altogether. In an F1 car I don't think Neel Jani or Nicolas Prost could hang with Heidfield, but put them in a prototype and it's a different story altogether. Likewise, Alex Wurz was unspectacular in F1 but a rocketship in that TS-030 Toyota. Furthermore someone like Sebastian Loeb, who is practically God Foot in rallying probably wouldn't do too good in circuit racing, although he did have that strong run in LeMans in 04 I believe.

[Sevach]

Yeah - it's quite a fallacy to think that a driver can be quickest in all cars at all times. There will obviously be off days, as all humans have.

Agreed, saying things like Hakkinen "on a good lap" could be as fast is just stating the obvious.
Berger could beat Senna on a good lap, but overall Senna was much quicker.

[PlatinumZealot]

He used the words "brutally honest' and "not the fastest in the last 20 years" he must mean others were not only just as fast but some were faster!

[raymondu999]

He used the words "brutally honest' and "not the fastest in the last 20 years" he must mean others were not only just as fast but some were faster!

The point we're making is there's no such thing as "faster." There is only "faster in track layout W, Car X, mental state Y and track condition Z." Speed is circumstantial, though a lot of people ignore this.

A big +1 to godlameroso's post.

[PlatinumZealot]

There is only "faster in track layout W, Car X, mental state Y and track condition Z."

What is Track Layout W is 90% of the races?
What if Car X behaves like 90% of all other cars?
What if the driver is in Mental state Y 90% of the time?
And condition Z is in a certain range 85% of the time?

Then Faster is just Faster.

[raymondu999]

It is approaching "faster is just faster." And on average, it is faster. But it is not an absolute truth. Approximation is not precision

[Nando]

An approximation is a representation of something that is not exact, but still close enough to be useful.

[raymondu999]

Yeah that sounds about right.

[Nando]

approximately

[raymondu999]

An excerpt from the latest edition of Autosport. It's Button talking about his style.

“I try to be as precise as I can through a corner,” he explains of that style. “If the car is unstable upon corner entry or I am too aggressive with the steering I can’t be as precise as I’d like. So I don’t want to feel any rear movement, then I turn in trying to be as smooth as possible and hit the corner apex correctly. Whereas other people can maybe come in with more oversteer [heating the rear tyres], turn in more aggressively [heating the front tyres], and they have the rubber temperature for when they get on the power to have good traction.
“I drive the way I drive – but I wouldn’t want to change it, as I think it’s actually the quickest way, so long as the car can be made to work that way. Rather than changing to a less-efficient driving style, and trying to fight to get tyre temperatures, it’s far better to design a car around my style. And that’s what we’ve tried with this car.”