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Hello!
I was wondering which current racers are considered to have the smoothest driving style? The sort that Prost and I think Button was known for.
Not sure if the two are closely related, but: who brakes the earliest in a turn?
I would say in recent years maybe Perez. He could do things to his mates what nobody else did. Stay on track longer with competitive times to challenge for different strategies and luck into few podiums as result.
You can only do that if you have both experience and knowledge of understanding tires. Or that kind of racing suited you more than others. But I think recently even that advantage Perez had disappeared with change of regs in 2017 where can now either works on tracks (with weather and temps) or dont. And driver has zero say in it.
Smooth drivers in recent history, Kimi, Button, Hulkenberg. IMO smooth isn't necessarily fast, it's just smooth meaning less taxing on car overall. But as already noted you can have someone who isn't "smooth" Hamilton and Alonso for example, Hamilton one of smoothest steering input making him easy on tires and Alonso very smooth on throttle application, but both not considered smooth drivers.
There is more than one way to quantify smooth. do you mean steady calm input to the steering wheel or position disrupting the car?
They go hand in hand to a large extent, especially today with the electronics, but some drivers seem to be sawing away at the wheel while the car sits so stable while others seem to skip about.
True much of this is down to the car though
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Stroll is the most active on the steering wheel. I would guess that someone like k mag is the hardest on the power although that might be the cars issues not really his fault
Button was "smooth" because he did the classic geometric cornering line with single application and then removal of lock as the corner progressed, applied the throttle progressively etc. Lovely and smooth. And sadly not the fastest way to drive some of the cars of recent years. Also, it hampered him when the car was less than ideally balanced as he would have to wait for the car. Hamilton would be quick almost all of the time by being able to adapt his technique to the car. Button said as much in interviews about his time at McLaren with Hamilton - he is only properly quick when the car is where he wants it, but Hamilton was always quick - and that is a flaw, to be honest.
Look back at Senna's approach - he had a bizarre technique with the throttle where he would pump it up and down in a corner. Not "smooth" but certainly one of the quickest drivers of his day, if not ever.
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Look back at Senna's approach - he had a bizarre technique with the throttle where he would pump it up and down in a corner. Not "smooth" but certainly one of the quickest drivers of his day, if not ever.
Perhaps, but Prost was just as fast, meanwhile not putting near as much demand on the car. That's why its interesting to me.
I think personally there are 2 things we need to consider. Smooth lines; and smooth inputs. Button’s onboards I always loved to watch. The inputs were smooth and the lines were just flowing. His laps are (when the car is hooked up to his liking) just so graceful.
I think there aren’t really any in current day F1 that have the same flowing lines he has, except Bottas. Bottas similarly seems to take the ideal-arc line through corners. Reference his lap below. However there are many with similar smooth inputs. Some onboard laps to consider; these are just drivers who in my opinion are rather smooth operators.
Look back at Senna's approach - he had a bizarre technique with the throttle where he would pump it up and down in a corner. Not "smooth" but certainly one of the quickest drivers of his day, if not ever.
Perhaps, but Prost was just as fast, meanwhile not putting near as much demand on the car. That's why its interesting to me.
depends what you call 'As Fast'
For the 2 years they were in identical car, Senna won the Qualifying head to head 28-4. Thats unbelievable if you ask me.
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Look back at Senna's approach - he had a bizarre technique with the throttle where he would pump it up and down in a corner. Not "smooth" but certainly one of the quickest drivers of his day, if not ever.
Perhaps, but Prost was just as fast, meanwhile not putting near as much demand on the car. That's why its interesting to me.
depends what you call 'As Fast'
For the 2 years they were in identical car, Senna won the Qualifying head to head 28-4. Thats unbelievable if you ask me.
So? Prost finished better in races. And as far as I know he wasn't even trying to beat him after a while, he was focusing on the race.
