Quote:
Originally Posted by UltimateBMW
If drivers had nothing to do with it, the car wouldn't be how it is. Jensen had that car tailor made. Meaning he had a heavy hand in the setup and configuration which then drives a certain style of innovation.
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Very true, but that has nothing to do with development IMO. You can just tell engineering how you want your car to handle certain way without knowing squat about how to mechanically achieve that. Then you just test the car, relay your feedback, and engineering will decide what to change. Yes, that's part of the 'development' to match car to driver, but driver has little meaningful input IMO. If driver knows what to change, and can discuss it with engineering at a technical level, he'd get exactly what he wants, and/or get there much quicker. Am I making sense? That's what I meant, but guess I'm not a good writer
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It's like a bookkeeper telling the IT guy to add a formula to the accounting software vs doing it oneself. The job requires knowing how to operate the software (just like driving the car well), but knowing how to program it yourself is a bonus since you're doing it the way you want it, and much quicker.
Anyway, the 'developmental' biggie in F1 is aerodynamics IMO, and usually drivers won't contribute squat to that. That's where RBR has an advantage now, but eventually the others catch up one way or another (like MW's car undercarriage when it flipped up
), or when items like the flexible wings crop up. Compared to Nascar, where all cars are basically the same, F1 is a lot less about driver's talent IMO. You still require lots of talent, of course, but other factors make it less so IMO. But it's definitely more fascinating to watch than Nascar any day of the week. Later.