The F1 season 2004

Apart from Ferrari, for whom it's all business as usual, BAR have been easily the most impressive team for me so far this season. They're the most improved certainly and are doing pretty well whilst McLaren and Williams are floundering. Renault also not doing badly.

Michael.

 

By BAR in this instance I take it you mean Barrichello??


Michael is a better driver overall but it must be said that the Ferrari is designed around him. He and Barrichello have significantly different driving styles. Barrichello is a smoother/less agressive driver and prefers a more stable car under him.

If both Micheal and Rubinho had cars that suited the way they drive and that they felt the most confidence in I think people would be very surprised how much more often Rubinho would beat Michael, (assuming Ferrari would ever let him). It simply isn't true to say that the way to find out the who the is the best driver is to put them all in identical cars. Each would have to have a car that allowed them to drive at their best.



As for traction control etc. Well MotoGP bikes would be completely undrivable if it weren't for the power restriction of the engine in the first three or so gears. I would be extremely surprised if the same wasn't true of F1 cars. Until at least the drivers learned how to moderate their right foot. Which I suspect some of the drivers on the grid would never be able to do.



I have to say I think BAR (as in the team) are doing very well this season. Personally I would have prefered Jaques to have remained in the team. It seems such a shame that such a tallented driver has lost his drive just as the team have managed to get a competitive car together.


GTM

 

Actually often as fast or faster. MotoGP bikes are more than capable of matching an F1 cars top speed. With track gearing at least.

GTM

 

No Offence Ian, at least it provoked debate.

From my perspective, we know historically how good Honda are when they put their mind to it. With the acceleration of their programme, I would personally suspect that the current engine is the most powerful in F1 currently and will continue to inprove until it is totally dominant.

And I agree that the performance of BAR has come on it leaps and bounds over the past couple of seasons.

I just have this feeling that the car is capable of winning, if the race team could string a perfect weekend together, and right now I don't see that happening. It's the little errors that make the difference at the level BAR have reached.

The decision not to bring the cars in was clearly incorrect given the amount of debris on the track and the time the inept marshals had taken to clear up the first lap incident. I honestly believe you could have won that race, to be satisfied with 3rd is no longer what you want surely.

I do hope the win comes soon, maybe the drill will be perfect at Silverstone. The advantage over the rest of the field (bar the majestic Scuderia) has been held at around 0.5 sec per lap from the beginning of the season, but I fear this will diminish as the developments from Williams and Mclaren come on stream. So Silverstone it is then! Anyone else going?

 

"If both Micheal and Rubinho had cars that suited the way they drive and that they felt the most confidence in I think people would be very surprised how much more often Rubinho would beat Michael, (assuming Ferrari would ever let him). It simply isn't true to say that the way to find out the who the is the best driver is to put them all in identical cars. Each would have to have a car that allowed them to drive at their best."

The 2002 Ferrari was the most stable car i have ever seen. It looked to be very easy to drive inthe hands of MSC and BAR. Nonetheless MSC dominated the championship. This years car is more difficult to drive than the last and so MSC has a performance advantage. Having said that this is the best start BAR has had to a season so the Ferrari can't be that difficult to drive!

In general a driver is assessed through him working with a race engineer to get a good set-up on the car. I.e. there never is a test in an identical car as the set-up can vary how the car behaves enormously. With a series of drivers a team will assess them all that way and decide who is best from the laptime and other reasons.

Ultimately a car that is right on the balance limit will be faster than one that understeers. Therefore drivers like COU who like a car that understeers will in general be slower than drivers who like the car closer to neutral like HAK or MSC.

Ian

 

"The decision not to bring the cars in was clearly incorrect given the amount of debris on the track and the time the inept marshals had taken to clear up the first lap incident. I honestly believe you could have won that race, to be satisfied with 3rd is no longer what you want surely"

We want to compete with Ferrari and are not satisfied with 3rd. We are catching them up but they optimise everything in their favour and it is very difficult to compete with that level of resource and history.

What makes you think we could have won the race? Do you think MSC went flat out at any point inthe race after his brother had crashed? I have analysed what happened and know what we could have (and should have) achieved in the race.

Ian

 

Well done BAR & Ian. You did very well, and you really are up against it with MSC.

 

Ian,

wishful thinking I guess - I'd love to see you on the top step. Still I'd have liked to have seen MSC pushed. I am told that the left rear Bridgestone was "marginal" and the sad fact was that he was able to conserve his tyres rather than be forced to possibly push and see a drop off in performance.

And if he has one weakness, it seems to be how he deals with pressure would you not agree?

 

Hi Merlin,

I wouldn't disagree with what you have said. I think we would have pushed them but we didn't have the straight line speed to past them.

I agree that MSC doesn't deal with pressure that well. He is also poor at overtaking people when they have similar performance as him. Not as bad as his brother but...

Whereas SAT has no fear and just goes for it! He is getting the reputation of being a bit mad which means that other drivers arwe more likely to get out of the way when he overtakes them as they know he he is prepared to go off roading.

Ian

 

Markus and the Devil,

Thanks,

It is good to have got the performance to beat Williams and Renault. We just need to get both cars home on or around the podium to get 2nd in the championship.

Ian

 

"Just". Indeed.

 

Well, well. This sunday, Renault was definitely better than BAR. Sato's streak of defects shows no sign of ending. Button was solid.

M. Schumacher was the best driver once more, lowering his times by 1 second when he needed to to profit from the four-stop tactic. Barichello grabbed his opportunity when he had lulled Trulli into sleep.

And just 2 cars didn't finish, which makes a nice change from the overseas races. Even the new McLaren cars finished.

9 out of ten. History in the making.

 

Markus,

do you visit the official timing website during the race?I find it adds greatly to the understanding of what is going on on the track and is great fun.

Yesterday what was clear was that the BAR was struggling slightly in the mid sector of the lap, and I was disappointed that Button did not appear to have the pace.

The new Mclaren was impressive, Raikonen in particular proving to have the speed to match all but SCH and Alonso.

What was also disappointing was that Button lost a total of 3.4 seconds in the pit stops compared to Baricello and Trulli - it was here that the podium went missing.

Still roll on Silverstone!

 

Got a link?

 

It's simple really; Schumacher (M) has gotta go. The combination of MS and that Ferrari (can anyone remember when was the last time that Schumacher's car broke down?) is too much. I thought Alain Prost's total of 51 GP victories was uncatchable, but here we have Schumacher on 28 more than that - and 28 GPs is more than the rest of the grid put together have won. The next big current winner is David Coulthard!

Take MS away, and you have quite a nice championship, Barricello well ahead, but not uncatchable. MS should go somewhere and relax and spend his zillions on big houses, yachts and who knows? hi-fi.

 

I will never tire of watching Schumacher.When they get everything right,the car,the driver,the team,the pitstop crew,the tyres,everything,its a sight to behold.

 

Markus, try here

So much better than the TV coverage alone!

 

The live timing is indeed very good. However, it has to be said that the higher echelons of nerd-dom have been reached when you're watching F1 on TV with your wireless laptop and live timings on the sofa beside you

Tones - it would be a bit of a hollow victory for anyone else if Schumacher left the sport "just to spice it up". Schmacher and Ferrari shouldn't have to apologise for being so dominant, it's up to the other teams to catch them up and beat them. I don't remember anyone saying "Senna has to go" when McLaren won 15/16 races in 1988.

Michael.

 

Too true. Thanks for the link, merlin, but I think I'll pass.

 

I agree entirely - I wasn't being too serious! The fact of the matter is that the other big budget boys, Williams & McLaren, are losing just as much as Ferrari is winning. It's so easy to forget just how disastrous Ferrari was when Schumacher joined, and that the present success came as the result of hard work, dedication - and lots and lots of Fiat's moneybags. The era of Ferrari will come to an end eventually as did the previous McLaren and Williams and Lotus and Tyrrell dominances - but what a run they've had.