Excellent analysis of Vettel & Raikkonen this year

Excellent post mate!

 

Very, very good.

He's onto something. I can see where Kimi is coming from...there's no real point spending time in a simulator considering the issues he's having. I know a little bit about simulators and how they work (the coding side) and whilst on the simulator it's in the end just punching in numbers until it feels right (trial and error) I don't think it correlates that simple to then do that to the actual parts on the car. Simulators can only do so much and in the end it is never completely accurate (if it was, these things would be working over time and it would take a matter of weeks before Mercedes was overtaken by Caterham).

It took Lotus a long time to sort out Kimi's steering, after that he was absolutely flying. I'm sure they didn't have one man working on it on days he finished work early...it's very tough to get these ''settings'' (if you will) right and it's not as simple as throwing spanners and hammers towards it until it feels right, unfortunately.

The braking issue is the biggest worry for me. Kimi has always been very particular in his style of braking and where he makes a lot of time. You can't simply tell a driver to do it different...not when he's been doing it like he has for his entire life his way. This too needs retuning (to the benefit of both drivers) and once again won't be as simple as playing with a spanner .

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khA67-r5lSQ]James Hunt swears during live BBC broadcast of 1989 Monaco Grand Prix - YouTube[/ame]



James Hunt put it prefectly as usual. Just get on with it, mate..

 

Different era's and even then it still mattered. Now, with the cars how incredibly precise everything is, it matters even more.

 

You know what I got from this post? That Ferrari should have hired Nico Hulkenburg.

 

I have always been less than impressed with Vettel's driving skills, he is great at starting ahead and staying there but rarely impresses in a dog fight or in a less than optimal car. Kinda reminds me of Mika Hakkinen minus the affable personality (and the one exceptional pass that he pulled off)....

 

This is what separates Fernando and Lewis from Jenson, Seb, Kimi.

I think in Kimi's case it sounds more like a stubbornness than an inability to change. Also, I would imagine Ferrari is less willing to adapt their car to suit Kimi than he would like.

 

Red Bull is giving Vettel a new chassis now.

Vettel to get a new 'Suzie' | Planet F1 | Formula One | News, Standings, Results, Features, Video

Basically they have no idea why Vettel is slow so they're going to give him a new car.

 

Ricci has been driving loose cars for years now while Seb has had the embodiment of solid and planted cars for the past 4 years, so of course Ricci can drive the pi$$ out of these things better than Seb. Seb needs to get real and get used to it, or he will find himself quickly to be a second rate driver.


Kimi is just massively sensitive, I agree with Bas' post above. The front end just needs to be sorted for him then perhaps he will give Fred a run. Seb's rear end issue is impossibly unsolvable though I'm afraid, he ain't getting his solid back end back.

 

Like Hunt said. BS. Adapt and get on with it. Should have hired Hulkenberg.

 

Even the F1 experienced commentary team of Hobbs and Matchett mentioned this very thing. Seb had that diffuser and now he must truly drive a car with no "help" so he is struggling.

 

This, from James Hunt who couldn't adapt to ground effect car and retired because of them!

 

Which means he would know!

 

I'm actually shocked the two of them got that lol. But yeah, Seb has had 'point and shoot' cars whilst Ricci has had a wrestling match each and every weekend.

 

From reading all the posts in the F1 section, I'm starting to believe that any driver who wins a championship is a bad driver who only had the best car. Then, depending on who it is who's not winning every race, it must be because their car is fine, but they're a sh*t driver.

 

We've had an interesting set of circumstances these past few seasons in that we've had 1 driver with a car which very much suits his driving style, in a machine consistently half a second quicker than anything else, win everything. While we have had drivers in sub par machinery pull wins and podiums seemingly out of thin air which is much more impressive. Seb is a fantastic driver, but the magic that Alonso, Lewis, and to an extent Nico have pulled off the past few years is nothing short of remarkable. Schumacher's 94 and 95 WDC seasons should not have been his, but they were as should have other seasons for that matter as he did not have the best car, but for some reason he pulled it out. Seb can't do that.

With Seb, it was expected performance as his machine was just that bloody amazing, so it's not nearly as impressive. Just as Mercedes now, the dominating performance is expected, but Alonso's work still impressed me more last weekend than Lewis or Nico's. And now that we see Seb in a sub par machine for the first time, he's getting his tail handed to him, rightfully so. Seb's a driver who is amazing in a car that suits him, but not so much in a car that doesn't, not dissimilar to Kimi I suppose.

Alonso and Lewis and Nico and especially the Schumacher of the 90s are drivers who are fast, period, regardless of machinery and they are much more impressive drivers because of these facts.

 

I don't know, Hamilton didn't impress me very much last year at all... or the year before.

 

Although I'm a big fan of Hulkenberg . . . I saw nothing prior Shanghai to suggest that he is necessarily quicker than Räikkönen. I'm a bit worn out with the never ending Hobbs commentary on the topic, too. I want to start a drinking game based around every time Hobbs opens his mouth. No way anyone could finish a session without being hammered. I would agree that Kimi is sensitive but only in the broad stroke. He simply requires feedback. It's not about minute settings. If the car provides feedback, he's usually willing to put his foot down and work around the eccentricities.
Is this a weakness? Yes, but I wouldn't write him off nearly so easily. When he's comfortable he's as quick as anyone out there.

 

Mika Hakkinen? You are describing Damon Hill here. I disagree though. I find Vettel quite impressive in ontrack duels.

 

Multiple poles and a huge haul of WDC points in a car slower than the RB9 didn't impress you? In what universe? I'm not a huge fan of anyone in particular but his performance last year was remarkable as was Alonso's, for years now.

 

I really find it hard to believe that a steering fix turned Kimis Lotus season around.
Feel is nice but actual performance is better.

I do believe Ferrari has issues with the harvesting/braking that somehow Alonso (or his crew) has set the car up to handle better than Kimsters.

IMO Kimi and crew have to put his nose to the grindstone and a simulator can help if its accurate.
By now I'm sure they have programed it accurately.
If Luca has to order Alonso's set up stolen or for him to help so be it.

Seb is no average driver. I'm not particularly a fan but give him his due.

 

I love how people conveniently forgot vettels achievements in the str car when he wasn't in red bull main car. The guy is definitely a great driver. Some cars suit some people better than others. This years red bull doesn't suit seb, his qualifying pace has shown that he still has the pace to be a front runner, and he has outqualified riccardio twice now. He just needs to manage his tires at race pace better.


On the flip end don't discount the setup of the car for tire wear. Lets be honest you know when jenson button is struggling to keep his tires in shape the car is set up to chew through those tires. He may not be the fastest but that man is a marvel at tire management. Conversely, look at how well the tires on hamiltons car is holding up. And when jenson and him were teammates you could see a stark difference in how much harder lewis was on the tires.

 

None of you would have a clue.....and that includes me. It's all BS. Any one of them would drive rings around any one of us.

It's like saying the tennis or golf player ranked 15th in the world is actually crap. It's absurd.

Someone makes a comment here, and states it as fact, and people just run with it. Makes me laugh.

We are all so far out of the loop that it's almost depressing.

 

Its Friday....please let me believe I will have a good weekend. I can deal with this commentary on a Monday, but not today...ok?