Ferrari's logic in chosing test drivers | FerrariChat
Buy

Ferrari's logic in chosing test drivers

Discussion in 'F1' started by Bas, Apr 22, 2010.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. Bas

    Bas Four Time F1 World Champ

    Mar 24, 2008
    42,868
    ESP
    Full Name:
    Bas
    #1 Bas, Apr 22, 2010
    Anyone know why Ferrari chooses drivers such as Badoer, Gene, Burti...and let's be fair, Massa (his year at sauber wasn't impressive at all) as test drivers? Especially the first 3, they where crap in F1...why does Ferrari chose them?

    Only Massa was a useful one out of all of those (and to be fair, if he didn't make those 2 unforced errors early in 2008 he would have been WDC), and they where just from the last decade (+ a little)!
     
  2. ferraridude615

    ferraridude615 F1 Veteran

    May 4, 2006
    5,836
    Texas
    #2 ferraridude615, Apr 22, 2010
    Test driver is there to be able to relay the team technical information about the car so the engineers can make the car better. They don't necessarily have to be fast, just very consistent and have a good knowledge of the car.

    In other words Kimi Raikkonen would probably be the worst test driver ever because of his inconsistent lap times and his quietness.

    Apparently Ferrari think Badoer and Gene have some special ability to develop cars because we certainly know these two cannot race them.
     
  3. Far Out

    Far Out F1 Veteran

    Feb 18, 2007
    9,768
    Stuttgart, Germany
    Full Name:
    Florian
    #3 Far Out, Apr 22, 2010
    While these drivers might be completely uncompetitive in a race situation, their feedback for the engineers might be (and very likely is) very valuable. That's the skill a test driver needs.
     
  4. Mitch Alsup

    Mitch Alsup F1 Veteran

    Nov 4, 2003
    9,739
    #4 Mitch Alsup, Apr 22, 2010
    A test driver needs two things a race driver does not
    A) consistent lap times
    B) the vocabulary to talk to engineers in terms engineers can understand

    A third item is also highly useful
    C) understanding of the physics and geometry aspects of why a car feels the way it feels
     

Share This Page