Well, the 2009 car was in the no-in-season testing era so either Lewis developed it well, Heikki developed it well, or they just understood something between the British & German Grands Prix and bolted it on.
Button believes Hamilton is the fastest driver in F1
- Thread starter Brogan
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snowy
Champion Elect
On The Flying Lap "the Irish Episode" Derek Daly mentions the fact that there are seat of the pants drivers and analytical drivers etc, etc. But the most important thing a driver can have is spare capacity, the ability to drive the car fast and think about other things.
Lewis's dependence upon his team to make strategic calls concerning tyres could well turn out to be a serious handicap. If they haven't addressed his autonomy concerning all aspects of tyre management Lewis could be in a world of pain this year. The McLaren engineers and pitwall crew are notoriously slow and their decision processes cumbersome when it comes to tyres.
Michael Schumacher was not particularly renowned for sorting a car, regularly resorting to using his teammates setup. But he was renowned for having lots of spare capacity, together with Ross Brawn they were able to make quick, spontaneous and importantly correct decisions during an unpredictable race.
Schumacher, Senna and Clark were all reputed to be able to recall in complete detail every aspect of a track and the cars behaviour on it. Does Lewis have spare capacity? Has anybody asked his engineer? Lewis goes to great lengths to convince us that he has a major role in each new cars design and what updates to bolt onto the car. Are these just words to compensate for a feeling of inadequacy?
Lewis's dependence upon his team to make strategic calls concerning tyres could well turn out to be a serious handicap. If they haven't addressed his autonomy concerning all aspects of tyre management Lewis could be in a world of pain this year. The McLaren engineers and pitwall crew are notoriously slow and their decision processes cumbersome when it comes to tyres.
Michael Schumacher was not particularly renowned for sorting a car, regularly resorting to using his teammates setup. But he was renowned for having lots of spare capacity, together with Ross Brawn they were able to make quick, spontaneous and importantly correct decisions during an unpredictable race.
Schumacher, Senna and Clark were all reputed to be able to recall in complete detail every aspect of a track and the cars behaviour on it. Does Lewis have spare capacity? Has anybody asked his engineer? Lewis goes to great lengths to convince us that he has a major role in each new cars design and what updates to bolt onto the car. Are these just words to compensate for a feeling of inadequacy?
I agree with this, there have been some bonkers tyre calls, such as in Q2 in Monza in 2008 when he put inters on for an absolute deluge and lost the only chance to set a competitive lap.
That springs to mind before China 2007, funnily enough!
Without getting into all that again, I suspect we will never know the real reasons for why China 2007 happened.
Some sort of deal I suspect.
Inexperince?????
How can a team with a life spanning five decades be inexperienced?
I was actually on about Hamilton, But alas, Mclaren do make some baffling stategy calls at times
Not to rehash all the disasters from the Rookie year, but I've never fully understood the (albeit improvised) strategy call at Brazil 2007 either. Lewis pits on Lap 36 for his second stop and they give him 18 laps of fuel. Brundle questioned it at the time and it essentially ensured the fact that he would finish behind the BMW's.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find another dead horse to smack around.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find another dead horse to smack around.
If he hadn't been a rookie, one could have excused LH at the end of 2007 if he'd felt a bit like Kenneth William's Caesar in 'Carry on Cleo':
Infamy, infamy, they've all got it...
Andrea_Moda_Rules
Podium Finisher
In Terms of strategic calls from McLaren, what about pressure? Sometimes when things are not going youre way then it is difficult just to sit back and do nothing, and trust what youv'e already got or done. RedBull, Fearri could also be acussed of the same thing. The last Race in Abu Diahbi being the most obivous example.
At the end of day, the "Fastest" driver is the one who can put all the skill sets together, driving fastest, not making mistakes, and getting the straergy right. Is one of those comment from Button that says something, yet says nothing at the same time.
At the end of day, the "Fastest" driver is the one who can put all the skill sets together, driving fastest, not making mistakes, and getting the straergy right. Is one of those comment from Button that says something, yet says nothing at the same time.
Having read the article, it appeared to me that the author looked only at the telemetry of McLaren and then pronounced Hamilton the fastest driver. Since the data he looked at was from one team only, the pronouncement can only accurately mean "the fastest driver on the McLaren team".
Furthermore, as impressive as Hamilton's achievements in 2007 and 2008 were, you also have to remember that in 2007 the team had the benefit of stolen information from their chief rival, including pit strategies. This would provide them with a considerable advantage over the course of the season. The 2008 car also undoubtedly was somewhat influenced by information obtained from the pilfered data. The FIA oversight notwithstanding, it would not have been possible to expunge all influence of the Ferrari data from the 2008 car. You cannot make engineers "unlearn", and it is quite concieveable that the Ferrari data led McLaren to look into areas that they otherwise would not have thought worth pursuing.
In anticipation of an onslaught of abuse from the Hamilton faithful, I have donned my bullet- and flame-proof underwear.
Furthermore, as impressive as Hamilton's achievements in 2007 and 2008 were, you also have to remember that in 2007 the team had the benefit of stolen information from their chief rival, including pit strategies. This would provide them with a considerable advantage over the course of the season. The 2008 car also undoubtedly was somewhat influenced by information obtained from the pilfered data. The FIA oversight notwithstanding, it would not have been possible to expunge all influence of the Ferrari data from the 2008 car. You cannot make engineers "unlearn", and it is quite concieveable that the Ferrari data led McLaren to look into areas that they otherwise would not have thought worth pursuing.
In anticipation of an onslaught of abuse from the Hamilton faithful, I have donned my bullet- and flame-proof underwear.
