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1 Hamilton McLaren 1m19.583s
looks like mclaren have shed the sandbags
looks like mclaren have shed the sandbags
F1 Testing 2010
- Thread starter Duke
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[TW]Taggart;15954561 said:1 Hamilton McLaren 1m19.583s
looks like mclaren have shed the sandbags
I think he went more than 0.5s faster than anybody else. This doesnt surprise me as he is a racer in the mould of Mansell, Senna, Piquet, etc, who want to go faster than everybody else, at all times, in order to massage their own ego and to show thier fellow competitors who the daddy is. It also has the effect of boosting confidence and morale of the entire team.
I a car can go fast, then Hamilton will make it go fast - he won't hold anything back. The same cannot be said about a lot of the other drivers, including MS, who tend to only push hard when necessary.
So after 2 test weeks, Ferrari and McLaren have both topped the time sheets, one a piece. If we can enter the season in similar fashion, it should be a brilliant season, where 4 top drivers all have cars capable of winning races, unlike last season.
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Soldato
[TW]Taggart;15954561 said:1 Hamilton McLaren 1m19.583s
looks like mclaren have shed the sandbags
Oh good, The Messiah™ finally woke up and remembered that he's a top flight Grand Prix driver....
A good thing, again showing the difference in resources between the big teams and the little ones. Instead of being hammpered by limited testing they are using ways and devices to fully maximise the time they have on the track. Gathering data in ways other teams can only dream of.
Mclaren showed last year that with no testing, they can still turn a bad car around better than anyone else.
The testing ban hasn't stopped the status quo against the teams that have money, it's just stopped the teams that don't have it wasting more money chasing a hopeless cause.
I think they need to look at allocated testing time, especialy with teams that finish further down the constructors and new teams. For instance a system where the top 3 constructors get for example 10,000 miles preseason, the next 3 get 14000 and the bottom teams 18000.
Its also no good for new drivers when you consider the mileage f1 drivers could get before to get used to f1 or even a new team. Now the chances of slotting into a new team against a team mate whose been there years will be a much harder task.
I'm not so sure about this one. We shall see how Alonso does against Massa. I think Button will struggle (against Hamilton), though that would probably be true of all the other F1 drivers (except Alonso), so that would not be a fair comparison.
The way I see it is that if you are fast, you are going to be quick, no matter how much experience you have in a particular team. Similarly, if you are slow, no matter how many years you have been in a team, you will still be slow.
I think Alonso's peformance in comparison to Massa will be the acid test here.
Alonso did very well in a new team against Hamilton but Hamilton was new to F1 and F1 pressure as well. As much as I rate Alonso I doubt he could now go to Mclaren after Hamilton has been there for a few years and a world champion and match him for points. Especially with the time he would get in the car compared to what he got when he joined a few years ago.
I will honestly be amazed if button gets near 3/4's of the points hamilton gets this year even with the amount of **** ups hamilton will make from ragging the car.
I think he will fair much better in year 2 if they haven't all fallen out.
Last year showed if the car is difficult it can take time to adjust, Fisi was a potential race winner one week and a monkey the next at ferrari.
Don't forget though, that Fisichella had got used to driving a non KERS equipped car. This meant that especially during braking, he was losing a lot of time to other KERS equipped cars (including his own team-mate). In fact, the first time he drove a KERS car in anger, was when he moved to Ferrari, in competitive conditions.
Had he had a full pre-season to get used to KERS, he would've faired a lot better. I think another factor was that Fisichella was under the spotlight when he went to Ferrari and as such was under immense pressure to not look like a fool - something which Badoer has already acheived a few weeks earlier.
Also, had Fisichella moved to another team, who didnt use KERS, then I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have looked so slow.
How Alonso fairs against Massa this year will be the acid test...imo.
I think in Year1, Hamilton would beat Alonso, as he would have the edge due to the familiarity he has with McLaren. In Year2, I think Alonso would outscore Hamilton (assuming that Hamilton doesnt raise his game in Year2).
I think during the course of Year2, Hamilton will be faster (Hamilton is arguably the fastest driver that we have seen in a long time), but when it comes to putting together high points totals, across the season, Alonso has shown he is consistently able to do this, when the car allows. Hamilton's problem is that sometimes, he doesnt know when to settle for 2nd place and in his persuit to overtake the car ahead, he has lost a lot of points - something he has done in all 3 years he has raced in F1.
Soldato
sunama said:
Define "long time" sunama, because I reckon I could make a case for a few other drivers depending on that definition.
Take Senna. Over the course of a race, you had to be good to beat him. But in the old style of qually, where last-minute, banzai, smell-of-an-oily-rag laps were the order of the day, you didn't have to be just merely good. You had to be superhuman, because his turn of speed was just mind-blowing.
Take Schumacher. Often derided later in his career for doing all his overtaking in the pitstops rather than out on track, but look at those days when he had to drive every single lap at 11/10ths. Hungary '98 and France '04 are two examples of him having to drive every lap in a stint like it was qualifying.
Take Mansell. Possibly the bravest nutter out of all the nutters who have strapped themselves into racing cars over the years. When handed a task like making up 29 seconds in 28 laps, against a two-time champion who would later add a third title that year (1987) after Mansell was injured, he simply set off at an impossible speed and went even faster as the laps wore down.
If you want even more recent than those examples, then look at the lap Jenson Button stuck in to claim pole at Monaco last season. He went faster in Q3 than he did in the low fuel Q2 session, with a lap that left Rubens completely bemused as to where it came from. Hamilton is quick (seriously, blindingly, stupefyingly quick), but he's not unique by any stretch
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and so it begins
Soldato
"F1 TESTING 2010"
If you want to talk about F1 GOAT, then GTFO and make another thread ladies
If you want to talk about F1 GOAT, then GTFO and make another thread ladies
Soldato
[TW]Taggart;15960100 said:and so it begins
Bit early, even by mine and sunama's standards isn't it? Hey ho
I believe he [Hamilton] is unique. He is super fast and is probably the fastest single lap driver currently in F1 (including F1).
MS was never known for being the outright fastest. He was known for being fast, but his biggest strength was his ability to be consistent, which in turn made the best driver ever to have driven an F1 car, at putting up the highest points totals, year in year out.
I would probably liken Hamilton to that of Senna or Mansell (though at this stage it is far too early to put him in the Senna bracket, as he doesnt have anywhere near enough pole positions to justify this).
Sure...Button had a great lap at Monaco, but a super fast driver isn't categorised as that, for having 1 great lap. He has to be consistently able to put up fast laps at different circuits. Isn't Hamilton's lap on Top Gear, one of, if not the fastest lap, in wet conditions?
When it comes to going fast, Hamilton IMO, blows Alonso away. But Hamilton, though fast, does tend to make mistakes (perhaps due to driving so close to the edge). This, IMO, over the course of the season, would allow Alonso to outscore Hamilton.
I totally stand by my IMO that Hamilton is probably the fastest driver we have seen in a long time (say 15 years).
yea he was never known for beeing out right fast
which michael schumacher have you watched in f1? it cant be the one who won GP's when senna was around or the one known for pulling tenths of a second out of his backside in qualifying or the one known for stringing a perfect lap together.
just waiting for the traction control , god mode , nitro boost cheat acusations now
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Not outright fastest? Urm, sure he was, for years. Hamilton? Can't say he's any better than Alonso.
Soldato
I nominate myself for Motorsport sub-forum mod.
And I WILL rule with an iron fist
And I WILL rule with an iron fist
I can argue my points further, regarding MS and how he isnt known for devastating outright speed, however, I even I feel that the thread is going to get derailed and then will eventually turn into arguments, so I shall stop here and bring up the 'MS not known for his outright speed' argument, later on.
What I will say is that MS is good at driving consistently fast, over a number of laps. Unlike Hamilton, Senna or Mansell (perhaps even Raikonnen), MS tended to drive slightly within himself, however, he used to be consistently close to the edge, where the likes of Senna would be happy to go right to the edge and sometimes even past it. Hamilton is a great example of someone who regularly goes to the edge and past it - he even does this during races.
What I will say is that MS is good at driving consistently fast, over a number of laps. Unlike Hamilton, Senna or Mansell (perhaps even Raikonnen), MS tended to drive slightly within himself, however, he used to be consistently close to the edge, where the likes of Senna would be happy to go right to the edge and sometimes even past it. Hamilton is a great example of someone who regularly goes to the edge and past it - he even does this during races.
Soldato
In direct response to sunama.
These are interesting stats because they're proportionate to races entered.
Most Fastest Laps in a Season:
driver/year/entries/fastest laps/percentage
1 Michael Schumacher 2004 18 10 55.55%
Kimi Räikkönen 2005 19 10 52.63%
Kimi Räikkönen 2008 18 10 55.55%
4 Mika Häkkinen 2000 17 9 52.94%
5 Nigel Mansell 1992 16 8 50.00%
Michael Schumacher 1994 16 8 50.00%
Michael Schumacher 1995 17 8 47.05%
8 Nelson Piquet 1986 16 7 43.75%
Alain Prost 1988 16 7 43.75%
Michael Schumacher 2002 17 7 41.17%
Total Fastest Laps
driver/fastest laps/race starts/percentage
1 Michael Schumacher 76 248 30.64%
2 Alain Prost 41 199 20.60%
3 Kimi Räikkönen 35 156 22.44%
4 Nigel Mansell 30 187 16.04%
5 Jim Clark 28 72 38.88%
6 Mika Häkkinen 25 161 15.52%
7 Niki Lauda 24 171 14.03%
8 Juan Manuel Fangio 23 51 45.09%
Nelson Piquet 23 204 11.27%
10 Gerhard Berger 21 210 10%
These are interesting stats because they're proportionate to races entered.
Most Fastest Laps in a Season:
driver/year/entries/fastest laps/percentage
1 Michael Schumacher 2004 18 10 55.55%
Kimi Räikkönen 2005 19 10 52.63%
Kimi Räikkönen 2008 18 10 55.55%
4 Mika Häkkinen 2000 17 9 52.94%
5 Nigel Mansell 1992 16 8 50.00%
Michael Schumacher 1994 16 8 50.00%
Michael Schumacher 1995 17 8 47.05%
8 Nelson Piquet 1986 16 7 43.75%
Alain Prost 1988 16 7 43.75%
Michael Schumacher 2002 17 7 41.17%
Total Fastest Laps
driver/fastest laps/race starts/percentage
1 Michael Schumacher 76 248 30.64%
2 Alain Prost 41 199 20.60%
3 Kimi Räikkönen 35 156 22.44%
4 Nigel Mansell 30 187 16.04%
5 Jim Clark 28 72 38.88%
6 Mika Häkkinen 25 161 15.52%
7 Niki Lauda 24 171 14.03%
8 Juan Manuel Fangio 23 51 45.09%
Nelson Piquet 23 204 11.27%
10 Gerhard Berger 21 210 10%