Spanish Grand Prix 2013, Barcelona - Race 5/19

smr said:
So you're saying that Vet, Ham and Alo would have finished FP2 today in the top 3 with this car?
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I wasn't saying that and I don't think sunama was saying that either. THe top 6 vs winning thing is what he's saying Mclarens general position of this season is, as in, they aren't in the position to be winning every race, or being close just being top 6 would make them happy.

In terms of setting up the car and having a truly top driver, again as pointed out, if the guys work for months on a piece of wing, and the driver can't tune the car so that the wing gives better performance, while it might be the right direction for the car, if the driver can't make it work, then they might deem its the wrong direction to be moving incorrectly.

Ultimately you need a top driver as part of the package of developing a car, and as part of the package for winning races when the car is competitive. There are situations where the team stumble across an awesome car and it blows everyone else away no matter if the car is perfect or not.

I absolutely believe that if Alonso/Hamilton/Vettel were in that car the car would be finding its best setup quicker each week, getting better feedback on new pieces, and it would be faster in the hands of better drivers, both because of better setup and just genuine on track speed Button lacks. I have no idea and won't speculate that any of them would help them turn that into a winning car this year, ultimately some years the engineers make great cars, other years poor cars. My only view is having someone at Button's level is costing them, and will continue to cost them. They desparately need a top driver to be truly competitive over the next several years, unless they have a double diffuser moment with new rules.

Duke said:
You do know its the engineers setting the car up and not the driver alone?
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Engineer's and simulations get them in the ball park, what actually feels right to the driver, the right setup for the conditions, the feel of the track, how much rubber is on the track, how the tyres feel going around a corner, the point they can feel the back end losing grip and when to readjust makes a monumental difference to the car.

Ultimately the engineer might be convinced more downforce and less something else will give the driver a better car, but the driver is the one who, well, drives the thing, and has the final call on most things like if they want more downforce and a slower car. If the driver isn't confident in the choices he'll back off through a corner anyway. If it was as much the engineers as the driver, then why did they resort to using Hamilton's set up SO often last year, and why couldn't they get it right for half of last season?

Its entirely possible the engineering team for that side of the garage was less good and less helpful to Button, but ultimately the perfect set up from the engineers point of view comes from the same simulation/testing/windtunnel data, the personal setup comes from individual drivers, thats where the biggest difference lies and Button had it wrong frequently last season.
 
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Interesting over run /blowing going on on the merc. Traction looks good out of the corners. On par with rb/ferrari.

Pit walk on Thursday was epic.. Look 500 odd pics. Lewis and rosburg signed my flag+hat too! :D
 
Glaucus said:
is rain forecast? some patches of dark clouds by the looks of it.
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Checked a few sites - looks to be around a 30-50% chance of rain today.

But it was getting darker through the GP3 qualifying, hopefully it'll hold off during FP3, but come down between FP3 and Q1, or even during qualifying. :D
 
So Mclaren's front wing isn't flex tested, so they can't use it in the race so no point running it today, and Mclaren and Button who were convinced a new package would seriously help, are complaining that nothing seem to have helped.

Ultimately sure, maybe the parts just don't work, maybe Button can't find a setup that gets all the parts to gel together and turn on, it doesn't really matter. While Mclaren have been pushing this "we've got more development potential" and hyping up their big changes, the changes come and flop, then they say "everyone has gained time so while we improved a bit we're where we were".

Other cars not improving IS BULL****, its trying to pretend everything is great when its not. You can't be this far off the pace and do well in the title. If the base car underneath was very VERY good, then it would take a couple races to find the right way to get most of the performance out of it and new parts would only be getting small improvements. The idea that Mclaren can get "great" very quickly fundamentally rests on the underlying new car being a great car, and there was nothing to suggest it was in the first place, new != great.
 
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