Ladies and gentle people's, good morning. You may wonder why I am awake at this time and I am wondering the exact same thing too. We have heard a lot of uninformed views about the current F1 cars and how easy they are to drive compared to previous years and I personally have found those views inaccurate.
The loss of a significant amount of downforce including increased torque and power delivery are a challenge to manage and then you take into account the brake by wire system, ERS as well as other modes the drivers have to manage during the race made even more complex with the steering wheels with in some cases over 50 different functions. I think it is safe to say drivers now are in a completely different sport to drivers of yesteryear.
You could even see this with Kimi who is talented but struggled a lot last year. Massa initially struggled as well but got better and started beating Bottas consistently at the end of the season. I also posted a video with Coulthard who shared a similar view. Now I post another link from a current driver talking about the cars being difficult to drive compared to previous years,
http://m.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117262/hulkenberg-new-cars-harder-to-drive
A few excerpts;
'Its been a bit challenging," Hulkenberg told AUTOSPORT when asked about the difficulties of adapting driving style.
"It's harder because you can't push as hard anymore.
"With the downforce [in 2013] you could push easily and there was a safety margin when you overdid it that saved you.
"Now when you overdrive a bit, it's a lot easier to overdo it and lose the whole lap, although maybe that was just because our car was very peaky."
It is safe to say using "facts" that these cars are not easier to drive because a 17 year old can drive them. Which is quite frankly a stupid argument. Your thoughts please.
Current F1 Cars Harder to Drive
posted on 4/1/15
I have just been reading that story on the Autosport website
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117262
Maybe it explains why Vettel struggled.
posted on 5/1/15
Indeed, car became harder to drive, was not planted firmly on the track and he bottled it. He has now moved to a team with a worse car. I wonder who advised him
posted on 6/1/15
im not entirely convinced its more difficult or less difficult.
i have a view of it whereby i believe it is the drivers job to get the car to its limit, which is inherently quite easy (if you or i got in the car and went all out, no doubt we would crash). It may well be, that the current car is easier to get to the limit, less downforce, more power, however, they are still on the limit. In previous cars, you had to go faster and corner harder to get to that limit, but it is still just a limit. a ceiling.
Now i do accept, that a car can be "twitchy". but i dont think thats the case with any car going all the back to the early 19's.
We watch F1 now, and if you werent in the know, you would be absolutely sure that the car isnt sliding and at the limit. Compare that to the famous Senna image where the car is visibly wobbling and twitching.
So i am undecided. Not sure which would be harder to drive, todays cars, or yesterdays. What i believe is clear, is that todays drivers, on average are better than yesteryears, as is the natural progress with things.