31 replies to this topic

[JaredS]

I've always wondered about different driver's techniques and the subtleties between each. Also I'd never considered an F1 driver using a driver coach but some interesting quotes here by famous driver coach Rob Wilson. Here's a translation from an article he wrote in 2012. http://mladenjergovi...-svijet-za-sebe Interesting quotes on Lewis and Kimi. Also that Pastor is much quicker than Senna, though I think we all knew that already.

Lewis and Kimi - a world unto itself

Ah, finally we were able to adjust things, and here I am in this first appearance for the website of my old friend.

First, he asked me to introduce you what i(usually) do, at least when I am not playing my guitar in London's country band. I know, I know, and Mladen doesn't think anything good about this kind of music, but I enjoy it and I have to say that we have even appeared in America. There they know something about music and such ... and don't throw beer cans.

what you want to know is not it. What you might want to know something about my way of training drivers. I'm involved in it since the mid-eighties, and systematically since 1988., When I was working with my first client, Australians David Brabham, which a year later was British champion in Formula 3, and then he managed to get to Formula 1

I work with drivers from all categories of auto sports, including rally, and so far I'm still on a one-on-one probably worked with about two thousands of drivers over the years. I must say that I work quite unique in the world there is no one in this way, in such conditions, addressing each (professional) driver individually.

All we need are two miles of asphalt, some plastic cones and plain rented road car, something like a Skoda Octavia and Opel Astra. I worked for many years on the track at Goodwood, but the last 15 years mainly drive the Bruntingthorpe airfield, about two hours north of London. Also, travel and training in various parts of the world, mostly in the United States and Australia.

The principle of operation is not very complicated. First, sit in the car and I give a lecture on my dynamic manipulation of mass car around corners. It takes more than two hours, and not so boring as it seems, especially for drivers who do know exactly what I mean. Then the driver gets into the passenger seat, and I'm behind the wheel. One round heated clutch and brake (yes, this should be done on an ordinary road car ...) and then I drove one quick lap, in which we measure time. Then we stop, change places and then begins the most interesting part of the training: working on the driving style of each driver.

Drivers usually do not have a particular opinion and not specially excited when I drove one a quick lap. They all have very deep into the sport and are not particularly impressed or scared. But, most of them are very surprised when later in that same car alone take a quick lap, and eventually discover that there were three or four seconds slower than me (within lap which lasts about a minute and a half ) . Of course, most of them are convinced that they made a mistake somewhere, and insist that you try again. But usually only now somewhere ahead and time is usually even slower ...

The secret is not great. Dynamic manipulation of the curves is no trick. It is more about physics and logic, and a fairly deep understanding of the way the key parts of the car, such as engine and brake, and also the ways in which physical forces act in any, even the smallest segment of each curve on the track.

The vast majority of drivers, whether it is about those still in Formula 3 or a Grand Prix driver, your skills are honed instinct. Their careers are usually so intense and dynamic that, in fact, rarely engaged in perfecting the techniques of driving. Because substantially all learned (or think they have learned) still in karting and in Formula Ford and Renault, and then adapting to each new talent and advanced category of the competition. Simply, they never stopped to address the deeper the technique of driving, at least in the aspect that I am trying to draw attention.

I worked, of course, with many F1 drivers in these almost 25 years. They are all, of course, very, very good drivers. But they are all still with me had the opportunity to fix a lot. Among other things, and also because they wanted to, they had indeed surpass my time per round! Mills is the fact that this mode is excellent: when someone comes to Formula 1 must, by default, is already considered to be a pretty good driver. Then he sees me, who does not look like Mr. Universe, and think ˝ This would be too easy. ˝ and then, clearly, there is a little landing. But also, it forces them to work on themselves and their run, and become better drivers.

Exactly half of this year's F1 grid, then twelve drivers have undergone training so far with me. Some only once or twice, some, such as Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado, a dozen or more times. With drivers coming constantly, like Bruno before a day or two, we are working on certain curve simulations for these races. In this particular case, we worked on the simulation curve of 90 degrees, which is one of the hallmarks of trails in Singapore. (Pastor is a very good driver, I have to say a lot faster than Bruno Senna. Course, has to work on his patience ... and coexistence with other drivers on the track. Bruno is much calmer, and perhaps more systematic. On the long run, if he had the chance, he be in Formula 1, and could have gone further ...)

two drivers came to me once, in the very beginning of his F1 career, and i said to both of them that they no longer have to come. One, Lewis Hamilton, he immediately improved my time, second, Kimi Räikkönen, drove nearly the same time and then at the end he greatly improved my time.

The two men are the drivers with the most natural talent who have worked with me in this quarter century. Their pure, raw speed, their coordination of the head and arms and legs, their reflexes and their control during cornering dynamics of car - this is something truly unique, something I'm trying to learn all the riders who come to me, and as these two have, I guess from birth. Comparison of the two? I think that Lewis in one lap is the fastest driver in the world today, though in recent times, as the older, shows that he is able to connect a lot of those laps into a whole. Kimi is definitely the fastest driver over a race distance in the world today.

With Kimi I worked in 2001 as soon as he came into Formula 1, and I think that, with the passage of years,he is getting better and better. The only change now is that, I think, much more mature and more thoughtful. Lotus which drives this season is a good F1 car, but apparently not so good when there is not much gasoline. From there is problems in qualifying, and from there are problems with overtaking in the final stages of the race. Overtaking Kimi understands very simple: get close to someone, look at how it is best to do, and overtake him. The fact that he wasn't good this year in the final stages of the race, is telling me that team has a problem that something is not quite processed about the car he drives.

Hamilton show how everything should be done in 2007. Now it's just faster. Of course, in the last three years the McLaren car was not worthy of his skills. Now the situation is a little better and I think he is the biggest favorite to win the championship this year. Certainly, by pure his speed it would be totally deserved. But, as you know, things are never quite simple. other factors can still get involved in the game.

I think Hamilton and Räikkönen will always be faster than anyone else in similar circumstances, that is, in the same car. So it would be wonderful to see them on the same team, but it is, I suspect, will not happen. Pity.

[motorhead]

Interesting, thanks!

[Nina]

Good thread Very interesting, thanks.

[molpid]

nice read, would be nice to know which drivers came to him during his coaching career

[Nahnever]

Wonderful read. Thank You.

[Raikkonen94]

Wow that's a very interesting story, thanks a lot!

[aray]

the guy is full of smoke...not that sat beside them in single seater and showed the direction..

[Ross Stonefeld]

What?

[Wander]

the guy is full of smoke...not that sat beside them in single seater and showed the direction..

"What?" is right.

The article is a bit hard to read, cause it has been translated From English to Croatian and back to English, but very interesting stuff.

[undersquare]

I didn't know Lewis or Kimi had ever had any coaching. Ron was always dead against it.

I think driver coaching is an obvious thing to do, personally. I'd have one on the radio in races, even. And not just Rob Smedley

[Lotusseven]

This was worth reading, Thank you !

[davejb]

That was really interesting, thanks.

[superdelphinus]

Worth watching the episodes of the flying lap he was on, on youtube

[spacekid]

Thanks also from me, an interesting read. It had never occured to me that guys like Lewis and Kimi might do something like this. I actually really respect that they are keen to learn still and seek to improve their craft. Both being WDCs they could easily think 'Yeah, I think I've got this under control' so good stuff.

[Wander]

Thanks also from me, an interesting read. It had never occured to me that guys like Lewis and Kimi might do something like this. I actually really respect that they are keen to learn still and seek to improve their craft. Both being WDCs they could easily think 'Yeah, I think I've got this under control' so good stuff.

They did that before they were WDCs. Kimi when he was starting at Sauber, I believe.

Edited by Wander, 18 April 2013 - 19:04.

[OfficeLinebacker]

nice read, would be nice to know which drivers came to him during his coaching career

Exactly. I have to wonder if Alonso has been to him.

I am not an Alonso "fan," per se, but I do believe he's a fast driver and in the same category as Kimi and Lewis. Therefore I suspect Alonso has never been to this coach.

However I would rather know for sure.

[tghik]

Well, would be nice to know the list of ALL drivers he worked with. Saying that one or another is the fastest in the world is not correct, only from those he worked with ...

[Ross Stonefeld]

This is why we can't have nice things.

[discover23]

F1technical has a nice thread on Rob Wilson and his pupils and driving styles.

[tghik]

anyone know if he did work with Alonso, Kubica, Vettel ?

[jjcale]

Did FA write this article ;)

[mattferg]

If you want to know who he'd seen, he said 12 drivers on the grid - we know four, so that leaves 8 out of a possible 20. They're likely to be British or based in British teams too.

My guess for the 8?

Button, Webber, Kovalienen, Glock, Di Resta, Grosjean, Rosberg and Massa.

[aditya-now]

Worth watching the episodes of the flying lap he was on, on youtube

Indeed, Rob Wilson is

Would interest me how he would have perceived Fernando and Seb, had they come to him early on in their career

[Cool Beans]

Indeed, Rob Wilson is

Would interest me how he would have perceived Fernando and Seb, had they come to him early on in their career

Who says they haven't?

[aray]

Who says they haven't?

Who said they have...?

[Cool Beans]

Who said they have...?

I was asking aditya-now where he got the info they haven't been, I have no idea what you're rolling your eyes for

Edited by Cool Beans, 19 April 2013 - 05:04.

[KnucklesAgain]

Interesting read, thanks, but there exists a thread on this topic already: http://forums.autosp...howtopic=102355

[SpaMaster]

Interesting the way he rates Hamilton and Raikkonen. Contrasting drivers, yet similar in many ways!

[JaredS]

the guy is full of smoke...not that sat beside them in single seater and showed the direction..

Alonso is amazing and great. I hope you feel a bit better now and can appreciate the wider point of the thread.

[F1ultimate]

Brilliant read. I'm glad I bookmarked it yesterday for reading today. Car mass manipulation is definitely something I need to improve on. In F2012 I'm a pretty good driver and race without assists using a GT5 wheel but in Need For Speed Shift 2 I'm less talented. I try to drive a Ford Focus like I drive an F1 car and is absolutely doesn't work because of softer suspension, higher center of gravity and mass. So I will definitely pick up on this topic and try to improve my driving in Need for Speed shift.

[Msaman]

Brilliant read. I'm glad I bookmarked it yesterday for reading today. Car mass manipulation is definitely something I need to improve on. In F2012 I'm a pretty good driver and race without assists using a GT5 wheel but in Need For Speed Shift 2 I'm less talented. I try to drive a Ford Focus like I drive an F1 car and is absolutely doesn't work because of softer suspension, higher center of gravity and mass. So I will definitely pick up on this topic and try to improve my driving in Need for Speed shift.

Imao
Off topic sry abt that
Try GTR2 or Rfactor2 or any other SIM game.No offence but NFS shift 2 and F1 2012 are not SIMs .These both games do not have much with reality(physics).

Not surprised at all abt this news as you can clearly see that Ham and Kimi are born talants

[tjkoyen]

Interesting his point about honing driving styles within certain series. It's true, many drivers probably never reach the "ultimate" speed in any given series on the ladder to F1 since they are in and out of each championship within a few years.

I know that I've raced karts for 11 years and have done a lot of studying on driving styles the entire time and I still learn something new almost every time I'm on the track. When I mechanic for other drivers, I am sometimes hesitant to change the kart setup a lot because there is ALWAYS more to come from the driver. Always.

There's so much finesse involved at the highest peaks of race driving that you aren't just driving with your hands; you're using your feet, your shoulders, your back, your legs... to feel what every corner of the car is doing in response to your inputs.

Even contrasting styles like Senna and Prost where one driver seems to dance the car right on the edge and the other looks like he's barely trying both require tons of sensitivity to the car's reactions. And both styles work. Senna and Prost were both incredibly quick.

That's one of the things I dislike about modern F1. I don't think we see variations in styles as much or at least they aren't so blatant because the cars are all very similar and they have to be driven a certain way to go fast and make the tires last. Even when we were on Bridgestones a few years ago, we saw drivers like Kobayashi do some wild lock ups and dance the car on the edge a bit. Pirellis would look like they were ran through a cheese grater if you drove like that now.

Watching two drivers fight it out in two completely different approaches is one of my favorite things about motor racing.