10 replies to this topic

[0thecougar]

In F1 and WRC is there or has there been any combinations where the driver and race engineer stay together throughout their career?

It seems essential in MotoGP and NASCAR to have the perfect engineer and they stay together for years, yet you never hear much on the F1 side.
There are famous pairings such as Vettel/Rocky or Schumacher/Dyer, but did they move teams with the drivers as happens in other series? I know in MotoGP they're always talking about the Rossi and Burgess team, Stoner with his boys and they move teams together but I've never heard any talk of Loeb's race engineer...a possible 9 time WRC title winner?
Is it because there's so much data available in F1 for the engineers compared to NASCAR which have limited telemetry and MotoGP where you can't measure the riders styles/settings?

Edited by 0thecougar, 26 July 2013 - 21:21.

[SpaMaster]

Raikkonen/Slade is a case in point in F1. Slade was Raikkonen's engineer in McLaren. Raikkonen brought him back to Lotus when he returned to F1 even after Lotus let him go a few year back. Raikkonen tried to get Slade along with him when he moved to Ferrari from McLaren as well, but Ferrari wouldn't agree.

I can't think of any other pairing in F1. Vettel/Rocky and Schumacher/Dyer are just one-team coincidence.

[Anderis]

I think Rosberg has been working with Tony Ross in both Williams and Mercedes. But not with 100% continuity, as Jock Clear was his Race Engineer in his early Mercedes days.

[artista]

In F1 and WRC is there or has there been any combinations where the driver and race engineer stay together throughout their career?

It seems essential in MotoGP and NASCAR to have the perfect engineer and they stay together for years, yet you never hear much on the F1 side.
There are famous pairings such as Vettel/Rocky or Schumacher/Dyer, but did they move teams with the drivers as happens in other series? I know in MotoGP they're always talking about the Rossi and Burgess team, Stoner with his boys and they move teams together but I've never heard any talk of Loeb's race engineer...a possible 9 time WRC title winner?
Is it because there's so much data available in F1 for the engineers compared to NASCAR which have limited telemetry and MotoGP where you can't measure the riders styles/settings?

Yeah, but I'm sure you have heard about Daniel Elena
They do have engineers, which I would not call "race" engineers because they don't race. But you have to take into consideration that, in rallying, they don't go over and over again over the same straight and turn, as circuits racers do. That makes the work of the engineer quite different, especially the part we can usually see. What you will always remember in rallying are pairs of driver/co-driver, actually, co-drivers are a bit like Smedley -telling the driver how to drive- but talking non-stop

[Victor_RO]

When it comes to Nascar, you can equate the crew chief with the race engineer for a particular car, so you could throw in the example of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus.

[Ross Stonefeld]

You tend to have continuity when you win. If they didn't, one or both halves would eventually be replaced.

[rasul]

In F1 the only constant many drivers appear to have is not their engineers, but their personal physios/trainers, many of whom practically spend 24/7 with their drivers for many years.

[0thecougar]

I thought Raikkonen and Webber swapped race engineers at the end of last season?

I'm fairly sure it's important to set a WRC car up also? When they can finish within seconds of each other after 4 days of competition, having a perfect set up would make the difference? I'm not sure codrivers are deciding what spring rates etc to run?

[st99]

Rocky was in Red Bull before Vettel arrived, I think he was Coulthard's race engineer then.
Ciaron Pilbeam was Webber's race engineer for 6 years, since he arrived to RB until last year.

I thought Raikkonen and Webber swapped race engineers at the end of last season?

Not exactly, Pilbeam ( Webber's former race engineer) is now Lotus' chief race engineer, he doesn't only work with Kimi.

Edited by st99, 26 July 2013 - 22:23.

[alfa1]

Jock Clear was with Jacques Villeneuve all through his Williams and BAR days.

[artista]

...
I'm fairly sure it's important to set a WRC car up also? When they can finish within seconds of each other after 4 days of competition, having a perfect set up would make the difference? I'm not sure codrivers are deciding what spring rates etc to run?

yes, it's important to set-up the car, but the way they do it is different, that's why I pointed out the part about what we see. They do testing (which we usually don't see) on a similar surface, altitude... to the rally they want to prepare. In this case, they go over a short piece of road over and over again and do a set-up work that reminds a bit of the F1 free practice. Here is when you'll get most of the pictures of the engineers.
But during a rally, the engineer can almost only work with what the driver tells him about the recce, the shakedown or, during service, about the stages. What I'm going to say it's an oversimplification, but during a rally what you have is a driver telling the engineer "I need a change in the diff", "I want it softer" and little more before going to have something to eat and prepare for the second loop of the day.

In short: in WRC, you will usually not see the engineer, plus they don't have the telemetry data you will find in F1, and the engineer will not tell a driver how to trace a certain curve (how to drive) because they have thousands of curves and they only take it once or twice. That all makes the driver/engineer couples much less visible in WRC, plus it's the co-driver who rally drivers need to have blind faith in.