130 replies to this topic

[redreni]

I would assume that many posters doubt that Williams gives her any simulator work. Since Wolff has no talent and is only allowed on track for marketing reasons their would be absolutely no reason for Williams to let Wolff into the simulator.

 

People are arguing that they shouldn't let her into the simulator, not that they don't. I've no idea how much work she does in the simulator or how useful her feedback is compared, for exanple, to what they get from the race drivers. Nobody's arguing that she's entirely useless in that regard, only that there are plenty of other drivers who haven't had the chance to show what they could do if given the role of development driver, who would have been a better bet.

[uzsjgb]

although I should have thought the rookie test would have been sufficient to be honest

 

You seriously think a young driver test in 2013 helps with the development of the 2014 car? I assume you're trolling.

[ensign14]

I assume you have direct access to the Williams simulator and/or the Williams engineers. How else would you be able to judge Wolff's talent?

 

Leaving aside how you may have come to this information, I would be interested in how Wollf's missing talent actually comes into play within the simulator and in her analyses for the engineers. Would you mind providing us with a few examples were a more talented driver could achieve more for the team?

 

By watching her race in other formulae and judging by her results.  She was beaten by Rahel Frey when in her seventh season of DTM.  That's the level at which we are operating here.

 

Should be noted that Danica had never won a single race prior to entering IndyCar, either(and has never won a race on a road course ever). She fared ok in Toyota Atlantics, but was a backmarker over in Europe. Wolff may not have top class potential, but did better than Danica in the European leagues and is probably the better road course racer.

 

She was runner-up in the FF Festival (behind Pat Long, I think, a very under-rated driver), which is no mean feat.  And she scored lots of podia in Toyota Atlantic.  It's a bit better than Wolff's pre-F1 record.  As it is, single-seater oval is Danica's metier, she ought to go back.

[chunder27]

You cannot argue with the interest it raises, and that is perhaps all this is about.

We all know there is little real chance of her getting a drive and this is mainly about her links to Toto and Mercedes largely. I do think she has a certain amount of talent, certainly as much as some people in F1 in the past. And maybe one or two racing currently.

 

Far more than Legge who I found rather embarassing to watch.

 

Danica though has real speed on occasion, no matter what you say no Indycar race is won easily or pole won at Daytona. All take a certain amount of talent, though a totally different ability to our sort of racing. you can win in Yank racing with setup without being awesome I feel. What guys like Johnson and the top guys do is get it right more than most.

[billm99uk]

She was runner-up in the FF Festival (behind Pat Long, I think, a very under-rated driver), which is no mean feat.

Ant Davidson actually, now of Skypad fame (another under-rated driver). Long was in the race but DNF'ed.

[redreni]

You seriously think a young driver test in 2013 helps with the development of the 2014 car? I assume you're trolling.

No of course I don't think that. The rookie every test comes round every year. It's the best opportunity to put development drivers in the car without sacrificing seat time with the race drivers, since the race drivers aren't eligible for it. That's why the best teams run their development drivers at the rookie test and their race drivers in FP1, and it's only teams that wish to evaluate a young driver for a race seat, or are simply selling seat time, who do otherwise.

[ensign14]

Stone last.

1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m35.424s           25
 2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m36.155s  +0.731s  22
 3. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m36.263s  +0.839s  23
 4. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault      1m36.623s  +1.199s  21
 5. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari               1m36.703s  +1.279s  23
 6. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m36.921s  +1.497s  20
 7. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m36.963s  +1.539s  25
 8. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault    1m37.175s  +1.751s  29
 9. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault    1m37.227s  +1.803s  25
10. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes      1m37.231s  +1.807s  30
11. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes  1m37.720s  +2.296s  22
12. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m37.910s  +2.486s  21
13. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m38.056s  +2.632s  18
14. Daniel Juncadella     Force India-Mercedes  1m38.083s  +2.659s  23
15. Giedo van der Garde   Sauber-Ferrari        1m38.328s  +2.904s  19
16. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari      1m38.917s  +3.493s  12
17. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes     1m39.461s  +4.037s   7
18. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari      1m39.814s  +4.390s  24
19. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault      1m40.597s  +5.173s  19
20. Robin Frijns          Caterham-Renault      1m42.261s  +6.837s  11
21. Susie Wolff           Williams-Mercedes     1m44.212s  +8.788s   4
22. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault         no time              2

BOO-ya!  Kiss my predictive ass, racebitches.

 

^{pastor doesn't count as he didn't set a time - otherwise may as well include me.}

[RonnyRonny]

Anyone else find it strange when the sky team were saying maybe you'll get a different fp1 instead?

Pretty sure that has never been said to frijns, how many laps did he get today?

[CSquared]

1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m35.424s           25
 2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m36.155s  +0.731s  22
 3. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m36.263s  +0.839s  23
 4. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault      1m36.623s  +1.199s  21
 5. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari               1m36.703s  +1.279s  23
 6. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m36.921s  +1.497s  20
 7. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m36.963s  +1.539s  25
 8. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault    1m37.175s  +1.751s  29
 9. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault    1m37.227s  +1.803s  25
10. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes      1m37.231s  +1.807s  30
11. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes  1m37.720s  +2.296s  22
12. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m37.910s  +2.486s  21
13. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m38.056s  +2.632s  18
14. Daniel Juncadella     Force India-Mercedes  1m38.083s  +2.659s  23
15. Giedo van der Garde   Sauber-Ferrari        1m38.328s  +2.904s  19
16. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari      1m38.917s  +3.493s  12
17. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes     1m39.461s  +4.037s   7
18. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari      1m39.814s  +4.390s  24
19. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault      1m40.597s  +5.173s  19
20. Robin Frijns          Caterham-Renault      1m42.261s  +6.837s  11
21. Susie Wolff           Williams-Mercedes     1m44.212s  +8.788s   4
22. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault         no time              2

BOO-ya! Kiss my predictive ass, racebitches.

^{pastor doesn't count as he didn't set a time - otherwise may as well include me.}

Hmmm. The drivers with the least number of laps end up near the bottom. Who woulda thought?

[ensign14]

My brain is such genius that it factored into things that Susie would get the fewest laps in. 

[Heisenberg]

What was the point of having Susie in this FP1 anyway? Just to beat records of having more women in F1? Maybe Bottas could have used running in Fp1 to gain more experience, what does Susie gain? She doesn't seem to wanna let go of her testing role and Williams doesn't seem interested in having her as a driver either, so what's the catch? Anyway, even for 4 laps, it's a bit too slow imo (and I'm not against women in F1, nor against Susie! See my post in the Perez thread!), but could be that she ran with much fuel and/or harder tyres? Anyway I still don't see the point.

Edited by Heisenberg, 04 July 2014 - 19:45.

[Ross Stonefeld]

I've now seen the coverage from The Times and the Mail. It's pretty critical about her credentials, in The Times piece it's the majority of the words. You usually don't get this level of criticism in F1 stories, I wonder if they over-played the PR and the hacks are publicly telling them to get bent?

[Imateria]

What was the point of having Susie in this FP1 anyway? Just to beat records of having more women in F1? Maybe Bottas could have used running in Fp1 to gain more experience, what does Susie gain? She doesn't seem to wanna let go of her testing role and Williams doesn't seem interested in having her as a driver either, so what's the catch? Anyway, even for 4 laps, it's a bit too slow imo (and I'm not against women in F1, nor against Susie! See my post in the Perez thread!), but could be that she ran with much fuel and/or harder tyres? Anyway I still don't see the point.

She's their test and development driver, which means she probably spends most of her time in the simulator, but occasionally the development driver needs to get some seat time for comparison, Force India did it last year with James Rossiter and this year with Daniel Juncadella. 

 

As for her pace, the first laps of a weekend are always slow as they check things out and don't remotely hunt for times.

 

A shame about the brakdown, I'll reserve my top 10 prediction for Hockenheim.

[rhukkas]

She's their test and development driver, which means she probably spends most of her time in the simulator, but occasionally the development driver needs to get some seat time for comparison, Force India did it last year with James Rossiter and this year with Daniel Juncadella. 

 

As for her pace, the first laps of a weekend are always slow as they check things out and don't remotely hunt for times.

 

A shame about the brakdown, I'll reserve my top 10 prediction for Hockenheim.

 

It was mentioned in commentary that it's highly unusual for a front running team to put in a development driver on Friday practice. So the 'development' argument doesn't really hold. If it had any value at all the other front running teams would be doing it.

 

Generally Friday practice runs are used to help pay the bills.

Edited by rhukkas, 04 July 2014 - 23:15.

[Hanzo]

Job done, I suppose. Just for putting her helmet on, she got all the flashes and the media attention.  Juncadella, doing a very good job, was totally ignored today. Oh, well...

[alfa1]

Anyway, even for 4 laps, it's a bit too slow imo

 

 

Apparently it was only one timed lap.

 

So that would be two installation laps back to the pits, an out lap, a timed lap, then breakdown.

[Eff One 2002]

If women in F1 is to be a serious proposition people need to stop giving novelty drives to the wives of shareholders. And the media needs to stop falling into the trap of hyping a meaningless event.

 

If a female driver comes through the ranks and has the skill and stamina to compete in F1 then she should earn a drive just like any man. Hopefully one day that will happen. It already has done in other race series, it is not as if motor racing is a closed shop.

 

It's a shame Susie had a mechanical problem, but it is probably a blessing as she would not have been competitive, at least her timesheet will be protected from scrutiny.

Precisely. This type of clear stunt does not do the prospect of women in F1 any favours at all.

[Wiggy]

She's also in the car for FP1 at the German Grand Prix in 2 weeks time... So she'll get a second chance to shine

[7MGTEsup]

I get the feeling if she was Steve Stoddart and Not Suzi Wolff (Stoddart) she wouldn't be anywhere near an F1 car.

[BRG]

I get the feeling if she was Steve Stoddart and Not Suzi Wolff (Stoddart) she wouldn't be anywhere near an F1 car.

And I get the feeling that if she was Steve Stoddart and therefore NOT a woman, there wouldn't be a thread about it at all.

[Ev0d3vil]

Whats with the FIA strictly enforcing track limits these days?

[ensign14]

And I get the feeling that if she was Steve Stoddart and therefore NOT a woman, there wouldn't be a thread about it at all.

And if it was about Scott and Roger Stoddart, we'd have a much longer thread.

[Wiggy]

If she was Susie Stoddart she wouldn't have been in the car at all.

[BRG]

And if it was about Scott and Roger Stoddart, we'd have a much longer thread.

Stoddart or Stoddard?  Not necessarily the same thing.

[Schumster]

Nothing but a gimmick and it goes to show how far Williams have fallen and where their priorities lie, behind McLaren/Ferrari/RB/Force India/Mercedes and they're pissing about with a woman who is way off the pace (3-4s is way off the pace in F1). She's not fast, she's proved absolutely nothing to suggest that she's more deserving of a drive than experienced and faster drivers in the likes of Alguersuari/Kovalainen and she is driving due to her links with the wanker that is Toto.

I respect the likes of Lee McKenzie and Suzie Perry and their achievements more so than a woman who is riding on her "looks", her gender, her husband and a pathetic team. It's a silly gimmick that will do nothing but hinder, rather than help, the future prospects of women in motorsports.

[Schumster]

Do you always talk complete bollox?

 

Considering a lot of drivers on Sunday are paying for their place, that is a very hollow statement.

 

Andy

 

A lot of drivers on Sunday don't have a major shareholder ensuring that they're racing or are racing primarily based on their gender AND pay drivers is a fact of F1 and always has been, hell Alonso can be considered to be a pay driver with Santander and his Latin links.

 

Nonsense point.

[Ross Stonefeld]

I wouldn't get carried away with the 3-4s off the pace stuff, I think she'll be a lot closer than that. But still not considered competitive. Plus the Williams is a quick enough car so depending on they're running in Hockenheim even a top 10 isn't out of the question.

[Wiggy]

Nothing but a gimmick and it goes to show how far Williams have fallen and where their priorities lie, behind McLaren/Ferrari/RB/Force India/Mercedes and they're pissing about with a woman who is way off the pace (3-4s is way off the pace in F1). She's not fast, she's proved absolutely nothing to suggest that she's more deserving of a drive than experienced and faster drivers in the likes of Alguersuari/Kovalainen and she is driving due to her links with the wanker that is Toto.

I respect the likes of Lee McKenzie and Suzie Perry and their achievements more so than a woman who is riding on her "looks", her gender, her husband and a pathetic team. It's a silly gimmick that will do nothing but hinder, rather than help, the future prospects of women in motorsports.

Don't hold back though... Is she a future WDC?

[zanquis]

I am not reading everything, but sometimes you cannot compare testing development and speed. For example Pedro DeLaRosa is acclaimed by many to be one of the best development drivers around. He can feel things regular race driver won't feel. There is a change a female driver might also be more sensitive to what is different in feel. Not saying it is true, but you then don't even need to drive the car to the limit to get the results.

[Myrvold]

no matter what you say no Indycar race is won easily or pole won at Daytona. All take a certain amount of talent, though a totally different ability to our sort of racing.

Even though it was the only race where Champ Car and IRL ran two different places, so it was not a full Indy-grid, and neither was it all the usual drivers there. And Daytona is Daytona. Trevor Bayne won, and have honestly never done anything amazing since. Heck, just look at the results from last weekend at Daytona...

[PayasYouRace]

Even though it was the only race where Champ Car and IRL ran two different places, so it was not a full Indy-grid, and neither was it all the usual drivers there. And Daytona is Daytona. Trevor Bayne won, and have honestly never done anything amazing since. Heck, just look at the results from last weekend at Daytona...

 

Actually, all the IRL regulars were there at Motegi. Only the handful of Champcar teams that actually made the switch were off at Long Beach. It was a full field by the previous year's standards.