I think Charles race engineer is the worst. Just cringy all around.
Race engineers 'pussyfooting' around their driver
Started by
JL14
, Jan 15 2025 22:17
54 replies to this topic
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#52
RedRabbit
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Posted 19 January 2025 - 14:19
If there was a GOAT race engineer, Smedley would have a strong claim to the title.
There is definitely a lot of pussy footing and indecisiveness with quite a lot of engineers.
Jenson Button let it slip a couple years back when Ferrari were particularly bad that the driver has the power to change his engineer. He admitted doing it once, and it may be a reason for the pussy footing and molly coddling going on.
There is definitely a lot of pussy footing and indecisiveness with quite a lot of engineers.
Jenson Button let it slip a couple years back when Ferrari were particularly bad that the driver has the power to change his engineer. He admitted doing it once, and it may be a reason for the pussy footing and molly coddling going on.
#53
Sterzo
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Posted 19 January 2025 - 15:03
There is definitely a lot of pussy footing and indecisiveness with quite a lot of engineers.
One factor is that the poor old race engineer has countless voices in his ear giving possibly contradictory guidance. Bernie Collins' brilliant book gives good insight into that. The levels of information concerning tyres, car, changing strategy, current gaps, competitors' strategies, team orders and so on would fill an hour's meeting in most businesses, but the driver needs to know what to do right now.
#54
RedRabbit
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Posted 19 January 2025 - 19:26
One factor is that the poor old race engineer has countless voices in his ear giving possibly contradictory guidance. Bernie Collins' brilliant book gives good insight into that. The levels of information concerning tyres, car, changing strategy, current gaps, competitors' strategies, team orders and so on would fill an hour's meeting in most businesses, but the driver needs to know what to do right now.
I do often wonder how necessary it is for 100 engineers to be sitting glued to laptops in the back, and yet still can't provide logical information.
Maybe a case of information overload clouding judgement. A sign of F1 being corporate led.
#55
Sterzo
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Posted 20 January 2025 - 13:32
I do often wonder how necessary it is for 100 engineers to be sitting glued to laptops in the back, and yet still can't provide logical information.
Maybe a case of information overload clouding judgement. A sign of F1 being corporate led.
Yes, while I expect they do better with more people, the law of diminishing returns must set in. Also, it raises fundamental questions about the sheer cost of an F1 team. The cost cap could probably be one tenth of its current level without impacting how satisfying the sport is.
