39 replies to this topic

[Jhope]

ault test driver, Fernando Alonso, has recently talked about what is like to drive a modern Formula One car.

The Spaniard explained to Italian weekly magazine Autosprint that the single seater contenders are the easiest to drive among all the various different racing cars of today.

Fernando's reasoning behind this decision is due to all the technology involved in the construction of today's contenders, comparing them to karts, the formula where the majority of today's drivers started out.

"Automatic transmission and traction control make it easy to drive a modern F1 car,” he said. “Using the left foot to brake, you can adopt the kart driving style."

www.f1-live.com

So, he's the first driver to come out with a statement like this.

[squiggle bob]

this could really come back to haunt him one day if he gets a ride in a top team and does a "rubens"..

[GL*]

It might have gotten easier to drive a F1 car with the introduction of modern technological driving aids. But driving the car, and racing well enough to win a grand prix are two separate things. We all saw Alex Yoong driving the Minardi this season, but I sure as hell didn't see him racing at a level that'd satisfy me let alone impress me. It's easy for me to kick a ball but that doesn't make me a good soccer player. Hopefully nobody will take this quote out of context and assume F1 is somehow a Mickey Mouse sport because the cars are "easy" to drive.

[Flying Panda]

Originally posted by Jhope
So, he's the first driver to come out with a statement like this.

Thats true. But we all know it's true anyway...
And Niki Lauda has been saying exactly what Alonso said all year....

Call me egotistical, but I reckon I could quite possibly get 120% of Alex Yoong's time....
(hey, thats not as bad as all the people who openly claimed that 'given an equal car, over eighty laps I could set a faster time than Yoong, Rossett, Mazzacane and Marques)

[squiggle bob]

Originally posted by Flying Panda

Thats true. But we all know it's true anyway...
And Niki Lauda has been saying exactly what Alonso said all year....

Call me egotistical, but I reckon I could quite possibly get 120% of Alex Yoong's time....
(hey, thats not as bad as all the people who openly claimed that 'given an equal car, over eighty laps I could set a faster time than Yoong, Rossett, Mazzacane and Marques)

well you're an aussie, so why not ask PS for a test drive when the teams is down here for the GP

[Peter Perfect]

I think that's probably the reason why drivers who have little car driving experience seem to be able to jump straight in and do a good job.
If you want to see how kart driving skills translate to real cars then just watch a rookies experience in F3000.

[LuckyStrike1]

Originally posted by Flying Panda

Thats true. But we all know it's true anyway...
And Niki Lauda has been saying exactly what Alonso said all year....

Call me egotistical, but I reckon I could quite possibly get 120% of Alex Yoong's time....
(hey, thats not as bad as all the people who openly claimed that 'given an equal car, over eighty laps I could set a faster time than Yoong, Rossett, Mazzacane and Marques)

I read a column in the latest Autosport issue that was about a ride in the Minardi two-seater with Marques. The guy was hugely impressed by Marques driving and his way of correcting and catching oversteer and "throwing" the car into the corners. Don't kid you, all the drivers if F1 are on top of their game and really good drivers all of them.

Alonzos statement is very relative since he is probably right, it's easy to drive a F1 ... for guys like him .. but it's still hard damn work and not every racingdriver in the world can do it with some decent times.

[The_Z_Man]

Originally posted by Jhope
So, he's the first driver to come out with a statement like this.

Didn't KR say the same thing earlier ? Of course, "easy", means "easy for someone of their skill level".

The_Z_Man

[Indian Chief]

Originally posted by GL*
It's easy for me to kick a ball but that doesn't make me a good soccer player. Hopefully nobody will take this quote out of context and assume F1 is somehow a Mickey Mouse sport because the cars are "easy" to drive.

Exactly. I know I can run a 100m, does that diminish Maurice Green's achievements in any way?

[petri]

Strange. If it's easy, he's driving too slow!

[30ft penguin]

The usual case of "easy to do, but hard to master". Maybe anybody can drive the car round a circuit given some time and training, but only a chosen few can get 99.9% out of the car.

[Coupe]

Originally posted by 30ft penguin
The usual case of "easy to do, but hard to master". Maybe anybody can drive the car round a circuit given some time and training, but only a chosen few can get 99.9% out of the car.

Totally agree with you.

I think he's talking about this. He said the same thing the first time he drove a F1 car, when he became Formula Nissan champion in his first season in a car with gearbox and he earned a test with Minardi.

[Flying Panda]

Originally posted by LuckyStrike1
I read a column in the latest Autosport issue that was about a ride in the Minardi two-seater with Marques. The guy was hugely impressed by Marques driving and his way of correcting and catching oversteer and "throwing" the car into the corners. Don't kid you, all the drivers if F1 are on top of their game and really good drivers all of them.

I know. That was part of my point. Did the journo in the two seater have any previous experiences?
( 20% is a real lot. One Fifth of a lap ), but after a bit of research I think i should make it 35%.( I just read over Russ Brookes bio, and I have less experience than him, so... :/) Although i would do anything to see how fast i 'really' am.....
I admit, i was an idiot, i said something stoopid and egotistical.
I beg for your forgiveness for my unjustified statement...

Here is the thread I refered to ealier....

[RaggedEdge]

Originally posted by Flying Panda

Thats true. But we all know it's true anyway...
And Niki Lauda has been saying exactly what Alonso said all year....

SIZE]

When Niki said that "a monkey could drive a current F1 car", I belive Ralf S. got pissed off and send a postcard to Niki saying something to the effect that "a monkey could fly a plane nowadays" (with autopilots and such) as a jab towards Niki's airline pilot career. I thought that Ralf was right to put Niki to his place...

[Jhope]

Look at Phillip Massa. He jumped into a Sauber and just about equaled the Mugello ytack record set by Micheal Schumacher a week earlier..

[Ross Stonefeld]

Obviously that was a very unique situation. We all know the Sauber is no where near as quick as the Ferrari. At any rate, i agree with 'easy to learn, hard to master' When new drivers test for the first time they get to 97% almost immediately. Its that last 3% that can take them a while

[Jhope]

Attaining that 97% was never as easy as it is today. Which, in a way is unfortunate.





















Give Ross Stonefeld a Sauber!!!!!!!!

[KinetiK]

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
Obviously that was a very unique situation. We all know the Sauber is no where near as quick as the Ferrari. At any rate, i agree with 'easy to learn, hard to master' When new drivers test for the first time they get to 97% almost immediately. Its that last 3% that can take them a while

Or never in the cases of Yoong, Rossett, Mazzacane and Marques etc

[Ross Stonefeld]

Rossett won races in F3 and F3000, as did Marques. I dont understand why they are so trodden upon

[Zeus]

A few years back Ferrari let Max Biagi try the F1 car and after a few cautious installation laps (driver installation that is) he ultimately wound up with a few seconds of MS's pace.

[Garagiste]

Rossett won races in F3 and F3000, as did Marques. I dont understand why they are so trodden upon

Because they weren't much cop in F1? Rumour has it that it was members of Rosset's own team that re-arranged the first and last letters of his surname on his pit bike

[dick]

I just think it's a shame that all the drivers have to worry about today is steering and braking. I realize with the speed and the shortened braking distances this is anything but easy. However, if drivers still had to manually shift it would add much to this mix and maybe produce more exciting races.

[Linus27]

Yep, modern F1 cars are easy to drive. I could drive one and I have no doubt a very large group of people here could. The factors that would alter who would adjust to it quicker than others are,

1. How you handle the sheer speed.

2. Getting used to the power of the brakes.

3. How brave you are.

4. How you coped with the G Forces.

The last one is probably the most important and the most demanding. Its one of the reasons why you have to take a medical to have a ride in the two seater. The speed won't kill you but the forces may.

[Ross Stonefeld]

I have no doubt that any of us could drive an F1 car. Could we keep it on the limit?

[MortenF1]

Yeah right.

[sennadog93]

I might be able to do a lap without stalling it but I don't think I'll be giving Mazzacane too many sleepless nights.;)

[Indian Chief]

Originally posted by Jhope
Attaining that 97% was never as easy as it is today. Which, in a way is unfortunate.

What makes you say that? A 43 year old Martin Brundle drove a 1950s F1 car recently and commented how easy it was to drive compared to modern f1 cars.

[Indian Chief]

Originally posted by Zeus
A few years back Ferrari let Max Biagi try the F1 car and after a few cautious installation laps (driver installation that is) he ultimately wound up with a few seconds of MS's pace.

He was about 7 seconds off in a 60 second lap at Fiorano. That isn't a small amount.

[Chrissy Boy]

Then I think I'll have a go! Walk up to FIA(T) door give them some money, tell then to get rid of Yoong, and take the seat in the Minardi and win the WDC. That was an easy drive!

[Lantern]

Originally posted by Indian Chief


He was about 7 seconds off in a 60 second lap at Fiorano. That isn't a small amount.

And I believe he puked afterwards.



Or was that the two other bike guys that tested and wrecked the Williams?

I hate having all these bits of useless info...it gets jumbled sometimes

[karlth]

Bike legend Doohan was 20 seconds of Villeneuve's pace at Barcelona in 1998.

[cygnus]

When the car is properly setup, I am sure it's fairly 'easy' (thats very relative) to drive. But I've watched some on-boards during Friday practise and it seemed incredibly hard to keep the car on the road (and yet they still posted a somewhat decent time). JV in Hungary comes to mind, he was really struggling around that mickey mouse circuit. All the electronics in the world couldn't have helped his apparant lack of grip on that dusty track.

[Linus27]

You need to realise that JV was trying to find the limit and a setup and probably the limit of that setup and thus the reason he was all over the shop.

[rtcoman]

Originally posted by Indian Chief
What makes you say that? A 43 year old Martin Brundle drove a 1950s F1 car recently and commented how easy it was to drive compared to modern f1 cars.

Try posting the same thing on TNF. Let`s see what kind of a reaction you`d get.

[karlth]

Originally posted by rtcoman
Try posting the same thing on TNF. Let`s see what kind of a reaction you`d get.

The deed has been done ...

http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=32512

[Spunout]

If F1 is easy to drive I can´t understand why Alonso has lost it so many times during this year.

[TAB666]

Originally posted by karlth
Bike legend Doohan was 20 seconds of Villeneuve's pace at Barcelona in 1998.

Maybe, but i would be fun to see some F1 drivers driving a 500cc roadracer. I bet they would be much slower. Those roadracers are crazy

[doohanOK]

But Mick Doohan actually crashed the car at Turn 5 on the first lap out at Barcelona. Once he got back into the car, some time later, he was, as karlth said, 20 seconds down on Villeneuve.

But I think anyone could drive a decent time. If you had trained to some degree, gotten used to the speed in other single seaters, learned the circuit, and the 4 things that Linus27 said, then I think you definitely can get a good time.

If someone goes straight out and says, "yeah, I can beat them" without really having a think about it, then I'd doubt them - but then again, people can believe in their abilities, be confident, go out and drive fast.

And we're talking about going out on the first day you've driven an F1 car. I'm sure once you get up to speed, or better yet, spend more time in the car, you would be fine. First time out of the box, you're not going to be impressive - every F1 driver wasn't blindingly fast on the first time they drove an F1 car (not talking a flying lap - I'd say just getting used to the car's velocity, for starters).

regards,
doohanOK.

[Linus27]

If F1 is easy to drive I can´t understand why Alonso has lost it so many times during this year

The answers is because he is a rookie, not in the best car, with the best team and the best package.

[texfan]

I do believe we all could "drive" a F1 car. But how fast? Would we be bold enough to find the adhesion limits in a curve? Would we know when to squeeze the throttle coming out of curve,not so much that the back end comes around to slap you? Would we take FULL advantage of the brakes,or use them like an old lady? And now try doing these simple things in the RAIN!

Yes,we all could drive a F1 car,but could actually RACE in one is the question.