Driver 'styles' past and present (podcast)

[Dr Z]

Had this podcast pop up:

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/f1/rob-w...

Rob Wilson is the guest. Well worth listening to, if you're into different driving approaches from the drivers in the current field. Found an older article that has some comments on drivers in the previous eras:

http://www.autosport.com/premium/feature/6773/form...

I guess, I'm interested in finding out what kind of driver you most enjoy/enjoyed watching over the years?

Any particular lap(s) that sticks in your mind?

[Dynamic Space Wizard]

Dr Z said:

I guess, I'm interested in finding out what kind of driver you most enjoy/enjoyed watching over the years?

I like watching Jolyon Palmer

[Dr Z]

Dynamic Space Wizard said:

I like watching Jolyon Palmer

No shame in that!

He did well last year, and was pretty much on the pace of Magnussen by the end. Bit of a troubled start to this year, if he shows an improvement in form as he did last year in the 2nd half, he will keep his seat.

[Plate spinner]

I 'enjoyed' watching Pastor Maldonado, but I don't think that's what you're talking about here

[Dr Z]

Oh, the wording leaves some room for interpretation, but all forms of enjoyment equally valid in this thread.

[anonymous-user]

Dr Z said:

Dynamic Space Wizard said:

I like watching Jolyon Palmer

No shame in that!

He did well last year, and was pretty much on the pace of Magnussen by the end. Bit of a troubled start to this year, if he shows an improvement in form as he did last year in the 2nd half, he will keep his seat.

Rather sad that the only good thing is that he got 'pretty much on the pace of Magnussen by the end'

I very much doubt he'll keep his seat but don't think he really deserves to. I'm not sure he ever deserved it in the first place, to be honest.

[Dr Z]

ash73 said:

I wish F1 could show pedal inputs better, the HUD throttle/braking is too slow to update to get any feel for what they're doing with their feet, I'd rather see a live picture as an inset to the in-car footage.

This year the throttle/brake graphics is slower by about 0.2s...you can get some idea about how and if the drivers use the throttle to balance the car around a corner but my complaint would be the brakes...it's a very binary display. A lot of subtle things go on there, and you can only get an idea from the speed traces (if you can reverse engineer them from the video!).

Drivers who make it a bit most obvious what they are doing; the car control drivers:

Grosjean, Massa, Rosberg, maybe I'd put Sainz in this bracket too. Very reactive.

Hamilton's always been very subtle inputs and little less obvious. At least with the Pirellis, he's been more about getting the car stopped and set up earlier on corner entry, so he can be earlier on the throttle on exit. A very Jim Clark way of driving, if the comments on the autosport article are anything to go by.

Vettel's been about huge entry speed needing more mid corner rotation, but this makes him a little later on the throttle on exit than the likes of Hamilton.

I'm just simplifying of course, you can spot the changes in approach to different corners as not all are the same.

[entropy]

ash73 said:

Gave up with the podcast half way through; lots of gentlemanly waffle and didn't get down to brass tacks. I guess he's holding back, his customers won't exactly want him blurting out a public assessment of their driving. The autosport article is a bit better.

I like watching all the drivers, I can spot different styles but I probably miss a lot of subtle details. Alonso impresses me because he adapted his driving style so dramatically in the Renault, McLaren and Ferrari; no surprise he led the Indy 500 after just a couple of weeks in the car.

I wish F1 could show pedal inputs better, the HUD throttle/braking is too slow to update to get any feel for what they're doing with their feet, I'd rather see a live picture as an inset to the in-car footage.

Basically it's squaring off the corner or Vee-ing the corner as he calls it by espousing the mantra of 'flat car' - keeping the car's attitude flat for even weight distribution; steering for mid-corner rotation rather than carrying as much speed as possible.

Look up old Peter Windsor's Racer's Edge videos on YT as Rob features regularly. Made some interesting insights; Kimi fanboy and then having to backtrack IIRC!

I've always loved watching Alonso ever since ragging a Minardi to how he deals with understeer like it was nothing with varying degrees of aggressive inputs at corner entry - even at the Indy500