The most dominant car in F1 history

Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
User avatar
FoxHound
55
Joined: 23 Aug 2012, 16:50

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

Diesel wrote:
FoxHound wrote:It should be noted that the W05 was also hampered by having limited engine usage for a season.
That's part of the regulations, it was the same for every car on the grid, so it doesn't affect how dominant the W05 was.
If regulations such as 6 allowable changes per season were enforced in that era, you don't think it changes the permutations in dominance?
JET set

Moose
Moose
52
Joined: 03 Oct 2014, 19:41

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

FoxHound wrote:
Diesel wrote:
FoxHound wrote:It should be noted that the W05 was also hampered by having limited engine usage for a season.
That's part of the regulations, it was the same for every car on the grid, so it doesn't affect how dominant the W05 was.
If regulations such as 6 allowable changes per season were enforced in that era, you don't think it changes the permutations in dominance?
Sure, but the point is that those are the regulations, and that's what everyone was driving to. If you changed the regulations so that they said "normally aspirated V8", then Renault's engine dominated due to it's small size and other aero benefits. The point being that that too is irrelevant. It doesn't matter who would have dominated if the regulations were different. The regulations weren't different.

User avatar
FoxHound
55
Joined: 23 Aug 2012, 16:50

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

I think some regulations are more pertinent than others.
Especially in a new engine formula as complex as we have now.
JET set

i70q7m7ghw
i70q7m7ghw
49
Joined: 12 Mar 2006, 00:27
Location: ...

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

FoxHound wrote:I think some regulations are more pertinent than others.
Especially in a new engine formula as complex as we have now.
I'm not sure what your point is? You're saying the W05 would be more dominant if it didn't have restricted engine usage? Sure... it may also have been more dominant if there was no fuel flow restriction, and blown diffusers were made legal, and flat floors were legal, etc. etc.

Let's not talk about ifs, buts and maybes. The regulations were the same for everyone, and Mercedes did the best job within those regulations.

User avatar
FoxHound
55
Joined: 23 Aug 2012, 16:50

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

My point clearly is that the McLaren was not subject to as stringent rules as the Mercedes.
JET set

User avatar
SiLo
130
Joined: 25 Jul 2010, 19:09

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

FoxHound wrote:My point clearly is that the McLaren was not subject to as stringent rules as the Mercedes.
I very valid point IMO. It is harder in the modern era to generate that kind of advantage than it was in the past.
Felipe Baby!

User avatar
mcjamweasel
11
Joined: 18 Mar 2010, 15:23

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

FoxHound wrote:My point clearly is that the McLaren was not subject to as stringent rules as the Mercedes.
That's completely irrelevant - all of the other cars on the grid at the time were subject to the same rules as the MP4/4 so they all had the same opportunities to be fast. If you're going to compare rules then you could equally say that the MP4/4 was at a disadvantage to the W05 because it didn't have ERS.

User avatar
FoxHound
55
Joined: 23 Aug 2012, 16:50

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

You mean ERS, another component that can fail? :lol:
Comparing them equally is a fools errand, especially when hiding behind the 'rules were the same for everyone' argument.

There are more constraints in 2014 than there ever were in '88. That is not to say the W05 is better. Its to give some scope in the comparison.
JET set

User avatar
mcjamweasel
11
Joined: 18 Mar 2010, 15:23

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

FoxHound wrote:You mean ERS, another component that can fail? :lol:
Comparing them equally is a fools errand, especially when hiding behind the 'rules were the same for everyone' argument.

There are more constraints in 2014 than there ever were in '88. That is not to say the W05 is better. Its to give some scope in the comparison.
More constraints in the rules, yes. But also far better development tools and bigger design teams. The point is that each car was dominant in it's own time, against cars designed with the same tools to the same ruleset. To say that one car is more or less dominant than another because of the ruleset or technology on the car is ridiculous.

User avatar
FoxHound
55
Joined: 23 Aug 2012, 16:50

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

You think ridiculous, and the only evidence you are putting forward is bigger design teams?

I say, in the very first season of V6 turbo's and its accompanied auxiliaries like the energy recovery systems, in a limited testing season...is an achievement equal to that of what's gone before.

These engines did not run in the back of a car until earlier this year...limited to 3 tests. With engines that should last on average 4 races a piece.
In comparison to unlimited testing, with far greater known quantities and a one race engine shelf life.

Yes, ridiculous 8)
JET set

User avatar
dobbster71
4
Joined: 28 Jan 2014, 16:55

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

This discussion is missing the Alfa 158!
WRC is for boys. Group B was for men!
Juha Kankkunen

bhall II
bhall II
473
Joined: 19 Jun 2014, 20:15

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

FoxHound wrote:You think ridiculous, and the only evidence you are putting forward is bigger design teams?

I say, in the very first season of V6 turbo's and its accompanied auxiliaries like the energy recovery systems, in a limited testing season...is an achievement equal to that of what's gone before.

These engines did not run in the back of a car until earlier this year...limited to 3 tests. With engines that should last on average 4 races a piece.
In comparison to unlimited testing, with far greater known quantities and a one race engine shelf life.

Yes, ridiculous 8)
That knife cuts both ways, man. For all the relative regulatory freedom enjoyed by previous dominant cars, you have to consider that it also gave rivals more of an opportunity to mount a serious challenge. The current regulations anoint a winner before the season even starts.

User avatar
scotty86
0
Joined: 04 Dec 2010, 17:03

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

I don't know why some of you are trying to directly compare the MP4/4 and W05 based on the regulations for engine usage and testing limits and so on. The McLaren is over a quarter of a century old now! This is a purely relative exercise against the other cars from the same season, cause that is the only way this debate could ever work, surely?

Even then there surely needs to be exceptions or adjustments based on, say, freak weather in a qualifying session, an 'unblameable' in the race, reliability, and so on; and of course driver skill, because this is all about the car itself after all, or at least it seems so. Trying to 'weight' driver skill is a whole different kettle of fish though.

Kingshark
Kingshark
0
Joined: 26 May 2014, 05:41

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

TzeiTzei wrote:Looking at the time gaps the 1993 Williams might have been even more dominant in qualifying than the 1992 car.
Not quite, the FW15C "only" had an advantage of 1.179 seconds over it's nearest rivals. The FW14B had an advantage of 1.307 seconds.

Nothing in modern times (1980-present) will every quite match the dominance of the Williams FW14B over one lap, IMO.

Over a race distance, it's a different story. The 14B had horrendous reliability, some silly driver errors from Nigel, and some blatant bad luck; whereas the MP4/4 was almost bulletproof in every aspect.

Monaco: puncture for Mansell hands the lead to Senna. Even so, around any other circuit Mansell would've simply passed Senna back, but Monaco.
Canada: Mansell crashed out when passing Senna. He should have been much more patient than he was. Threw it away on his own accord.
Hungary: Patrese's engine blows up from the lead.
Belgium: Changing conditions and poor strategy for Williams. Even so, Mansell was catching Schumacher at 3 seconds/lap before an engine problem forced him to halt his charge.
Monza: Both drivers suffered from hydraulic problems when 1-2 in the race.
Australia: Mansell gets punted off by Senna, then Patrese's engine explodes when leading.

The 14B was never beat on merit, every race it lost was because of either reliability, driver incompetence, or just plain bad luck. In terms of the advantage it had over the competition (average 1.3 seconds, occasionally more than 2.5 seconds) I don't think it'll ever be replicated again.

User avatar
SectorOne
166
Joined: 26 May 2013, 09:51

Re: The most dominant car in F1 history

Post

Kingshark wrote:The 14B was never beat on merit, every race it lost was because of either reliability, driver incompetence, or just plain bad luck. In terms of the advantage it had over the competition (average 1.3 seconds, occasionally more than 2.5 seconds) I don't think it'll ever be replicated again.
This to me is domination. Simply looking at how many seconds and tenths car X could put on it´s competitors over one lap when the car works.

Merc can´t really touch that but it certainly had some pretty ridiculous gaps to it´s competitors from time to time.

Still can´t forget the last 10 laps of Bahrain... It honestly looked like an F1 car driving around with GP2 cars in terms of pace.
"If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward, then brother that person is a piece of sh*t"