Is it all about the car

[Hudsonhawk.]

Perhaps i will be flamed for this but hey....

Most may argue that Lewis is a genius and there is no doubting he has plenty of talent.....but can any other driver given the current spec mac run with him.....for Alonso, a double world champion, one would have thought he would be outpacing his younger, greener, virgin racer.

Is this why ferrari and shoie always suppressed their no. 2 driver and in doing so created a legend (or so it seemed to most shoie was).

Does hamilton v aloafso prove its all in the car. Sure its early days yet but hey....if you really read into it......Lewis's preformance is another nail in the F1 world and proof its all in the car.

[DaveKillens]

Ferrari and Shu used the second driver and car purely to support Shu's results. That was part of how they did business.
I do agree that the car is the major factor, just look at how far back Honda have slipped. Button is the same, Reubens is the same, but the car has changed, and it shows in the lack of results.
But Hamilton is definitely something special. Remember, he came from a spec series, GP2, and displayed a talent far above his competitors. The only question is whether he can handle the immense pressure of F1. So far, for a total rookie, he has exceeded all expectations. Mind you, Hamilton is receiving fantastic support and mentoring from McLaren. Not only Ron Dennis, but also Mika Hakkinen (ever wonder why he was in the pits at Malaysia?)
Lewis Hamilton has unlimited possibilities for success, he is definitely a champion in the making. He's just very fortunate that he's receiving such support and in a top car.

[pRo]

its all in the car

If it's all in the car, the team leaders must be pretty stupid to pay anyone for driving, cause many would actually pay for driving.


Of course the car matters a lot. If you put Alonso or Räikkönen into Honda and Button in McLaren or Ferrari, the Honda would still be slow. But I bet even you don't believe it's all in the car.

[Torso]

car matters
driver matters

[Rob W]

...one would have thought he would be outpacing his younger, greener, virgin racer.

I think you can't look at it from Hamilton's two-race-only history in F1. De La Rosa often posts faster times than the ace drivers in practice as do other test-drivers... BUT, where someone like Alonso and Hamilton will differ is the year-end race averages. Alonso will no doubt be able to keep up his pace lap after lap more consistently than Hamilton. Whether this is through concentration, conditioning, race-craft or a combination of them all it will show through. Schumacher did it to his team-mates for year after year even though at tests and during race-weekend practice he often didn't display such an advantage over his team-mates.

You could liken it to other sports... Roger Federer doesn't play his best tennis in practice or the early rounds of tournaments. When competition is higher at the business end of tournaments he has the ability to lift his game to another level - maybe only that extra 1%, but it's enough to make the difference. This what separates drivers like Alonso also... don't just consider practice times, test times, or even single stints during the race - it's the overall pace which is hardest to keep up and this is where Alonso's experience inevitably will show through this year.

Rob W

[Hudsonhawk.]

hi there pro....("how much???"...hehehehe - sorry)....

If it's all in the car, the team leaders must be pretty stupid to pay anyone for driving, cause many would actually pay for driving.

ummmmm....do ya fink that maybe it would help secure sponsorship.....ummmmm like vodafanny for example.....daaaa....mister vodafanny.....shoie is going and we got aloafso.....would ya fink dat maybe ya would sign and follow the gulliable pack of sheep.........aloafso is just another revenue raiser.....a licence to print money......you dont really think mac is paying for him because of his driving ability rather than his profile??? baaa baaaa baaaaa

not everything is what it seems

[Tom]

Certainly modern teams rely far more on the car than the driver, the driver still plays a vital role (look at Hamilton's start on Sunday, that was gutsy) but Hamilton really couldn't have found a better team to showcase his talent from the off. I have wondered myself if Lewis is only so high up because of the car and doubtless he is, but he has shown some incredable talent, the likes of which I haven't seen before, his ability to judge another drivers next move is something stuning.

He said in the conference at the end of the Sepang race that he tricked Felipe into those mistakes and then apologised for it. I don't know how true this was or how much of it was sheer luck but if you believe it then that is one hell of a thing to be able to do in your second race.
You can tell the boy's been kartin.

[RH1300S]

You won't get flamed for the question - we are all too polite for that (thanks for the reminder Carlos )

I'm sure most people agree that the car is very important in F1. Without a good one you will not be anywhere near the front of the race.

Do the results of Lewis Hamilton prove this to be the case (which is what I think you were saying)? I would say not. If Lewis & Fernando were both in (say) STR's you would still see the both of them getting the most out of their equipment - and it would probably be noticeable that they had.

The cars right down the grid are only separated by very small percentage points - so too the drivers. What happens at the sharp end is that the best drivers get the drive the best cars, so the differences add up.

As for Lewis Hamilton; a good assessment so far is that he has partnered with probably the best driver in the world right now and looks pretty good from all angles. Not just the car I would say.

[ketanpaul]

Of course the car is important but I would say it is an 70-30 combo. The car makes up the 70% of the results and the res is upto the driver to push it one level up