"Thinking" racers

[Giblet]

When Senna had his _first_ drive in an F1 car, a Williams, they made small changes to the setup without his knowledge, and he was instantly able to feel and quantify them.

That's very interesting, but the topic here was "thinking" drivers, not "feeling" drivers.

Wow, you don't think he was alert and thinking about what the car was doing, but just feeling?

Wrong.

Completely on topic, sorry. The quantifying part I mentioned is all thinking, you don't quantify a feeling. Senna could feel what was happening and think about it as well.

[lolzi]

When Senna had his _first_ drive in an F1 car, a Williams, they made small changes to the setup without his knowledge, and he was instantly able to feel and quantify them.

That's very interesting, but the topic here was "thinking" drivers, not "feeling" drivers.

Wow, you don't think he was alert and thinking about what the car was doing, but just feeling?

Wrong.

Completely on topic, sorry. The quantifying part I mentioned is all thinking, you don't quantify a feeling. Senna could feel what was happening and think about it as well.

But what the topic had to do with racer "thinking" through a race, not "thinking" how the car setup was. And I didn't say Senna didn't/couldn't do that, but that your example wasn't really about the same thing.

[marcush.]

I don´t see many of the currently active drivers as thinking drivers really,even hot property Kubica is distarcted by changing steering wheel settings in the pitlane enough to overshoot his pit throwing away a precious 2nd place.
so these guys can drive quick and have the stamina ,but they lack a bit in terms of instinct when not to drop the ball. You just know that a tyre stop is a crucial thing ..fiddling around with adjustments when you should concentrate on nicely slotting in is just unbelievable ...non thinking.

[raymondu999]

Yes, and this thread is about those who think. Not necessarily this year, but all the other years.

[hollus]

When Alonso held schumacher back in Imola 2006 for something like 15 laps, he wasn't just braking early in the inside to accelerate early, thus making a pass almost impossible. He also slowed down where he didn't need to, in corners that didn't really pose a threat. For the first laps of that chase, he was reducing the distance to a car to be lapped ahead of him. In the laps laps, he deliberately went even slower to avoid chasing him, since lapping a backmarker would have given Schumi a good chance to pass. That was thinking during the race.

[marcush.]

prost once said he had to be much better than the other drivers because he lacked charisma and selfbelief.this made him work harder as others but his name professor only really came up when he was driving for McLaren ,at Renault he was talent and future champ with a tendency to buckle under pressure.

To me one of them thinking in the racecar was Niki Lauda ,never doing something unnecessary just enough to achieve his goals...when clinching his last title he
really put up an overtaking fireworks to clinch the position required...a controlled agressive drive ..in one moment he even had to stop the car on the track to avoid a collision ...who would be so damn cool ...to stop to win...

[PlatinumZealot]

I think Alonso and Schumacher are quite clever. Webber has shown some of that this year as well.

[noname]

I don´t see many of the currently active drivers as thinking drivers really,even hot property Kubica is distarcted by changing steering wheel settings in the pitlane enough to overshoot his pit throwing away a precious 2nd place.
so these guys can drive quick and have the stamina ,but they lack a bit in terms of instinct when not to drop the ball. You just know that a tyre stop is a crucial thing ..fiddling around with adjustments when you should concentrate on nicely slotting in is just unbelievable ...non thinking.

in the interview Robert explained he had to switch few things as he was going to wear intermediates instead if slicks. he could not do this once on track as conditions were very difficult and he had to be fully focused on racing. in my view he made a right (safe) choice, however execution was not flawless.

I think the number of mistakes we saw last weekend (even those with the titles in their cv were able to put the foot wrong) is clear indication how difficult the race was and how easy was to make something wrong. at the end of the day they are only humans.

[marcush.]

I don´t see many of the currently active drivers as thinking drivers really,even hot property Kubica is distarcted by changing steering wheel settings in the pitlane enough to overshoot his pit throwing away a precious 2nd place.
so these guys can drive quick and have the stamina ,but they lack a bit in terms of instinct when not to drop the ball. You just know that a tyre stop is a crucial thing ..fiddling around with adjustments when you should concentrate on nicely slotting in is just unbelievable ...non thinking.

in the interview Robert explained he had to switch few things as he was going to wear intermediates instead if slicks. he could not do this once on track as conditions were very difficult and he had to be fully focused on racing. in my view he made a right (safe) choice, however execution was not flawless.

I think the number of mistakes we saw last weekend (even those with the titles in their cv were able to put the foot wrong) is clear indication how difficult the race was and how easy was to make something wrong. at the end of the day they are only humans.

I´m actually impressed by Kubica.He does a wonderful job at Renault.But nevertheless I´m pretty sure there would have been enough time for him to complete his adjustments on the way out of the pits ..You have to be prepared and go through your routines...and not drive over your garage equipment .pits is racing as well ...so there is no ways you could say...ah its only happening in the pits.. seconds lost is lost...doesn´t matter where.

[noname]

I´m actually impressed by Kubica.He does a wonderful job at Renault.But nevertheless I´m pretty sure there would have been enough time for him to complete his adjustments on the way out of the pits ..You have to be prepared and go through your routines...and not drive over your garage equipment .pits is racing as well ...so there is no ways you could say...ah its only happening in the pits.. seconds lost is lost...doesn´t matter where.

Renault's box was quite close to the exit. Cold intermediates, dump track, tight corner at the exit, quite a few cars in the pit, fight for the podium spot after few not so lucky races... I am still thinking Robert (probably together with the team) made the right choice. That does not, of course, hide the fact he did not do it right, but he was first to admit he made mistake. I hope they use this lesson and improve their pit entry procedures or/and will do some training. Spa shown some change in this area at least should be considered. btw, I wonder if F1 teams' simulators are powerful enough to be used for this purpose.

just in case... sorry for of topic.

[747heavy]

I think Niki Lauda falls into this category:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSkfZvgFzvE[/youtube]

[marcush.]

he drove better than he comments.. but typical lauda , he would not allow himself not to take the RTL money for a few hours of work..

[raymondu999]

Something really got me thinking. He said that Button said he called the stops (or lack of stops) in China and Australia. Then when it came to Monza, he blindly takes on the team's decision to pit him, and even after the stops he doesn't know (or pretends to not know) why they pitted. Somehow, when he wins the race, it was his call, valiantly thinking through the odds and taking the best course of action, but when the pit call (potentially) lost him the position and the race, it's the team's decision, and he was just the helpless passenger in it.

Any thoughts?

[marcush.]

he clearly asked the pit if the primes really were faster..and they said yes ...but it proved not to be the case.
some things you need your pit to judge..and they gave the wrong information .

[xpensive]

I believe the most "thinking" racer I ever saw was Jody Scheckter in 1979, well aware that he could never ever challenge the british kit-cars with tons of downforce, he just kept his cool and picked up the necessary points for his WDC.

Carlos Reutemann was another one, seasons 80-81, he stayed in the points for 16 concescutive races, amazing.