2008 team/track inconsistency

[timbo]

So this year we all seen Ferrari and McLaren exchanging dominance on different tracks. But Trulli's second place on Interlagos got me thinking that not only top teams obvious shape was VASTLY track dependent but other teams all had some hit-or-miss quality for different circuits.
What is that - closer performance that makes every 0.1s count? Or maybe chassis are so developed that they are hard to tune?

[Ciro Pabón]

Well, the track is short, so differences are short too. One second down and you were out of the second qualy!

Besides, the track was at 40 degrees celsius. That should equalize teams that have complained of too low tyre temperature, I think.

[timbo]

Well, the track is short, so differences are short too. One second down and you were out of the second qualy!

Besides, the track was at 40 degrees celsius. That should equalize teams that have complained of too low tyre temperature, I think.

Well, Interlagos is of course a very special track and Trulli is reknowned for his pace over a single lap, but this year you could seen that only constant is that FI never makes it out of Q1 while everyone else made into Q1 at some point.
Also there were comments by Bourdais who said that the window of setup options is very narrow on F1 car vs Indy.

[Jersey Tom]

Toyota has been pouring an insane amount of money into their F1 program. One would expect them to get results sooner or later!

[timbo]

Umm, seems like I couldn't make my thoughts clear
Well, once again - I didn't want to talk about Toyota's result. I thought that every team on the grid had some up and down moments this year, and the relative pace "swing" between the teams on different circuits was much more noticeable than before.

[Metar]

Toyota, however, are a prime example of that randomness - at Hungary they were 2nd, and now this qualifying by Trulli, but on various other occasions they've even been lower-midfield, stuck in Q2...

[vasia]

Toyota, however, are a prime example of that randomness - at Hungary they were 2nd, and now this qualifying by Trulli, but on various other occasions they've even been lower-midfield, stuck in Q2...

I don't see any randomness here. If you're talking about qualifying, that is a combination of team strategy, weather conditions, driver skill, fuel loads, and luck.

Race results are what count in the end, not qualifying. Ferrari and McLaren have also been inconsistent with qualifying this year.

Toyota has been consistently scoring points through-out the year, so I'd say they've been fairly consistent. Yes, Toyota has been stronger at some tracks than others, but that applies to all teams too.

It's impossible to have a car that is equally strong/consistent at ALL tracks.

[Metar]

I never claimed it is - but Toyota did seem to swing a little harder than most, in race-pace as well.

[timbo]

I never claimed it is - but Toyota did seem to swing a little harder than most, in race-pace as well.

Williams too. Most consistent IMO were RedBulls.

[Metar]

Williams were actually quite predictable - whenever the track required anything from the aero departments, they were crap. :p