F1 man of the year

[lebesset]

no doubt in my mind ... adrian newey
not for the first time he produced a car which put all the others in the shade

had it not been for the diffuser dispute at the beginning of the season , the car was capable of winning every race [ even if the drivers were not consistent enough to actually do so ]

sorry jenson ..I know you did a fantastic job with what you had , played the percentages , fully exploited the advantage you had at the beginning of the season , but you have to give credit where credit is due ! at the end of the day you get to drive ...adrian would probably give it all up to be sitting in your seat

[Giblet]

I would say Ross Brawn.

Newey had a great car, but was able to work in a team where he had no real budget constraints, in near ideal conditions. For his scope of work, Newey did what he is known and expected to do. As well, I don't think the car could have won at every race. There were some races where KERS cars (Mclaren especially) had unmatched raw pace. It was also a car that was very hard on it's engines. The pullrod suspension helped lower the Cg, but maybe the upwards sloping driveshafts played a part in wear and tear, and had Kate's dirty sister eating engines like cupcakes.

Ross Brawn on the other hand, had to take over a huge failing team, steer the design team towards the end goal, keep the drivers on the same page, (Rubens had some burps), secure sponsorship, and bring home both championships in spite of these and many other issues. His team also found the good old DDD loophole, and he managed to do everything he needed to to make sure the DDD would be allowed. This advantage was crucial, and he played it just right.

[Sawtooth-spike]

Ross Brawn!

No question about it

JB owes his WDC to him and the team!

[zgred]

Max Mosley wait for it, wait for it.... no more re-election :]

[mikhak]

Has to be Ross Brawn. He did an amazing job this year.

A close second: eddie jordan for having total belief in his wild statements throughout the year no matter how wrong they turned out to be.

[axle]

Team Member: Ross Brawn
Driver: Kimi - for the simple reason even Fire can't stop the iceman

[Steven]

I would say Ross Brawn.

Newey had a great car, but was able to work in a team where he had no real budget constraints, in near ideal conditions. For his scope of work, Newey did what he is known and expected to do. As well, I don't think the car could have won at every race. There were some races where KERS cars (Mclaren especially) had unmatched raw pace. It was also a car that was very hard on it's engines. The pullrod suspension helped lower the Cg, but maybe the upwards sloping driveshafts played a part in wear and tear, and had Kate's dirty sister eating engines like cupcakes.

Ross Brawn on the other hand, had to take over a huge failing team, steer the design team towards the end goal, keep the drivers on the same page, (Rubens had some burps), secure sponsorship, and bring home both championships in spite of these and many other issues. His team also found the good old DDD loophole, and he managed to do everything he needed to to make sure the DDD would be allowed. This advantage was crucial, and he played it just right.

I'd vote for Newey for his excellent car. As said before, it was by a considerable margin the best of the non-DDD cars and would have outclassed everyone this year.

I can agree that Brawn did a good job, but the car itself really is a Honda design which they chose after developing three different concepts. That was really a no-limit budget contrary to what Red Bull have at their disposal (although not poor, it's not in comparison to McLaren or Honda).

[lebesset]

nicely summed up tomba , but , acting as devils advocate , one has to admit that the brawn chassis' were designed for a honda engine , and grafting in the merc at the last moment can't have been easy ; I often wonder if the design teams nowadays don't start by saying ...well , that's the engine , what do we do next ?

btw , just WHO are the design team at brawn at the moment ...I lost track about june having been on the road since the LM 24hours

[noname]

I often wonder if the design teams nowadays don't start by saying ...well , that's the engine , what do we do next ?

I do not think that's the case. there are quite strict rules covering engine (number of cylinders, angle between them, minimal weight, CoG location. etc) so from the structural point of view all design are similar.

I think the fact that Brown was able to incorporate Mercedes engine into its chassis in just 6 (if I recall correctly) weeks and create really fast car seems to speak in favor of my thesis.

[Giblet]

I would say Ross Brawn.

Newey had a great car, but was able to work in a team where he had no real budget constraints, in near ideal conditions. For his scope of work, Newey did what he is known and expected to do. As well, I don't think the car could have won at every race. There were some races where KERS cars (Mclaren especially) had unmatched raw pace. It was also a car that was very hard on it's engines. The pullrod suspension helped lower the Cg, but maybe the upwards sloping driveshafts played a part in wear and tear, and had Kate's dirty sister eating engines like cupcakes.

Ross Brawn on the other hand, had to take over a huge failing team, steer the design team towards the end goal, keep the drivers on the same page, (Rubens had some burps), secure sponsorship, and bring home both championships in spite of these and many other issues. His team also found the good old DDD loophole, and he managed to do everything he needed to to make sure the DDD would be allowed. This advantage was crucial, and he played it just right.

I'd vote for Newey for his excellent car. As said before, it was by a considerable margin the best of the non-DDD cars and would have outclassed everyone this year.

I can agree that Brawn did a good job, but the car itself really is a Honda design which they chose after developing three different concepts. That was really a no-limit budget contrary to what Red Bull have at their disposal (although not poor, it's not in comparison to McLaren or Honda).

I would agree if the fact that it chews up engines so readily means that the Brawn designer(s) did a better job.

Without being sure why it eats engines, the Red Bull chassis either doesn't sufficiently cool the engine, or stresses it out due to it's configuration.

I think giving the wave to the designer of the number 2 car, that is more fragile, and who didn't see the DDD loophole when 3 other teams did, is enough to warrant the title going elsewhere.

[ISLAMATRON]

Flav

[Giblet]

Bernie would find some way to make that logic work.

[ds.raikkonen]

JB owes his WDC to him and the team!

Well, I guess all the world champions owe their title to their team & team principal along with their driving skills.Nothing new there....JB did drive well at the beginning and at Interlagos.Those overtakes were fantastic and brave considering what it could ve cost him if anything went wrong.

[lebesset]

I thought the trick was to judge where the cutting edge was ...in other words , not design for safety
correct me if I am wrong but the red bulls will go through the season on the permitted number of engines , sounds just right to me , nothing to spare .....but the fastest car !

sounds like colin chapman to me , finest designer of his generation , perhaps a little ahead of what could be achieved with the materials at his disposal but always just at the ragged edge

[Confused_Andy]

Jake Humphrey

Realisticly though, Ross Brawn has been the man of the year, he gave that team direction last year and they developed the best car on the grid.