A Question I would like answered

[Roamy]

If you poll all the teams

Who are the 5 best drivers and car developers?

I think it would be quite interesting.

[F1boat]

Great thread, fousto. For drivers, I think Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Massa, Button. For developers, I am not really sure, but I think that Alonso and Barrichello are among them. BTW, the topic is about current drivers, I guess?

[Cozzie]

BEST DRIVERS:
1. Alonso
2. Vettel
3. Raikkonen (when on top form)
4. Massa
5. Hamilton

DEVELOPERS:
1. Alonso
2-5. ???

[Hondo]

In this day and age and, I'd say since 2000, car development has not been a major factor in driver selection. Depending upon how you define it, I'm not even sure development would be the correct word to use. The car is pretty much a concept decided on by an artistic, creative engineer, brought to reality by engineers, computers, wind tunnels and other static tests. By the time the car is built and on the ground, so much of it is designed to work in concert that little development can be done in one area without messing up another. I think what is important is the bond of trust between the engineers and the driver. The engineers will get the development data they desire if they have a driver with the skills to drive the car as close as possible to their testing program and the driver has to have enough faith in his engineers to try driving the car their way, even if it "feels" funny.

As far as drivers go, I would think with the limited testing, the car thrashers and floggers would be in demand. You know, the guys that can take a car that is all wrong but still manage to do something right with it. Like scoring a few points. To me, the "smooth drivers" are slow drivers. They look good in the rain but on a dry track they are consistant and just part of the parade.

Without a doubt Alonso and Kimi are the absolute best thrashers on the track today and both are capable of doing cool stuff with bad cars when they feel like it.
Hamilton is quickly learning to be a proper thrasher.
Vettel and Sutil both seem to have the skills, they just need to settle down and pay attention. So:
1. Alonso
2. Kimi
3. Hamilton
4. Vettel
5. Sutil

Button - If he doesn't WDC this year, he'll become the second coming of Coulthard.

Rubens - Has become a bitter little man and needs to step away.

Fisi - His dream has come true and he can leave now. I remember someone at Ferrari saying Fisi would never drive for Ferrari when he first came into F1. Sorry, I don't remember who it was nor do I have a link.

Massa - I think If Massa takes another good shot to his head, it will kill him. He wants to come back so best of luck to you.

Trulli - Time to retire, Jarno. In a strange way, you kind of remind me of Button. You have your good days, but not enough of them.

Kubica - May become the Euro version of Rubens. Going from one weakened team to another isn't going to improve his outlook.

[V12]

In this day and age and, I'd say since 2000, car development has not been a major factor in driver selection.

A year ago I would have agreed with you, and in future it may become true again, but with the changes in rules and the limited amount of testing, I think an experienced, good car developer has become more valuable. Obviously nowhere near as much as it used to be before computers and team staff levels running into triple figures. But I believe the reason Brawn kept hold of Barrichello instead of going for Senna like Honda were probably going to do was due to his experience in getting the car up to speed, and while who knows what would have happened if Senna had been in the other Brawn instead of Rubens, chances are that decision paid off.

[Garry Walker]

A year ago I would have agreed with you, and in future it may become true again, but with the changes in rules and the limited amount of testing, I think an experienced, good car developer has become more valuable. Obviously nowhere near as much as it used to be before computers and team staff levels running into triple figures. But I believe the reason Brawn kept hold of Barrichello instead of going for Senna like Honda were probably going to do was due to his experience in getting the car up to speed, and while who knows what would have happened if Senna had been in the other Brawn instead of Rubens, chances are that decision paid off.

The reality is that the first day of testing when Rubens drove the car, he was super fast at once. so his testing skills had NOTHING to do with how fast the Brawn car is.

Drivers have very little to do with car development.
As for those praising Alonso so much, why hasnt the super-dooper tester done much with the Renault the last 2 years?


Best drivers: Kimi, Massa, Hamilton. Little bit behind them Alonso.

[BeansBeansBeans]

Drivers have very little to do with car development.

People on F1 forums tend to overstate a driver's role in the development process.

The best attribute for a test driver is the ability to put in consistent lap-times. The feedback they give to their engineers is valuable too (though less so since the introduction of telemetry) but ultimately it's the engineers who use that feedback to make changes to the car.

[Knock-on]

In no order:

LH, FA, KR, SV, FM, JB, RK.

[UltimateDanGTR]

well I think there are 5 drivers currently in F1 that are just that little cut above the rest, all brilliant and all have blown people away with inidvidual performances on occasions. These 5 are Lewis, Kimi, Massa, Fred and Seb kettle. I really cant say anyone of these are better than the other, they are the best simple as and a one off race where they are all in the same cars, just them 5 and no else in the way and no mechaniccal problems for anyone is a dream. maybe we'd find out who is currently THE best then.....but until that dream comes true, we have the 5 best drivers, all of which stand a chance of the world championship next year. (providing Kimi gets a top drive like Macca) Plus, Button and Webber aren't too far behind whatsoever....

[jens]

Barrichello was chosen over Senna mainly because Senna had had almost no experience in F1 car (and now we can see, how badly are all those mid-season substitutes struggling without testing) and also Ross had more trust in Rubens' ability to deliver in fighting for top positions, whereas such sudden opportunity could have been caused too much pressure for Bruno.

Top drivers? That's tight.
Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Massa, Kubica, Räikkönen (well, that's Top6) with Heidfeld, Rosberg, etc narrowly left out...

Car development? No idea, this is a guessing game for fans.