What in the heck is wrong with Graham Rahal?

**FIAT1** · 24th August 2013, 20:54

Originally Posted by FormerFF

I'm enjoying this formula quite a lot. Overall, the racing has been quite good.

Good for you and everyone at .2

**FormerFF** · 25th August 2013, 15:44

He's looking better this weekend, maybe they've got things a little better sorted out, engineering-wise.

I still don't think he's going to be a top rank Indycar driver, more like a Bryan Herta or Patrick Carpentier, occasionally winning a race but never contending for a championship.

**Chris R** · 26th August 2013, 12:58

I agree that the top end of this field is not close to equal to the top end of F-1 (there are what, 5 world champions in the current field - none of whom "backed into it") - but once you get away from those 5 plus Rosberg the field drops off pretty quickly..... I would say the bottom 2/3's to 3/4's of both fields would be a pretty competitive race open to whomever screwed up the least and/or had a good day.....

I also think it is a complete fallacy that this field is weaker than anything that CART or Indycar had in the past - you have a lot of race wins and championships out there now and a good amount of talent.....

As for the current cars not being up to snuff - the racing sure is.... AND didn't they just come within a hair of breaking the lap record at Mid-Ohio? These cars may be spec and they may not breath fire like the height of the CART days - but they are darn fast and clearly make up for in handling what they lose in horsepower (they couldn't be flirting with lap records anywhere if that were not the case)...

As for Graham, he has the talent - he just need to get his head out of his ..... and get on with being a professional race car driver (much like Marco decided to do this past off season). Is he the second coming like many of us thought he may be?? No. Were those expectations ever fair or realistic?? No.... If he gets his act together he will have a long career as a decent, if not spectacular Indycar driver who shows flashes of brilliance which he may or may not ever fully realize. If he doesn't, he takes over the family team and maybe pulls off a Chip Ganassi or Richard Childress (mediocre driver to great team owner).... Worse case scenario, he retires to Ohio and somehow plugs into the Rahal enterprises and makes more $$ than most of us.....

**drewdawg727** · 26th August 2013, 15:03

You really can't compare F1 talent throughout the grid. Put a driver like Nico Hulkenberg, Paul diResta, or Sergio Perez in a top car and they will be multiple race winners. F1 is far from driver talent as much as it is about engineering. I know that is a complete aside to the topic, but I had to shoot down Chris R's claim there ...

Problem with Graham is, although he's somewhat talented, he really just needs to get out of his own head. The kid is never happy, always points the blame at others, and revels in it, so there really is no chance for him to put together a good result unless everything goes his way. If he has an offseason like Marco had this past year, he will probably throw together a decent season, but I just don't think there's any hope for him at the current time.

I can firmly saying this comparing his season to Jakes' season .. who really does seem to want to succeed and tries his hardest to put together good and clean races, which he has. That kid has definitely been impressive this season.

**Chris R** · 26th August 2013, 18:35

I don't know about that, if I had a nickel for every driver who "could be a winner in a top car" I'd be rich....

Who's to say that Dixon, Franchitti, Power, Hunter-Reay etc. wouldn't be running away with the F-1 title if they were the lead Red Bull driver?? Similarly, who is to say that Newgarden, Jakes, Servia etc. wouldn't be walking away with the Indycar title if they were in Penske or Ganassi cars??

As best as I can recall, the only mediocre F-1 driver to ever really be a top Indycar driver was Zanardi. Most F-1 refugees end up running pretty similarly to how they did in F-1...

At the end of the day, it is as much about culture and chemistry as anything.... F-1 expects a more intense driver (regardless of talent) and Indycar favors a more laid back approach (also regardless of talent)... Zanardi and to a lesser extent Montoya thrived in Indycar because the culture of the series fit with them. Similarly, Bourdais and Andretti floundered because F1 did not favor their approach........

At this point you have two series with two very different approaches to racecraft and that alone makes it really difficult to compare relative talents -which is to say - all of this is strictly opinion with no real way to prove or disprove any of it

**drewdawg727** · 26th August 2013, 18:50

You have to remember that Indycar is more of a spec (and I use the term loosely) series than F1 is...which means that a lower budget team (SFHR, Coyne, Dragon, etc) can (and have) show that they can run up front occasionally. That is why a "if such and such driver was in a top car" argument holds a bit more water for F1...as you will never see a "bottom 3" team car make it past the 2nd qualifying session. I wasn't talking about Indycar drivers succeeding in F1...which I got the vibe you were alluding to.

**Chris R** · 26th August 2013, 19:53

Originally Posted by drewdawg727

You have to remember that Indycar is more of a spec (and I use the term loosely) series than F1 is...which means that a lower budget team (SFHR, Coyne, Dragon, etc) can (and have) show that they can run up front occasionally. That is why a "if such and such driver was in a top car" argument holds a bit more water for F1...as you will never see a "bottom 3" team car make it past the 2nd qualifying session. I wasn't talking about Indycar drivers succeeding in F1...which I got the vibe you were alluding to.

Fair enough....

**Spafranco** · 1st September 2013, 17:13

Graham needs to race and not act like the son of a millionaire who was also a racer. His dad, Bobby won on merit. All young Rahal can do is cry and moan about other drivers.

He has the audacity to blame Vautier for hitting him and not paying attention "we all know that" ,he said. Well Graham, maybe if you paid more attention you would not have been in the tire in the first place.

Did anyone notice Rahal when he started to answer the question about what happened? He was about to start using or should I say trying to mock Vautier by mimicking a french accent. Classless.

Strange that the two biggest whiners on the circuit are Rahal and pouty (sic) Andretti. One gets the feeling of entitlement.

Hey Graham, you crashed and caused Tristan to crash. It is he that should be angry and receiving the apology not the other way round.