I recently glanced at a forum which discussed which drivers would be happiest at which team; it was based on temperament ......latins at ferrari and icy swedes at ML sort of thing
well I don't agree......I feel that the best results come from the matching of the characteristics of the car and the style of the driver ...give a driver a highly competitive car and keep him at the pointed end and the rest won't matter to him is my belief
take ferrari for example ...suits massa extremely well , and although he isn't the driver that kimi is , he gets similar results ; why ? the car is better with a smoother style which massa has , whereas kimi prefers the more aggressive method ; if they need another driver in a couple of years ferrari should go for someone like button who likes the smooth approach ; for me , alonso , a top driver in my view , is completely the wrong guy ...he is at his best with the super aggressive approach which renault used to have with the tailored michelins ; trulli I always see as very smooth , but the pressure on an italian at ferrari from the tifosi and the press is always too much
Mclaren have moved toward a smoother style chassis this year to get closer to the needs of using the ferrari bised bridgestones , not close enough to get the same results [ ferrari , after all ,worked with them to develop the range ] , but closer all the same ; obviously hamilton is close to getting the best from the tyres [ if you listen to the renault podcat you will hear their engineers comment how well hamilton uses the tyres this year ], but kova has struggled after the more aggressive renault chassis [ notice that alonso is doing no better this year than kova did last ]...unfortunately for kova McL moved towards the smooth end of the scale just as he joined them ; maybe he will be the last of the finns at McL , if you have driven in finland , especially in winter , you will know where the driving style comes from
once in a very long while a driver comes along who can drive just as well whatever the characteristics of the car ; anyone who had the privilege of watching jimmy clark will understand why his contempories felt it almost unfair that they had to compete against him , whatever the car he could always outdrive anyone else with the same equipment ; I remember when graham hill and clark were team mates , hill would spend half the night with the engineers trying to squeeze a little extra out of his car .....clark would just turn up and drive whatever he was given ...and win ; senna was close , but in my view hamilton shows signs of being the the first driver since of the same standard ...he is just a beginner learning his trade , is the opposite in character to the pleasant and taciturn clark , but the signs are there , hence all the jealousy
big changes on the way however , who knows what style will be needed where !notice how the fiat boss is saying no alonso next year , not never .....maybe the kart style driving like alonso will be perfect for ferrari under the new regs , so goodbye massa and a much happier kimi
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]). You said "I feel that the best results come from the matching of the characteristics of the car and the style of the driver" Again what about fernando and kimi? fernando went from renault to mclaren, they are completely different cars yet he absolutely mastered it. kimi went from mclaren to ferrari and absolutely mastered it. you brought jimmy clark into it, and by no means am i comparing these two to jimmy clark. the problem with your post is that you say "I feel that the best results come from the matching of the characteristics of the car and the style of the driver," but then you say "give a driver a highly competitive car and keep him at the pointed end and the rest won't matter to him is my belief." so what about kimi and fernando? and their ability to adapt to racing machines like jimmy clark?