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ChrisF1 wrote: and the car was nowhere near as bad as he said it was.
Did you watch any on-boards? The car was totally out of control for the first four races. It had ZERO rear end stability.
“To be able to actually make something is awfully nice”
Bruce McLaren on building his first McLaren racecars, 1970
“I've got to be careful what I say, but possibly to probably Juan would have had a bigger go”
Sir Frank Williams after the 2003 Canadian GP, where Ralf hesitated to pass brother M. Schumacher
I think the point ChrisF1 was making is that even in those first four races, the car wasn't *slow* - it was very hard to drive, but it was still quite fast, generally. Fast enough for points in all races. Then the Barcelona exhausts came and added drivability to it.
raymondu999 wrote:I think the point ChrisF1 was making is that even in those first four races, the car wasn't *slow* - it was very hard to drive, but it was still quite fast, generally. Fast enough for points in all races. Then the Barcelona exhausts came and added drivability to it.
This exactly. The car wasn't pleasant to drive, but it still got great results because it was quick. By round 5 that was a top 3 car for the rest of the season, on the colder days it was the quickest car.
There is a myth going around that the car was bad from race 1 to race 18 and that Alonso was nearly champion in a dog of a car, when in reality they got to grips with their car as fast as Red Bull did.
I firmly believe that the Ferrari is the best car in 2013.
Extraordinary feats in a dog of a car would be Schumi in 1996 for me.
The first 7 races have been the same for both years - but then the seasons diverge, with Valencia out of the picture. I've eliminated Sutil, Gutierrez and Bottas, along with Caterham/Marussia from the results, for obvious reasons. As such:
Driver 2013 == 2012(change), percentage change
Sebastian Vettel 132 == 85 (47), 55.29%
Fernando Alonso 96 == 86 (10), 11.63%
Kimi Raikkonen 88 == 55 (33), 60.00%
Lewis Hamilton 77 == 88 (-11), -12.50%
Mark Webber 69 == 79 (-10), -12.66%
Nico Rosberg 57 == 67 (-10), -14.93%
Felipe Massa 49 == 11 (38), 345.45%
Paul di Resta 34 == 21 (13), 61.90%
Romain Grosjean 26 == 53 (-27), -50.94%
Jenson Button 25 == 45 (-20), -44.44%
Jean-Eric Vergne 13 == 4 (9), 225.00%
Sergio Perez 12 == 37 (-25), -67.57%
Daniel Ricciardo 7 == 2 (5), 250.00%
Nico Hulkenberg 5 == 7 (-2), -28.57%
Pastor Maldonado 0 == 29 (-29), -100.00%
Team movers:
Lewis Hamilton 77 == 88 (-11), -12.50%
Sergio Perez 12 == 37 (-25), -67.57%
Nico Hulkenberg 5 == 7 (-2), -28.57%
Sorted in order of gain: Gainers
Felipe Massa 49 == 11 (38), 345.45%
Daniel Ricciardo 7 == 2 (5), 250.00%
Jean-Eric Vergne 13 == 4 (9), 225.00%
Paul di Resta 34 == 21 (13), 61.90%
Kimi Raikkonen 88 == 55 (33), 60.00%
Sebastian Vettel 132 == 85 (47), 55.29%
Fernando Alonso 96 == 86 (10), 11.63% Losers
Lewis Hamilton 77 == 88 (-11), -12.50%
Mark Webber 69 == 79 (-10), -12.66%
Nico Rosberg 57 == 67 (-10), -14.93%
Nico Hulkenberg 5 == 7 (-2), -28.57%
Jenson Button 25 == 45 (-20), -44.44%
Romain Grosjean 26 == 53 (-27), -50.94%
Sergio Perez 12 == 37 (-25), -67.57%
Pastor Maldonado 0 == 29 (-29), -100.00%
ChrisF1 wrote:Pretty much why I say Alonso's drive last year was overrated. He probably picked up 50-75 points from other people retiring, and the car was nowhere near as bad as he said it was.
raymondu999 wrote:I think the point ChrisF1 was making is that even in those first four races, the car wasn't *slow* - it was very hard to drive, but it was still quite fast, generally. Fast enough for points in all races. Then the Barcelona exhausts came and added drivability to it.
tbh i think words like "slow" or "quite fast" are too abritrary. Pace in F1 is really defined relative to the competition. In the first 4 races, you'd probably have to say the Ferrari was only about the 4th fastest car at best.
I see your point though - the car was on a knife edge, and if you had a driver who could handle driving it on the limit like that (such as Alonso) then he could get decent results out of it.
Barcelona exhausts not only added driveability but performance aswell (it free'd up a huge area in the coke bottle that was previous blocking air flow to the diffuser). There were also quite a few other bits added to the car at that race.
ChrisF1 wrote:
This exactly. The car wasn't pleasant to drive, but it still got great results because it was quick. By round 5 that was a top 3 car for the rest of the season, on the colder days it was the quickest car.
I'd say it was only the quickest car at Monza and perhaps Canada (neither were cold days). It faired better in the wet than it did in the dry but i wouldn't say it was the fastest car in the wet by any means.
There is a myth going around that the car was bad from race 1 to race 18 and that Alonso was nearly champion in a dog of a car, when in reality they got to grips with their car as fast as Red Bull did.
I havn't seen this myth going around.
I firmly believe that the Ferrari is the best car in 2013.
Well it's changed from race to race depending on the temperature, weather, tyres and track layout. Very difficult to say which is "the best car" this year.
Extraordinary feats in a dog of a car would be Schumi in 1996 for me.
True, though surely you'd agree that this car was top 3?
