The starts - how much of it is down to the car?

[Gerhard Berger]

With Launch control not being in use for a number of years now, how much of the start is down to the car, how much is down to the driver, and how much of it is a combination of the driver working with the team? We often hear statements like the Ferrari's are blistering off the line, but is it something do with the clutch settings or is it simply Alonso and Massa executing it correctly?

I know how the start sequence on a car works, with 2 paddle clutches, with the second paddle being held at the optimum biting point and being released after the first paddle.

Is it not down to the driver to ensure the revs do not drop too low, find the correct bite point and time the gear shifts correctly?

I remember for example in the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix, Gene said that Alonso got a new clutch and since then, his starts have been much better. What would be new about this clutch and how would it help Alonso?

[spadeflush]

I believe there are some drivers who are excellent starters. Alonso has mostly through his career had consistently good starts, though it can be argued that his Benetton and Renault cars were known to be rockets off the line.
A lot of it is also down to the car, eg. if we look at 2011, Schumi had great starts all year. That was a short wheelbase car so maybe that is also a factor.

Having said that, like most performance things in F1, a fantastic start is a combination of driver, car and the team, especially the driver's race engineer.

[beelsebob]

I believe it's almost all car these days. Back in the days when traction control off the line was introduced, David Coulthard went from gaining a good few places off every start to not gaining anything. That to me demonstrated that the traction control had nullified is entire advantage in that area.

[henra]

I believe it's almost all car these days.

I tend to agree. Except for Webbo/Vettel you mostly see largely similar launch traits per Team. Vettel is very often good off the line but then seems to loose a bit of speed compared especially to the Ferraris and sometimes to the Mercs, gaining it back by braking late into the first corner.
You can ususally see the Ferraris out-accelerating everyone else by a fair margin. That is not a co-incidence. Maybe they have a race- start optimised gearing, because they tend to really shine once past a certain speed. It looks as if they had more HP (which they surely don't have) rather than better traction.
Alonso profits more from the acceleration because he always seems to find the gap where he can squeeze himself in at the first corner. Massa usually looses it by not finding this gap and giving all the places away again.