FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

Something else just came to mind. Vettel's success was competing against four former WDCs. In 1992, only two F1 drivers were former WDCs, Mansel and Senna. Score: Vettel-4, Mansel-1.

[bud]

Is that guy serious with that article? Cars easier to drive back then?

[andrew]

Mansell got his record in what was by far the best car in the field as did Vettel. How difficult the cars in 1992 were to drive compared with the cars in 2011 is irrelevant. It would only be relevant if Mansell and Vettel were on track at the same time with one in an RB7 and the other in a FW14B. In both seasons the drivers were competing against comparible machinery in terms of difficulty to drive and both were the class of the field.

In 1992, the cars were probably easier to drive than the cars in 1972 as much as the cars in 2011 are easier to drive than the cars in 1991, if you see what I'm getting at in a very round-about way.

[QuoththeRaven]

Is that guy serious with that article? Cars easier to drive back then?

Umm... you do know what car Mansell was in, don't you? The infamous Williams active suspension, traction control and anti-lock brake car? His car was miles and miles easier to drive than any other car on the grid at that time.

[bud]

Is that guy serious with that article? Cars easier to drive back then?

Umm... you do know what car Mansell was in, don't you? The infamous Williams active suspension, traction control and anti-lock brake car? His car was miles and miles easier to drive than any other car on the grid at that time.

Umm... You do know i was talking about in comparison to Vettels car not others on the grid in 92.

[scotty]

I don't believe Williams had ABS full time until 1993. Also, something for everyone constantly banging on about how easy the Williams was to drive blah blah blah:

Head refused to be drawn on which achievement was the greater, pointing out that Mansell did extract the best from the machinery even when he didn’t have to. “He had a good car, but it wasn’t necessarily the easiest to drive,” he said. “Riccardo was very close on speed with Nigel in the FW14 in 1991 and was a significant threat, but when the active suspension came along, Nigel took to the characteristics better. “The active system that we had didn’t give great feedback as to how much grip there was in the corner as you turn in. Then, when you were in the corner, the grip was there. Nigel managed to say ‘sod it, I’ll float through that phase because I know the grip is coming’ whereas Riccardo wanted realtime feedback that the grip was there. “I can’t really compare Nigel and Sebastian other than to say that Nigel used the equipment he had to the best possible level and Sebastian has done the same.”

[bud]

And another thing percentage of poles is where the difference lies. Having more races means a greater chance at beating a record. 14 of 16 is better than 15 of 19.

In fact Vettel doesn't even rank second in pole percentage.

Highest percentage of pole positions in a season
Driver Season Races Poles Percentage
1 Nigel Mansell 1992 16 14[11] 88%
2 Ayrton Senna 1988 16 13 81%
Ayrton Senna 1989 16 13 81%
Alain Prost 1993 16 13 81%
5 Sebastian Vettel 2011 19 15 79%
6 Juan Manuel Fangio 1956 8 6 75%
7 Jim Clark 1963 10 7 70%
8 Mika Häkkinen 1999 16 11 69%
9 Jim Clark 1962 9 6 67%
Alberto Ascari 1953 9 6 67%

[myownalias]

Weren't F1 cars still using non sequential gearboxes at the point Mansell set his record of 14 poles in 1992?

I take records in F1 with a pinch of salt, because of the ever changing nature of F1, more/less races, smaller/bigger engines, more/less aero, the list goes on, records are only 100% valid if the specification of the race series never changes and race on the same 'x' tracks every single year, completely unaltered in any way.

[andrew]

Records are only of any real value on a year on year basis, maybe at the most spread over 2 or 3 seasons (depending on how often the reg's change) but comparing cars 20 years apart is impossible.