FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[7UpJordan]

1998-2001 were brilliant years, in my opinion. They may not have been the same as the days that a lot of people on here reminisce about (Prost/Senna/Mansell/Piquet etc.) but for me, the Schumacher/Hakkinen battles were amazing to watch. I'd like those days back, I guess. I would not be unhappy to see Schumacher and Hakkinen back in the sport and fighting for titles.

Well they should be old enough to race in the Grand Prix Masters by now I reckon.

[McLaren Fan]

You say 'according to Coulthard's book', quoting this as if it were a completely reliable source. Would this be the same David Coulthard who claimed that McLaren never made cars that understeered to suit his driving style, despite him having driven several in his tenure at the team?

If Coulthard wanted his car to understeer, he could have just easily asked them to reduce the front wing or soften the front anti-rollbar. Or is it something he expected to be pre-built into the car?

You can change some of the car's settings, and to a large extent the changes work, but there's a chance that you could be slightly compromising other areas of the car's performance. Cars can be designed, however, which have a natural tendency to oversteer or understeer, so the some of the changes you suggested would not need to be made. A good example is the McLaren MP4/10. It struggled for front-end grip (I'm taking some liberties with the example, for the car was obviously not designed to be like that), so it was naturally prone to understeer. To try to counter this, the wing settings were adjusted, but that caused more drag etc. Coulthard drove a couple of McLarens that handled like fully-loaded shopping trolleys, so he's lying when he says the cars were designed to suit Hakkinen, who preferred oversteer. Hakkinen just did a better job, regardless of whether the car oversteered or understeered.

[racechick]

Things move on, you cant go back. Different era, different cars, different talents, different battles. Things always look rosier in the past, you remember the good, forget the bad. Enjoy what you have now.

[McLaren Fan]

I think the last couple of seasons have been decent. Alonso versus Schumacher in 2005 and 2006 was pretty, good, although we didn't really see them do battle on the track all that much, so it was a bit of a letdown in that regard. 2007 and this season have been good. We've seen some really good drives, a lot of wet races etc.

[7UpJordan]

I think quite a lot of the races this year have been better than some of 2007's races so far in terms of action, but there have been some real let-downs too (Malaysia - overhype of the "impending rain" which never arrived, Catalunya - the safety car failed to disguise another Catalun-yawnfest and Magny Cours - another boring track that won't bugger off) but fortunately those were on the crap tracks anyway.

[headless]

Things move on, you cant go back. Different era, different cars, different talents, different battles. Things always look rosier in the past, you remember the good, forget the bad. Enjoy what you have now.

Yes - true words. But you dont realised how much you liked something until you have lost it.

Alonso versus Schumacher in 2005 and 2006 was pretty, good, although we didn't really see them do battle on the track all that much, so it was a bit of a letdown in that regard.

ITV being an annoyance ___ again.

[7UpJordan]

Things move on, you cant go back. Different era, different cars, different talents, different battles. Things always look rosier in the past, you remember the good, forget the bad. Enjoy what you have now.

Yes - true words. But you dont realised how much you liked something until you have lost it.

Alonso versus Schumacher in 2005 and 2006 was pretty, good, although we didn't really see them do battle on the track all that much, so it was a bit of a letdown in that regard.

ITV being an annoyance ___ again.

You can say that ___ again.

[headless]

Alonso versus Schumacher in 2005 and 2006 was pretty, good, although we didn't really see them do battle on the track all that much, so it was a bit of a letdown in that regard. 2007 and this season have been good.

ITV = Letdown

[McLaren Fan]

I don't think it's completely ITV's fault. Does every television company not get more or less the same footage from the director? A lot of not seeing anything too exciting was because there were some races in which Schumacher and Alonso weren't really battling; one of them was usually off into the distance, largely down to Renault being a superior car at the beginning of 2006 and the Ferrari being the superior car at the end of the season.

[headless]

I don't think it's completely ITV's fault. Does every television company not get more or less the same footage from the director? A lot of not seeing anything too exciting was because there were some races in which Schumacher and Alonso weren't really battling; one of them was usually off into the distance, largely down to Renault being a superior car at the beginning of 2006 and the Ferrari being the superior car at the end of the season.

Fair point.

[Forti_Corse]

a driver with world champion material wouldnt be stupid enough to sign with mclaren and be a 2nd driver that guarantees they will boost lewis to a world champion status.

massa should fight to stay where he is, as much as i hate to say it, ferrari have a fair driver pairing and they let their drivers race eachother unlike the 07 spec mclaren lineup, the same thing mclaren were complaining about in the early 00's they are doing now

[AKR]

a driver with world champion material wouldnt be stupid enough to sign with mclaren and be a 2nd driver that guarantees they will boost lewis to a world champion status.

massa should fight to stay where he is, as much as i hate to say it, ferrari have a fair driver pairing and they let their drivers race eachother unlike the 07 spec mclaren lineup, the same thing mclaren were complaining about in the early 00's they are doing now

Come to think about it Ferrari does have equal status among its drivers and McLaren does not. So all those who hated Ferrari/Michael Schumacher/Jean Todt tactics of not so long ago and loved McLaren because they were fair, the tables appear to have been reversed in the new era of Kimi/Massa/Domenicali. So come support Ferrari, where not only we are the best and greatest, but also the fairest and the non cheats.

[McLaren Fan]

I'm afraid that's a completele load of rubbish.

[f1ea]

ou can change some of the car's settings, and to a large extent the changes work, but there's a chance that you could be slightly compromising other areas of the car's performance.

Exactly, there are limits to how much the car's settings can be tweaked, because every individual feature is designed for an 'optimum' setting (or at least window). Going to far from this will probably adversely affect final performance... not to defend drivers who cant adapt their style or set up the car adequately to suit their style, but there is always a limit as to what they can manipulate.

Things move on, you cant go back. Different era, different cars, different talents, different battles. Things always look rosier in the past, you remember the good, forget the bad. Enjoy what you have now.

thats true! there's new interesting history being written every day.

As to Massa going to Mclaren... unless Ferrari does something really nasty to him, like dumping him for Alonso, I dont see a reason... well, except maybe that the Mclaren is less "spinney"... so he could do very well in one of those MP4s. 'Cept for those pale silver uniforms... yuck

[AKR]

I'm afraid that's a completele load of rubbish.

Yes I knew you would say that Chris, it kind of reminds me of your footer.