Re: Sainz to Williams

On 31/07/2024 6:08 am, pP85PrR wrote:

On 2024-07-30 9:16 AM, ~misfit~ wrote:

I'm really looking forward to seeing how he does against Albon. I've always thought Albon to be a top driver - and I think Sainz is up there too. It'll be interesting, I think Albon will have the edge though.

 One reads about drivers having a preference for a car that has over/understeer or some other drivability trait. Does this give Albon a bit of an edge since he knows how the car drives? (Assuming that he has persuaded the team to set the car the way he likes. And assuming that the car can be setup the way he likes.)

Initially Albon may have the edge but it won't take long for Sainz to dial the car in to how he likes it. They're mostly made to be configurable*.
* There's been a lot said about how the RBR car is fundamentally built for Max, that other drivers have trouble with it and to a certain extant that may be true (though Max has been complaining about handling a LOT lately). However recently both Horner and Max have being saying this loudly and often in defence of Checo. Max doesn't want another top-tier driver as a team mate, he's happier with a journeyman and Horner will back Max to the hilt.

And will the car have the same traits next year?

Apparently there are big changes coming for Williams so probably not.

And finally, does Sainz prefer a different setup compared to Albon?

With the exception of extremes the car can be configured differently for different driving styles.

With me being a non-F1 driver, of course, some will want to point out my ignorance and the error of my ways with all this. <g>

Ditto. However there are always /those/ people...

It will be something to check out next year, regardless of my knowledge or lack thereof.

I'm looking forward to it. I've wanted to see Albon in a better car for a couple of years now as I think he's got a lot of potential*. This is about as close as we're going to get for now though.
* One thing, and this bothers me about Lawson too. If a driver has come up through the ranks, driving new, faster, more challenging cars every year doing really well, if this pattern of upgrading relentlessly is broken they can lose a lot of their ability to constantly up their game. When this happens they often find themselves on the back-foot playing catch-up in a series that doesn't give you a second chance.
Also (this applies to Albon) if a driver spends too long getting every little bit of performance out of a second-tier car where the car is the limit of performance they can struggle in a top-tier car where their ability to judge the edge is the limit again. They can adapt but, as I said, F1 often spits out drivers who don't perform within a few races.
So much of real top tier driving is psychological (and learned responses too - above). I didn't think Lewis would recover from Mercedes drop in performance as well as his loss of Angela Cullen - I think the two things combined were what drove him to sign with Ferrari. However I think he's got some of his mojo back now. Also Lando's relatively poor performance at Spa I think is down to him not being able to keep the win in the previous race. He took a psych hit realising that the team he's spent so long developing with don't value him as much as he thought they did and don't consider him to be number one.
--
Shaun.
"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification in the DSM"
David Melville.