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Starving Drivers in Formula One Sparks a Quiet (?) Debate

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#21
Not to discount driver weight completely, but it's worth noting that several heavier drivers are outperforming their teammates already:

Ricciardo is heavier than Vettel
Alonso is heavier than Raikkonen
Hamilton is heavier than Rosberg
Hulkenburg is heavier than Perez

Some of those guys have more than 10lbs weight difference versus their teammates!

But we can also see teams where the opposite is true:

Kvyatt is lighter than Vergne
Magnussen is lighter than Button

At Williams there's a massive 24lbs difference between Bottas and Massa but they've shown themselves to be pretty equal in performance so far.

The point about weight/power is real, but it's tough to see correlated impact so far this season.
 
#22
The view from the technical directors vantage point is that the car goes faster as it burns off fuel so weight is speed. For a given driver, ten less pounds of complete package is a faster car.

As for the subject of driver performance, I am just glad I do not have to manage that nor make calls as to who is put in the car and for what reasons. That is a very tough job.
 
#23
lolachampcar said:
The view from the technical directors vantage point is that the car goes faster as it burns off fuel so weight is speed. For a given driver, ten less pounds of complete package is a faster car.
Click to expand...

Interesting to note that the general trend with heavier drivers beating their teammates continued in Shanghai yesterday. Hamilton, Alonso, Ricciardo, Hulkenburg, Bottas, Button all doing better than smaller colleagues. The more races continue with results like that, the more evening out of other factors. Also looked like HAM finished the race with ~5kg of fuel more than anyone else, so 10lbs more weight but that didn't seem to slow him much.....
 
#24
Horse jockeys weigh in for the race and are issued ballast weight to bring them up to par. Why should F1 be any different? A proper ration of water would be included in the ballast.

If men would drink more water, then half of the urologists would have to go out of business, since so few kidney stones would occur. This from my dentist.
--
 
#25
wycolo said:
Horse jockeys weigh in for the race and are issued ballast weight to bring them up to par. Why should F1 be any different?
Click to expand...

On F1 cars, balance is (yet another) critical factor. The teams would be highly unlikely to agree to carrying extra ballast because one team has one driver that weighs 30lbs more.

Also, take a look at the current situation: Hamilton is not the smallest of drivers but he is (by quite a margin) the fastest right now, so adding weight to the drivers smaller than him (for example ROS, ALO, VET etc) is not going to even the field.
 
#26
Yeah, I was going to say F-1 would weigh all their drivers and those outside the 85% bell curve would just have to suck on it, i.e. not get fully compensated. I mean not *all* drivers should have to go the Dallas Buyers Club route*.

* I just can't spell Matthew McConaghay . . .
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#29
Minor off topic but does anyone at Microsoft watch F1 this season?:

Untitled.jpg


:rolleyes:
 
#31
If he is then maybe he should tell someone....I follow F1 because of previous involvement as well as being a race fan, but that banner I posted has been popping up on several websites recently. Lotus have been sooooo bad this year they're happy just to finish a race and it doesn't make the tiniest difference what their drivers weigh. (OK, that last sentence was to try and get back on topic.....)
 
#37
lolachampcar said:
Nico's a nice guy but, if hami keeps pushing him, he just might have to step up to the table for a Lewis snack if he is to win the title this year :)
Click to expand...

So what's your prediction for the outcome this weekend? I used to live nearby and the Monaco course is horribly narrow, hand speed and reaction time is probably (IMHO) more important there than anything else. Nobody can blame poor performance in Monaco on driver weight (ok, that was a miserable attempt to stay on topic.....)
 
#38
NigelM said:
So what's your prediction for the outcome this weekend? I used to live nearby and the Monaco course is horribly narrow, hand speed and reaction time is probably (IMHO) more important there than anything else. Nobody can blame poor performance in Monaco on driver weight (ok, that was a miserable attempt to stay on topic.....)
Click to expand...

Monaco seems to be Lewis's achilles heel, but I still think if he gets pole he'll take it. Everyone thought Mercedes were mad when they quit developing the (then) current drive half way through last years season, but I guess now all the extra time invested in the new hybrid drive is paying off big time for them. Ricciardo might stand a good chance though, since Mercedes lose their speed advantage at Monaco due to the tight circuit. It's turning out to be an interesting season...
 
#39
Smart money is on Merc but I'm rooting for the Bull just to spice things up.

As for Nico and Lewis, Nico will be pulling the gloves off soon if this continues then the sparks are going to fly. I do not think he is going to stand by and Webber the storm.
 
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