Does Formula 1 have the top drivers?

[gnoymyguy]

Formula 1 has

Michael Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher
Mika Hakkinen
Giancarlo Fisichella
Jarno Trulli(underrated)
Jacques Villeneuve
Kimi Raikkonen(future champ)

Are there any Champ Car or Indy Car drivers who could compete?

Apart from Villeneuve(skills wise not up to the best but he has balls), who has been relatively successful, who else is there?

Montoya looks nowhere near the complete article despite the press claiming he's possibly the most talented driver in the world(before he entered F1)-in the same car I think he'd have trouble defeating the youngster Raikkonen-so who've you got over there?

 

[Pastore]

It all depends on what cars they are driving... You couldn't throw a Formula 1 Driver in a Winston Cup car (and expect them to do well), or an Indy car, or a Cart car, and vice versa...

 

[SirFshAlot]

You couldn't throw a Formula 1 Driver in a Winston Cup car (and expect them to do well), or an Indy car, or a Cart car, and vice versa...


uhhhhh why not?

 

[Marty]

Formula 1 has the best drivers... Just look at their salaries: I think Schumacher just landed a deal which gets him $50 million for three years? You don't find that in Nascar, trust me.

Marty

 

[Pastore]

Because these cars are all VERY different... It would be like you driving a Full size SUV for two months straight, then throwing you in a Toyota Tercel, and you also gotta drive it fast... The cars handle completely different... It takes these drivers years and years to master the cars that they themselves drive...

 

[gnoymyguy]

didn't an ageing Nigel Mansell win the Indycar series in his first year?

 

[SirFshAlot]

Beast1284,

lol
many F1 drivers have gone to Indy/CART already, and it didn't take them years and years to be serious contenders

 

[BDawg]

<< It all depends on what cars they are driving... You couldn't throw a Formula 1 Driver in a Winston Cup car (and expect them to do well), or an Indy car, or a Cart car, and vice versa... >>



This was evidenced by Tony Stewart in the Coca-Cola 600. Earlier in the day, he raced Indy. Then, he flew to Charlotte and drove a Nascar machine. On lap one, he spun the car out.

The handling of the cars is just that much different.

Tony still managed to place in the top 5 in both races.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Tony Stewart is pretty damn good at adapting, although he needs to learn how to keep his cool a bit more. When saying x sport has the best athletes, you have to realize that different sports require different skills.

Example:
in drag racing the main skill is being able to hit that .400 light every time w/o redlighting
in off road racing the important thing is to not break the damn thing yet push it the entire time
in supercar racing the important thing is to be fast (not neccesarily the fastest) for the entire race
in F1/cart/IRL the important thing is to tune the aerodynamics to optimal
in NASCAR the important thing is to know how the air is coming off of the car that is as little as a few inches infront of you

edit: typo

 

[GL]

CART is where F1 drivers go when they're old fogies and can't race in F1 or when they're unproven and can't race in F1. NASCAR is totally different but doesn't require as much skill as either two. The top drivers are in F1. That's not to say F1 is the best racing as it's pretty dull at the moment. I'd say CART has that title. When you see Schumi read a telemetry readout and tweak his driving based on a line graph...you have to wonder how much of a genius he is.

 

[GL]

A lot of CART ChampCar top drivers have been only mediocre in F1. With the exception of JV - Juan Puablo Montoya, Alex Zanardi and the like have all been blind sided by the requirements of F1. That being said, Montoya has had to become a different driver and I expect him to do well for the rest of the season. Jax did something like 500 hours of test driving after his ChampCar run and before his rookie F1 season because he understood it was a giant leap forward.

 

[RanDum72]

Besides having the best drivers, F1 also has the best machines.

 

[GreenGhost]

Except for Villeneuve, CART drivers had a hard time adapting. Michael Andretti was just pitful, Alex Zanardi did worse than his team mate.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

<< didn't an ageing Nigel Mansell win the Indycar series in his first year? >>



I still laugh at that. He comes from F1 and dominates then Michael Andretti who dominated in Cart tries to go to F1 and gets his ass handed to him on a plate.

 

[GL]

We're forgetting Fittipaldi as well guys

 

[RayH]

You can't talk about drivers and leave out World Cup Rally:

Kankkunen Juha
Sainz Carlos
M&auml;kinen Tommi
McRae Colin
Alen Markku

 

[Noriaki]

Well comparing F1 to CART, yes F1 has the better machines and the better drivers.

But you can't really compare it to Nascar, the cars are twice as heavy and have far less handling tweaks. You realize that those cars actually have similar roof and trunk lines to the street versions of the same name (Lumina, Taurus, Intrepid etc). Now obviously they have ground effects, and they have rollcages and much more powerful engines, they aren't stock. But they have no where near the handling alterations of an F1 car.

And you certainly can't compare F1 to WRC, if you threw a pebble on the road you could destroy an F1 car.

But more an apples to apples comparision, F1 to CART which is a similar style of driving yes F1 is better.

But look at who competes in F1: Jaguar (are they chassis and engine?), BMW/Williams, Mercedes/McLaren, Ferrari/Farrari....these guys can afford to buy the most talented drivers.

 

[GL]

True, I think WRC drivers and F1 drivers are in classes of their own. But gimme a break Are you seriously gonna tell me they couldn't do well in NASCAR!?

 

[SirFshAlot]

then Michael Andretti who dominated in Cart tries to go to F1 and gets his ass handed to him on a plate.

I was disappointed that he R U N N O F T so quickly like the kid and his ball at the playground. He may have had potential if he wasn't such a brat about it.


You can't talk about drivers and leave out World Cup Rally

uhhh, wanna see?

 

[GL]

Are any of you going to any Grand Prix this year? Any Americans going to the U.S. Grand Prix in Indy?

 

[jeffrey]

Formula 1 has the top drivers. They race in cities, they race in the rain, they are the best of the best. Formula 1 is the pinnacle of automotive racing.

 

[Wah]

F1 is so lopsided right now that it would be hard to tell. If a good indycar driver was thrown into F1, I don't think he'd do well unless he was on a team like ferrari or mclaren. If M.Schuey were driving for Prost or Arrows, how well do you think he'd do?

 

[GL]

Wah, probably about as good as good ol' Jax. Oh its painful for a JV fan to watch

 

[Wah]

yeah i'm a JV fan also... I thought BAR was supposed to get better.

 

[gnoymyguy]

I personally think Schumeister would do better than JV. When Schuey joined Ferrari it wasn't a competitive car, the balance was awful and it drank fuel like there was no tomorrow. With this car Schuey was still competitive and slowly got faster as the car improved-JV, whilst mentally one of the strongest drivers, has been broken by the piss-poorness of the BAR and his performances have been marred as a result-in 1997, no way could Panis have kept up with him in the same car, although Panis is quite good.