atr911

I don't think that this question has a simple answer but I'm curious.

Is F1 where ALL the best drivers go?

Obviously there are all kinds of top tier series out there, but do you often see GT drivers progress to F1? Is it about the series that they come up in that determines the highest level that they will compete at?

Are the skills transferable between an open wheel car and a GT car or LM car?

Just finished watching the Top Gear special on Ayrton Senna and with all the 'greatest driver' talk, it made me think...

Apex Rex

What defines a great driver?

Is it their car control skills? Look at the top level WRC drivers for that, not saying that other drivers don't have great car control, jmo that flying through snow and woods in all weather conditions is amazing.

Anyone who is driving in their top tier series is going to be a very good driver, and some may prefer driving with a roof over their head or an open cockpit/open wheeled car. So it may come down to preference for some drivers.

beentherebaby

F1 drivers are very specialized just like top NASCAR drivers. As we've seen many times it is not easy to go from Indycar to F1 and vice versa. It's not any easier to go from F1 to NASCAR. Perhaps it's fair to say the best of the formula racing drivers end up in F1?

SirLapsalot

You are correct there is no simple answer to that question. Basically all F1 drivers today start out in karting at a very young age and go to open wheel, there are various open wheel series' that feed F1 but I think GP2 is the main one. From this they go to Formula 1. To be a Formula one driver you do have to be somewhat special as well as have money and luck. I don't think it is very common at all to see GT drivers progress to F1, you almost have to have a healthy experience in open wheel before any F1 team will even consider a driver without an open wheel back-round.

Skills are definitely transferable between different types of racing cars but no matter what any driver that has significant experience in one type of car will not be able to start racing another type of car and compete at the same level as the high performers of that specific car in that series. Best example is Formula 1 and WRC, look at Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi was arguably the best driver in Formula 1 last year and now he is in WRC racing for a "b" team and not blowing people away. There are many reasons for this but the main reason is the difference between the conditions a Formula 1 car are driven in compared to the conditions a WRC car are driven in are huge and thus any new driver to WRC no matter where they came from will not be able to compete at the same level as the top drivers in WRC. Not to mention the cars are obviously very different.

Formula 1 is the highest level of Motorsport but that does not mean that the drivers are the best.
To sum it up, the best drivers go where ever they are interested, you cannot say the best drivers from Formula 1 are the best drivers in the world and you cannot say the best drivers from WRC, ALMS, DTM, etc. are the best drivers in the world because the specific series are too different.

SirLapsalot

beentherebaby, you cannot compare F1 to NASCAR. There simply is no comparison between the two. NASCAR is a joke of a racing series that requires non talented drivers to drive the most primitive race cars today through four identical turns a bunch of times.

beentherebaby

Your bias, uninformed opinion doesn't match with those drivers from F1 and Indycar who have tried their luck in NASCAR. Montoya, Villeneuve, Hornish, Speed, et all, have found that NASCAR is far tougher than it looks.

While you're entitled to your opinion, you look silly posting such foolishness.

SirLapsalot

Yes I am bias although I don't know that my opinion is uninformed. I know which drivers have driven in NASCAR and Montoya, Villeneuve, and Speed were not top performing drivers in F1. How many drivers have gone to F1 from NASCAR? I don't know any but I'm am no expert in F1 or NASCAR history so maybe you know of some. I imagine if there are none then there is probably a reason for that along the line of driving an F1 car is way more challenging to learn than driving a NASCAR. I have never driven either type of race car so I am very uniformed in that sense and really I don't know much about NASCAR other then the few seconds I have seen on TV

But, I should not have said that about not comparing the two sports like I did to you because you are correct the drivers from each are specialized and it can't be easy to switch from either. I obviously believe that it would have to be near impossible for a NACAR driver to go to F1 where as it would only be difficult for an F1 drive to go to NASCAR so sorry I get worked up over NASCAR because I dislike it very much and wish we enjoyed other motorsports here in America similar to people Europe but instead I turn on the SPEED channel and its NASCAR this and that all day but I prolly did look foolish responding to your post. Sorry

Rassel

4 things besides talent are needed to reach the top.

1. Money
2. Money
3. Money
4. All the rest

So look and financing and sponsors and you have the answer of where the driver ends up.

SundayDriver

Ding, Ding, Ding. There are many drivers who are faster/better than the people on the next rung of the ladder, but they can't move up due to lack of personal funding/sponsorship. The top tiers of motorsports have lost the "sports" part and replaced it with "business". Almost all the drivers in each major series are great, talented drivers. IMO, most could move to another track and do well with time to learn the fine points of that track (F1, Sports Cars, Rally, NASCAR), but why would most bother or be given that chance?



There is a big difference between your personal opinion of how interesting a series is vs. the skill of the drivers, engineers, etc, in that series. NASCAR drivers have a great deal of talent and your earlier assertion that all the corners are the same is just incorrect. Also, setup is far more important in oval racing (because all the corners are more similar and the same direction but not identical) vs. road racing - driver feedback for setup is more valuable in oval racing.

In groups where you find a mix of road racers and stock car drivers (e.g. - SKkip Barber instructors) I have generally heard those folks say that the Stock Car racers have the best car control.

Personally, I don't find NASCAR to be very interesting. 475 miles of cruising where the only excitement is crashing. Then a 25 mile sprint race with far too much crashing that kills the racing. But I don't find F1 to be all that exciting either. Generally that is a parade around the track, win/lose based on qual position and pit work. Toss in some occasional, spectacular crashes.

I find that sports car racing (sprints), including amateur racing, provides the best racing vs. parades and pit stops to win/lose.

kurt M

Well said^

Older I get the more I like sprint road races. Every corner every lap means something.

Professor Helmüt Tester

Lol.

Lessee...one was a World Champion, with near miss on the championship before that...another was a 7-time race winner. Yeah...schmoes.