Okay guys, here's what I'd like to know. In your opinion, who had the better car over the course of this last season? We know Ferrari won the first race, was somewhat competitive, dropped off in the middle, and came roaring back at the end. Mclaren started decently, got really strong, and weren't able to finish it off. I'm not just looking at the constructor's championship because driver performance can skew the results. I'd like to hear some logic behind your vote too.

 

First quarter goes to: Ferrari

Second quarter goes to McLaren

Third quarter goes to Ferrari and most of 4th quarter of season. However, McLaren came into last race with new aero kit that put them clearly behind Red Bull and far ahead of Ferrari.

 

If the mods could be so kind and change my vote from Ferrari to McLaren. I meant to pick McLaren but was too fast with the mouse.

McLaren was more consistent and the only reason they weren't closer to a driver's championship was because Lewis screwed the pooch on several occasions. The only reason Ferrari was even in the running was because of FA and their mid-season improvement, read Nick Fry.

 

Overall...I think the nudge goes to McLaren

 

That's a tough question... great question, but tough to answer...

After some thought, I think the McLaren averaged the better car. It was really the innovation of the f-duct that gave them a great advantage. Once other teams designed thier own, McLaren was no longer a standout. However, when you average the season, I think McLaren had the better car...

I wonder how Jenson Button would answer the same question?

 

McLaren seemed to have the best average overall results from the Car... Drivers not withstanding!

 

My vote goes to Ferrari.

 

The edge goes to ?? Red Bull


Ferrari v. McLaren is tough. The reason is the cars were not the same all year. Not to mention McLaren's car had an edge in certain places on certain tracks as compared to Ferrari on certain places on certain tracks. Neither was a clear stand out over the other. Each track and each weekend either car could be fast.

Clearly the best car was Red Bull and I would give McLaren and Ferrari at tie. Contrustors points clearly go to McLaren, but the car? No so clear. They were clearly better then other teams however.

 

McLaren. Why? While they both suffered teething problems early in the season, McLaren had the most consistency from the star of the season, IMO.

 

My vote is slightly skewed toward Mclaren. I think Ferrari built a decent car, but late season success was more attributable to FA; like someone lit a fire under his butt. Mclaren's F-duct seemed to be pretty well engineered. AFAIK, they used a setup controlled by the driver's knee, whereas many others used the back of the hand. IMHO, I don't know that periodically taking one's hand off the steering is such a good idea....especially on the fastest sections of the track. Not necessarily unsafe, but not a great position to be in pending an oh-crap moment. I'm critical of Mclaren's pursuit of top speed. I think RB did as well as they did because they seemed to emphasize cornering prowess. If the Mclaren's had tilted a bit more towards handling instead, I dare say it would have been a different ending in 2010.

Here's some pics from our visit to the Montreal race:

 

These days Ferrari appears to engineer their car so that it wins at Monza. Any results for Ferrari at the other tracks is just a bonus just as long as they win Monza. I really wanted to give my vote to Red Bull, but since this was a Ferrari versus McLaren poll, my vote went to McLaren because they care about all the tracks. Of course I will openly admit that presently Ferrari is my least favorite F1 team, so there may be some bias in my McLaren vote. Funny because growing up in the 70s and 80s I was a huge Ferrari fan.

 

I'm defintely no fan of the Red Fiats, however that doesn't bias in saying that McLaren had the better car. It was more innovative and most (key word most) of their aero updates helped them throughout the season. I think FA is what did it for Ferrari. He's a phenomenal driver and pulled everything he could out of car.

 

Done.

 

I believe my simple statistical analysis of Alonso's qualifying results pre and post Fry (see the Abu Dhabi thread) showed thus to be probable ... Although sone people don't like math.

 

Your logic is a little flawed.... If you prefer McLaren, you should vote for Ferrari in this poll. That way you can make the following claim: "Despite the fact that McLaren had the inferior car, they used thier race craft, and drivers, to overcome the car design and still win races and compete for the WC driver title. Ferrair only relies on thier engineers and they don't have much race talent."

I voted for McLaren.