Fernando Alonso's driving style
Fernando Alonso's driving style
Hi guys!
This question is going through my mind from the first race of this season:
Does anyone else see a difference in Alonso's driving style this year compared to previous years?
I think that up to this season he had something rather distinct in his driving style, or to be more precise - the way he operated the steering wheel.
It is something that showed in some medium-speed corners, but mostly on the low-speed corners - Instead of being totaly smooth with the wheel all through the entry and exit of the corner, he started steering smoothly at the beginning, but then abruptly turning it to the angle needed in the mid-phase of the corner, without working it smooth to that angle. Not so much of textbook driving!
Plenty of examples for that are at the pole lap of Magny-Cours 2004 - Shows at Estoril (even though it's a fast corner), the Adelaide hairpin, Chateau d'eau and Lycee. And the difference from that lap to onboard footage of him at Magny-Cours this year is clear. But that's just an example.
This thought came to my mind the first time I saw onboard footage of Alonso from this season. I thought it was probably by chance, but as the season progressed my opinion about that only got stronger. It really looks like he made some visible adjustment to his driving style.
What do you think?
This question is going through my mind from the first race of this season:
Does anyone else see a difference in Alonso's driving style this year compared to previous years?
I think that up to this season he had something rather distinct in his driving style, or to be more precise - the way he operated the steering wheel.
It is something that showed in some medium-speed corners, but mostly on the low-speed corners - Instead of being totaly smooth with the wheel all through the entry and exit of the corner, he started steering smoothly at the beginning, but then abruptly turning it to the angle needed in the mid-phase of the corner, without working it smooth to that angle. Not so much of textbook driving!
Plenty of examples for that are at the pole lap of Magny-Cours 2004 - Shows at Estoril (even though it's a fast corner), the Adelaide hairpin, Chateau d'eau and Lycee. And the difference from that lap to onboard footage of him at Magny-Cours this year is clear. But that's just an example.
This thought came to my mind the first time I saw onboard footage of Alonso from this season. I thought it was probably by chance, but as the season progressed my opinion about that only got stronger. It really looks like he made some visible adjustment to his driving style.
What do you think?
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Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
Yes he does have a rather scruffy looking way of driving...
ITV showed it last year when they compared Alonso, Schumacher and Buttons driving style... One of the reasons he isn't as good this year is because Renault worked on his style and designed a car around his style setting it up for the way he turns into corners... This year the car isn't set up for this so his car and himself get battered around a little more then he has in the past...
ITV showed it last year when they compared Alonso, Schumacher and Buttons driving style... One of the reasons he isn't as good this year is because Renault worked on his style and designed a car around his style setting it up for the way he turns into corners... This year the car isn't set up for this so his car and himself get battered around a little more then he has in the past...
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
His old style was somehow strange - It looks ugly and fast, I can't explain how can that work together, but it did. It goes against some common believes, relating to smoothness, but he was getting the job done with his old style...
If what you say is the case, he should have had plenty of experience of setting up a car to his unique style, and so one could expect him to make almost the same kind of job with Mclaren when he moved there, even though he had little time... But there is no remaining of that old driving style of his. It's strange to believe that no progress in that direction was made with Mclaren.
When driving smoothly (this year) he is still very fast. But not extra-fast... His rookie teammate is faster than him on many occasions...
It's really interesting for me to know what's going on below...
If what you say is the case, he should have had plenty of experience of setting up a car to his unique style, and so one could expect him to make almost the same kind of job with Mclaren when he moved there, even though he had little time... But there is no remaining of that old driving style of his. It's strange to believe that no progress in that direction was made with Mclaren.
When driving smoothly (this year) he is still very fast. But not extra-fast... His rookie teammate is faster than him on many occasions...
It's really interesting for me to know what's going on below...
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
After yesterday's qualifying I don't think he's much of a driver anymore, at least character wise, though I hope it's not all his fault
BMW Power
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
Fearless...
Magnifico..... Bravo Alonso
Magnifico..... Bravo Alonso
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
This thread wasn't supposed to deal with the Hungarian qualifying... It's already a topic elsewhere, and I also posted comments there...reyhan wrote:After yesterday's qualifying I don't think he's much of a driver anymore, at least character wise, though I hope it's not all his fault
I just wanted to discuss purely his driving style here, not his character...
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
I saw an analysis (they had telemetry) in one of the F1 mags that said he turns in much harder and sharper than any of the other drivers. That was 2 seasons ago though.
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
That's exactly what I'm talking about. And this was the situation up to the current season, as far as my eyes can tell...defsrage wrote:I saw an analysis (they had telemetry) in one of the F1 mags that said he turns in much harder and sharper than any of the other drivers. That was 2 seasons ago though.
It's very interesting, this whole subject of altering your driving style.
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
On SpeedTV the commentators were talking about how Alonso's turn-in was aggressive in the Renault. When he got to McLaren, he had to drive smoother. I guess it all has to do with the tires and the wear to grip ratio. Also, it seems to me that the Michelins were a lot better than the Bridgestones, thus why Alonso can't drive hard with the new tire manufacturer.
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
Actually this sounds like a much more reasonable explanation to me. Because if it was only a team-related issue, then I'm sure he would have been able to make some progress with Mclaren on this issue. But there are no remainings of his old style this season, and indeed the tyres are something that he can't do much about.MikaOwns wrote:On SpeedTV the commentators were talking about how Alonso's turn-in was aggressive in the Renault. When he got to McLaren, he had to drive smoother. I guess it all has to do with the tires and the wear to grip ratio. Also, it seems to me that the Michelins were a lot better than the Bridgestones, thus why Alonso can't drive hard with the new tire manufacturer.
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
i guess mclaren havent perfected a car that suits alonso's driving style but they have for lewis ... hmmmm??
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
fernando's driving stlye in wet conditions is excellent in my opinion. i think he likes understeer type settings, as i noticed when he was at renault.
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
I think if we could have had access, in some way, to data from his car (when he was at Renault) and look at his steering, brake and acceleration graph displayed together, it could have told us much more about what went on in his cockpit then.... That would have been very very intersting to see...
But then again - dream on!
But then again - dream on!
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
I agree totally.idoilani wrote:Actually this sounds like a much more reasonable explanation to me. Because if it was only a team-related issue, then I'm sure he would have been able to make some progress with Mclaren on this issue. But there are no remainings of his old style this season, and indeed the tyres are something that he can't do much about.MikaOwns wrote:On SpeedTV the commentators were talking about how Alonso's turn-in was aggressive in the Renault. When he got to McLaren, he had to drive smoother. I guess it all has to do with the tires and the wear to grip ratio. Also, it seems to me that the Michelins were a lot better than the Bridgestones, thus why Alonso can't drive hard with the new tire manufacturer.
Alonso - IMO - has had to change his driving style very much - probably more than any other driver - this year because of the much less grip the Bridgestones provide compared to the Michelins he was used to and knew exactly how to extract the best performance from.
And he has not yet fully adapted to the new tyre environment, for example his going off track much more than we've been used to seeing.
IMO Alonso is doing WELL - not more - right now, but he has not yet showed his full potential. Wait and see, he's still adapting.
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
Re: Fernando Alonso's driving style
You could have had it from the Renault website! They transmit live telemetry from their cars.idoilani wrote:I think if we could have had access, in some way, to data from his car (when he was at Renault) and look at his steering, brake and acceleration graph displayed together, it could have told us much more about what went on in his cockpit then.... That would have been very very intersting to see...
But then again - dream on!
A bit late now though. (god, I wish Alonso was back there again)
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.