Zanardi

[inter]

Just a quik note and looking for forum members opinion.

Alex Zanardi started in F1 and he did not set the world on fire. He was cometetive against his team mate but thet he is all.
Once he went to indy i followed his career closely ( due to the fact that i am of italian origin). and he was just awsome.
I remember the commentators saying that he was a notch above every one else in the street/track circuits and if he could master the ovals he would be a serious candidate for the title.
History tells us he was, and how.
That is the first time i started really thinking that the quality of drivers in F1 is much better that the Indy drivers. ( even indy at its glorious best).
So why could he not make it in the williams car?
was it management style? was he too nice for F1?
was his team mate too good?
I could never understand.


Your opinions welcome
By the way how about having him race at bathurst with a modified v8, that would be great.

cheers inter

[racer69]

I read somewhere his initial refusal to left-foot brake hindered him early in the year. By the time he started to left-foot break, while his performances began to improve (Monza, Spa, and remember at Suzuka he went from 16th to 9th in half a lap before the car stopped) the damage had already been done.

[Rattler]

He just had his first win in a tin-top.

Alex's Win (http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=103 085)

I highly recommend reading his book "My Greatest Victory". It was a pretty good read and told a lot about him getting started in karting at a young age. Plus a little bit about his rivalry with Schuey.

The guy is a model of courage in my book.

I have his CART car in 1/18 too. ;)

[Road Runner 72]

Originally posted by Rattler
He just had his first win in a tin-top.

Alex's Win (http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=103 085)

I highly recommend reading his book "My Greatest Victory". It was a pretty good read and told a lot about him getting started in karting at a young age. Plus a little bit about his rivalry with Schuey.

The guy is a model of courage in my book.

I have his CART car in 1/18 too. ;)
^^^ I agree & congrats to Alex, hope to see some footage of him in action in the tin top.

Cheers

[The Hammer]

I remember reading at the time that he had a lot of trouble coming to grips with the advanced technology of F1.
One thing a remember was him asking for the team to take the Carbon Fibre brakes off & put old style "steel" ones on. Because he couldn't get the "feel" of them.

I think that he is part of a long list of Indy drivers of that era, that couldn't come to terms with F1's technology.
It has change since, i believe from when Mansell went to Indy. I still remember other Indy teams complaining that Mansell had this new trick "Sequential" gearbox instead of the old "H" pattern style.

Zanardi would have a lot better these days, as Villeneuve and Montoya have shown.

[spoonster05]

Alex had a very nasty crash at Lotus in his first full season tilt at F1 at Spa in 1993 which kept him out until the Spanish Grand Prix in 1994.

I think that maybe if Alex had of done enough at Jordan or if he had of gotten a drive with Benetton in 1993 after testing with them he may have had a better F1 career..

[racer69]

After that big crash at Spa in 1993, he was replaced for the remainder of the year by Pedro Lamy, who kept the seat into 1994.

Lamy then had a major accident during testing at Silverstone (from memory a rear wing collapsed at Priory, and he ended up in the spectator area) injuring himself, which allowed Zanardi to return to the seat of the #11 Lotus.


Fantastic to see Zanardi's latest run of wins. Not only did he capture a WTCC win the other week, but last weekend a pair of victories secured the Italian Touring Car Championship.

[wayno]

The Williams was not the greatest car either. Ralf only managed three podiums that year and didn'y have a race win.
I think the Indy drivers do struggle with the jump to f1 due to the massive technological differences. That situation is only worse now with CART basically being a control formula and IRL being pretty much limited in this aspect as well.
That's why I was so against Ryan Briscoe racing in the US this season in another thread.

[Gan88]

Originally posted by inter

Your opinions welcome
By the way how about having him race at bathurst with a modified v8, that would be great.

cheers inter

We'll have to get the dinosaurs, I mean V8SCs sequential boxes first.

[rehau]

Originally posted by Gan88
We'll have to get the dinosaurs, I mean V8SCs sequential boxes first.

I think the car he drives in Italy has sequential gearboxes with streering wheel control?

How much cost would this add to a v8 car ?( for the technically minded)

rehau

[wayno]

Originally posted by inter

By the way how about having him race at bathurst with a modified v8, that would be great.


It would be great, but it will never happen. Too many problems with pit stops, etc I feel.

[lukey73]

Originally posted by rehau
I think the car he drives in Italy has sequential gearboxes with streering wheel control?

How much cost would this add to a v8 car ?( for the technically minded)

rehau

Not much,

Holinger who are the box supplier for V8's already make the same box with a sequential shift, it is used by race teams overseas.

I still like the old H pattern shift as it makes the driver drive not just press a lever to change gears. The H pattern has its advantage's in that you dont have to go through every gear to find the one you want. Watch some the incar stuff from the V8's and you will see drivers going from 6-2 or 6-3 at tracks like Bathurst.

Alex for me just couldnt get used to the Higher spec race cars in F1, not every driver could/can master them, his performance's on Indycar street/road curicuits goes to prove he had road racing talent in open wheeler's. Alex just needed to improve on oval's.

Luke

[monza]

Inter: "So why could he not make it in the williams car?"

I asked this same question a while back to one a Zanardi's former pitcrew guys at Chip-Ganassi. His response was that in Indycar, the team sets the car up according to what the driver likes. Adjustments are then made that the driver feels more comfortable or quicker with. In F1, the team set the car up to what the technicians say is quickest. Then setup is fine-tuned from this point. So Zanardi struggled most with adjusting his style to the car, when he was used to the car being adjusted to suit him.

Wayno: "I think the Indy drivers do struggle with the jump to f1 due to the massive technological differences."

JPM and JV had no problem adjusting to F1. And yet others did - CDM, Zanardi & Andretti. And dont forget, all these guys did show flashes of brilliance in cars that ranged from average to very poor.
Its just like jumping from European junior formulae into F1- some make the transition, others dont.

[toad]

Originally posted by rehau
I think the car he drives in Italy has sequential gearboxes with streering wheel control?

How much cost would this add to a v8 car ?( for the technically minded)

rehau

Hollinger boxes come with sequential shift kit and the H-pattern kit is additional cost

[wayno]

The Bathurst 24hr Monaro's ran Hollingers as a sequential arrangement didn't they?

[Gan88]

Yes, they did indeed.