Best Test/Development Driver Of the Last Decade

[BootsOntheSide]

Which drivers do you think ahve the bigegst positive effect on the quality of the cars they drive?

[Knowlesy]

Well it's between Damon Hill and Schuey isn't it?

I'll go for Damon as he took an Arrows to a near victory and helped Jordan to their first win....and surely he must have contributed a lot to the 199 Jordan which finished third!

Although Schuey did pretty much the same thing at Ferrari, I'm going for Damon, maybe because I'm watching Suzuka 1996 at this very moment!

[Mark Webber]

Schumacher
Webber
Hill
wurz

[Knowlesy]

Not sure why Montoya is on the list......he gets what he's given and drives and that's it! No nonsense!

[ralf fan]

i want to vote Damon but alas i think it's Schumi
from that dog of a car in 96 to the dominant and spectactular 02 Ferrari!!!

[Knowlesy]

Yeah but inside that transformation you had the arrival of a totally new technical team and car concept outlook.

Damon did his work within 2 years with pretty much the same technical back-up

[ralf fan]

Originally posted by knowlesy
Not sure why Montoya is on the list......he gets what he's given and drives and that's it! No nonsense!

for sure knowlesy.. infact i think RS has contributed much to the williams revival!! IMHO..

[Damon]

Now come on Mark, on what, apart from your unwavering fanaticism, do you base Webber being the second best development driver?? Damon was the tester behind the suberb, all conquering 91/92/93 Williams'. He turned a so so 1997 Jordan into winning car in less than a year and a really rather good car by 1999, and almost took an Arrows to the stop step of the podium in 1997 when it had been scrapping with the minardi's during previos season.

[Knowlesy]

Originally posted by Damon
Damon was the tester behind the suberb, all conquering 91/92/93 Williams'.

Forgot to mention that Damon! Adding yet more to Damons reputation!

[Damon]

btw, do I need to say where my vote went?

[Knowlesy]

If you could, that would be a massive help.

[Mark Webber]

Mark is a damn fine developer as was Hill . Mark did a great job with Renault and with Jag in a very sort time .
regardless of my unwavering fanaticism I could only vote for 1 and Micheal got that vote so the rest is just my opinon .

I'm sure you would have had jpm in your short list

[Wethat]

Just wanted to say that almost all British drivers such as Damon Hill and David Coulthard are vastly overrated.

[Knowlesy]

What an understated introduction from wethat....

What makes you say that by the way?

[demarco]

I am rally happy to see that people still, in 2004, remembers what Damon did at Williams back in 1992!

In fact, I remember seeing a vote a few years ago among F1 people, designers, engineers, and so on, and they all voted for Damon.

But, I must question the list of drivers a little, because I think there are too many race drivers and too few test drivers on the list. Sure, Schuey, Monty, and the others do their fair part of testing, but they are not really development drivers, are they? They drive a car fitted with the new parts and give them a shakedown to see if they, the top of the top drivers, can find a small fraction of extra time in the parts.

But the drivers like Wurz, Massa, Badoer (a very underrated test driver, judging from the results of the vote), Gene, and to some extent also DC and Barrichello, they do the full testing of the parts, and the tires. Schuey is being hailed as a good development driver, but has he turned a single wheel in a Ferrari F1 car over the last four, five winters? No, thats all down to Barri, Massa and Badoer... So I rate them all higher than Schuey, in terms of DEVELOPMENT drivers, I must point out! Amongst racing drivers, Schuey clearly is the better one. But, I must also point out that in my world, Damon is the best racing driver, because he made into F1 without the help of his father, without a lot of money, and with clearly less talent than, for instance, mr Schumacher, and he still won the Championship. That´s a brilliant achievement indeed!

[Damon]

Originally posted by Mark Webber
I'm sure you would have had jpm in your short list

Not even close, a development driver he ain't.

[Knowlesy]

It's one of JPM's weaknesses actually.....Patrick Head says as much. But he still does just about enough.

One driver I would add to the list would be our Nige.....

[ASCII Man]

Damon!

[BootsOntheSide]

I didn't include Mansell because his career was largely over by the start of the poll period, although he does seem to have contributed a lot over the years - it's a shame Ferrari took Prost's advice over his in 1990, that may have caused their decline at that time.

I'm very surprised that so many people have voted for Michael. As demarco points out, he's had little to do with developing the recent Ferraris, and his role in havign advanced the team over the last few years may be overstated compared to Byrne, Brawn and Martinelli. Badoer seems to be the one who does the doneky work, Barrichello to an extent maybe.

You guys might be right about Montoya. Coming from a series where car development isn't a factor might be areason, but I probably should've included Gené instead.

[Mr V]

I'm going for Damon, in part, due to what he acheived with Williams in 92/93, however, i do concede that Ralf Fan has a point.........

Originally posted by ralf fan
i want to vote Damon but alas i think it's Schumi
from that dog of a car in 96 to the dominant and spectactular 02 Ferrari!!!

But the reason i went for Damon is not only due to the Williams bit, but his work with Arrows and Jordan. The main difference between himself and Michael (and Michael is a brilliant development driver) is the difference in personel they had to work with at the time of Michaels start with Ferrari and Damons time with Arrows and Jordan.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by Mark Webber

I'm sure you would have had jpm in your short list

Originally posted by Damon
Not even close, a development driver he ain't.

A development driver is not one of JPM's strong points, although i do believe he's getting better. Proberbly Sir Franks only fear before JPM joined Williams was that in his opinion due to his ability, he (JPM) would try and drive around the problem as opposed to solving it.

[Snrub]

I don't think we have enough information to make a half decent judgement on this. Unless you work on the team you're simply receving tid bits of third party information.

[enemy-ace]

I would have to agree with that, when it comes down to it none of us really have a clue.
Having said that I voted for Michael, mainly because of the extended recent success of Ferrari, and he is their No.1 driver. And from everything that is said about him he WORKS like a demon. Whether he turns a wheel in winter testing or not is irrelevant; development work does not neccessarily entail quantity of feedback but also QUALITY of feedback. Considering Michael's obvious abilities I can only imagine his input is invaluable.
But as I said earlier, I really know nothing.

[Wrex]

Originally posted by knowlesy
Not sure why Montoya is on the list

That one confused me too.

Damon and Michael are the only worthy names on the list.

[Adam43]

You don't have to vote for him! IMHO this is what Williams lacks at the moment (from either driver).

Anyway this poll:

Damon is the perfect example IMHO.

However Micheal is such a complete driver that his testing doesn't get mentioned because of all the other aspects to him. However 1999 is a good example. Ferrari seemed to lose their way with set-up when Michael was out of action. There is more to testing than just set-up work, but if you want ot know what is happening with a car Michael is your man.

I voted Damon though. Michael didn't always achieve it (although his other strengths get him out of that!)