Quote:
Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks
All the F1 and F2 drivers have been racing go-karts since they were 6 or 7 years old. I think you under-estimate how good they are.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RWill2073
I take a little exception to this. I am becoming more and more of the belief that the current stock of f1 (and other top series, too) drivers are nothing special. Seems rather than being a natural ability inherent in them, it is a skill that could be attained to a similar level by such a large percentage of people as to make them not all that great in relation to normal.
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IMHO, both statements above can be true at the same time. See below for more details on my thinking...
Quote:
Originally Posted by RWill2073
I am increasingly having a harder time believing that the supreme drivers in the world all just happen to come from the richest families and circumstances in the world. As you said, they've all been racing go karts since 6-7, and have had every opportunity for coaching and improving equipment through financial resources ever since. Seems like a learned skill that is transferable to many, given the same opportunities.
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I think the problem is that we are equating the current generation of drivers with the best that might exist within the larger population of potential driver (or even the entire population of the world if you want).
Clearly driving a race car is a skill that can be learned. I can imagine that in decades past, those that were truly both determined to succeed and naturally gifted were able to rise up above the rest
much easier than today because natural skill is what drove you forward and got you noticed. Today, the less gifted (but still somewhat gifted) via training can be elevated to much higher levels. I think what has changed is the professionalism and capabilities of those who are able to train and coach younger drivers.
Another way of saying this is that years ago the performance gap between the "best" and the "typical" or "good" was likely much larger than today.
This speaks to the ability of training (money) in racing to give some a leg up. This reminds me of the book Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. Gladwell doesn't always get it right, but his commentary about specific youths being more successful in hockey due to the birthday cut off date for cohort structuring seems to remain accurate. Basically the older kids in the group who are not pushed into the next group are typically bigger for their group (due to age alone) and tend to get more play time, training, etc. So if you look at the birthdates for NHL players, you can see a bias that was likely driven their experience (and cohort placement) in youth hockey programs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_age_effect
Richard