Quote:
Originally Posted by Knowlesy
No, the mechanical grip in those years was severely lacking because of the tyres. They even looked hard, as if made of the same construction as you'd find on a cheap toy cars plastic tyres. Some drivers could not adapt to them at all as they had no feel and finding the limit was difficult. Remember, this was still the early days of grooved tyres (and narrow chassis) and, with no competition after Goodyear left, Bridgestone opted for safety first. The irony being that the tyres were actually quite dangerous to drive on, with the cars snapping out of control seemingly for no real reason sometimes.
It was only once Michelin returned that grip levels shot up and laptimes tumbled. The cars became easier to race, although this was soon negated by the vast improvements brought about by increasingly sophisticated aerodynamic development.
But trust me, 1999 and 2000 were truly horrendous, barring the noise the McLaren's made. I still look back with sadness at the 90 minutes of my life I lost watching the '99 Spanish GP.
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I'm not saying your points aren't valid or anything, because I can't remember everything about those seasons. I still don't subscribe to your view. I'm not saying you have to make me, because we could go round in circles.
- Even if the tyres provided absolutely no grip, guys were still stuck in the dirty air. Now that you say it, I can recall thinking 96 wasn't particularly thrilling in this regard. In fact, off the top of my head, except for 97, all the 94-98 seasons we're terrible regarding guys going for it. Degrees varied, but pointing out 99/00 doesn't make sense to me. They were mainly the same. Also, it may've been only one race, but the 00 French was one of the best races in bone dry conditions from the 94-98 peroid. One of the few races not dictated by fuel loads, pit "strategy".
- "They even
looked hard". Nup, it may've been to you. It's a bit much for me go along with this, particularly since I watched the races too.
- "with the cars snapping out of control seemingly for no real reason sometimes". With this line, you could be describing aquaplaning.
- "But trust me, 1999 and 2000 were truly horrendous". I was watching them. Except for 97, they weren't any different to seasons either side.
- " I still look back with sadness at the 90 minutes of my life I lost watching the '99 Spanish GP". From my pov, I don't get the singling out the 99 Spanish GP. The 98/99/00 were all the same race to me. I still wouldn't blame them on tyres. One of the reasons why Catalunya has been bad is because it's all long circumference corners, aero/downforce loves that!