Is Pat Symonds a genius?

[gfm]

I think he probably is.
That Renault is just so good; it's (old-fashioned) mechanical grip seems to be well ahead and Alonso seemed like he could work it so hard; the McLaren a bit more nervous and the Ferrari curiously inert in comparison.
As a team, they're confident, relaxed and seem to reflect the way Symond's attitude comes across.
Boy, is that outfit on the top of their game right now? Something special going on, and not just as a result of winning.

[Glen]

Its hard to be certain how much of their current form is down to Alonso - if you look at Fisi's results the Renault doesn't look quite such a great car. In Fernando's hands though, it is just superb and the team as a whole are definitely the class of the field.

For the life of me I cannot understand why Alonso is going to McLaren - he's going to be pretty sick if Webber gets the 2007 title in a Renault.

[gfm]

One of the points I made over the weekend was that it looks like, and I maybe entirely wrong, that if you put either Kimi or MS in the Renault, they could do the winning too. Maybe wrong, but that Renault looks the fastest package.
(I couldn't be a bigger fan of Alfonso, no belittling intended. A wonderful racer, amazingly consistant.)

[Stephen Green]

I think Alonso committed to McLaren at the time it was rumoured Renault might pull out of F1, hence the early move by him.

[FPV GTHO]

Originally Posted by Glen

Its hard to be certain how much of their current form is down to Alonso - if you look at Fisi's results the Renault doesn't look quite such a great car. In Fernando's hands though, it is just superb and the team as a whole are definitely the class of the field.

Thats a good question, but if you look back at 2004, Alonso and Trulli seemed fairly evenly matched. Trulli hasnt exactly been able to replicate that with Toyota though.

[NO1SPECIAL]

Genius? Maybe, maybe not, I don't know. Hard to ignore their current form though.

I also tend to think MS or KR would be winning in that car - along with some other drivers, but that's a discusson for another thread.

Now, the point about mechanical grip is interesting, and I was thinking about this earlier. Like, what on earth is mechanical grip? How can two cars the same weight running the same tyres have vastly different levels of it? Does it all come down to suspension? I was going to start a thread on this in hopes that someone with the knowledge might explain further, but this will do just as well.

[gfm]

Mechanical grip is not just as a result of the suspension; it's to do with the whole way the car is designed, all the weights, distributions and measures computations.
And no the differences are never 'vast'. What was the diffence between the first two at Silverstone at the end? But if you start with good basic grip and then work the aeros, it's great base. Watch what Alfonso can do with his car' on the limit for so long; it's so 'maliable'.
Hence my suggestion that as technical director, Mr Symonds seems to work an advantage.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Glen

For the life of me I cannot understand why Alonso is going to McLaren - he's going to be pretty sick if Webber gets the 2007 title in a Renault.

Yeah, there's something weird about both of that...