Whos the best driver not in F1

[BSchneiderFan]

Originally posted by santori
... Bernd Schneider...

Hurrah!

[chunterer]

Originally posted by BSchneiderFan
'Undoubtedly' is a strong word. I'd put Tom Kristensen ahead of him, probably Allan McNish, and - for my money - Bernd Schneider and J.J. Lehto too. And I don't think I'd be the only one.

Other thasn the three or fopur i mentioned from the IRL, i'm pretty much with you on that sir!

[Raglanparade]

Dixon
Briscoe
Courtney

[chunterer]

Originally posted by jasonhill9884
Dixon
Briscoe
Courtney

Hey top man, i'm glad someone agrees with my recognition of talent! Dixon is a great drivr already and can only get better and i reckon he's inline for a Toyota drive? see the other Toyota driver thread!

[Splatz the Cow]

It's worth remembering that Allan McNish lapped significantly faster than Tom Kristensen at Le Mans, although some of that can depend on strategy for the race, but it remains that he regularly posted fastest laps against his Audi team mates including Tom.

[Frank_White]

Which team principal do u think will hire allan mcnish with the expectation that he can become world champion?

Realistically, A. Mcnish seems to be a nice guy and all but i beleive that team principals look for drivers who they believe are excellent talents/racers or have the potential to become such.

Mcnish's time has clearly come and gone.

i say make way for young talented and upcoming drivers.

[BSchneiderFan]

Quite so, and Nishie is young yet. If he sticks around in sportscars for the next ten years or so, who knows how many times he'll win Le Mans?

[Evomike]

Hmmm your from Australia and you make the comment that Dixon hasn't really competed in much road racing??? Helloooo what sort of tracks was he racing on in Oz?? and NZ??

Originally posted by champcarman
Antonio Pizzonia
Paul Tracy
Tomas Enge
Frank Montagny
Tom Kristenson

Dixon never won a CART road race and others like Tony Stewart have never competed in much road racing so hard to judge.

[graves]

Sam Hornish!? He can only turn left can't he?

[lydon]

JV
Sebastian Loeb
Allen Mc nish

[Frank_White]

i would like to see jeff gordon in f1 though.

that would be really interesting.

rossi, up to speed in f1 would be dynamite as well. i'd pull for him to win just to see what he would do.

[GP Racer]

Originally posted by graves
Sam Hornish!? He can only turn left can't he?

Hmmm, maybe you need to watch an IRL race or two, before you make a comment like that, don't you think?

It takes a certain type of driver and skill to race wheel-to-wheel at 200 plus MPH, 2 and 3 wide, in traffic, lap after lap. I'm not sure how many drivers on your list can do that.

[bcobbus]

I may get some heat for this but I'd have to say TOny Stewart. He is a great driver, and the 24 at Daytona showed us that this year.

[Jordi]

Sam Hornish is very good, but he doesn't knock my number one choice.

[ASCII Man]

I rate Sam Hornish Jr. higher than Scott Dixon though.
He seems to have more raw natural speed and ability than Dixon.

[MLM]

Not a big fan of his but at least one of my picks has to go to Jeff Gordon.
I haven't seen too much of Wirdheim to give a definite nod, but maybe.
Enge, maybe if he can get his act together.
Don't know too much about the Rally drivers to make an intelligent choice.

[BARrouette]

J-V
Mika and Bourdais

[enemy-ace]

Originally posted by GP Racer
It takes a certain type of driver and skill to race wheel-to-wheel at 200 plus MPH, 2 and 3 wide, in traffic, lap after lap. I'm not sure how many drivers on your list can do that.

While that may be true, I think the style of driving in the IRL is too different than what is required in F1. It is difficult enough for CART drivers to make the transition to F1. Hornish never really showed well on road-courses and coming from an Oval only series I think the learning curve would be to steep for him.
Bourdais would be a better choice of a driver to come from a North American series and be succesful.

[graves]

Originally posted by GP Racer
Hmmm, maybe you need to watch an IRL race or two, before you make a comment like that, don't you think?

It takes a certain type of driver and skill to race wheel-to-wheel at 200 plus MPH, 2 and 3 wide, in traffic, lap after lap. I'm not sure how many drivers on your list can do that.

Seen plenty of IRL races thanks! Like someone already said, IRL is too much of a different discipline. Just because a guy can set up a car to go round an oval quickly (and lets be honest here, that is what oval racing is mostly about) ins't enough to convince me I'm afraid.
I have to admit though, I don't know much about his racing history, perhaps someone can come up with a few facts and figures that would convince me otherwise.

[GP Racer]

Originally posted by graves
Seen plenty of IRL races thanks! Like someone already said, IRL is too much of a different discipline. Just because a guy can set up a car to go round an oval quickly (and lets be honest here, that is what oval racing is mostly about) ins't enough to convince me I'm afraid.
I have to admit though, I don't know much about his racing history, perhaps someone can come up with a few facts and figures that would convince me otherwise.

Well, Mario Andretti is a great example, of a driver who started on all ovals in everything from stock-cars, to dirt trackers, to IndyCars, and then made a very successful switch to road courses in sports cars and finally F1. He is certainly America's best all-around driver, if not the worlds. He was successful in anything he drove. Its a shame that drivers today, don't cross over as much as they used to.

I think given the chance, Hornish could be that kind of guy. I think that starting out as an oval racer could actually be an advantage. They are almost always wheel to wheel, in traffic, under pressure, and at very high speeds. They pass each other a hell of alot more than any road racing series does, so they know how to set someone up, and they know how to draft and sling-shot better. And most importantly, they're fearless, they will make move's that IMHO, many road racers would not.(that should start some controversy!)

That said, it would take some time to make such a transition, some things need to be learned, and practised, but oval racers should not be so easily dismissed. If your a racer, like Hornish is, it matters little where you race...

PS-Hornish won the IRL opener yesterday, in typical Hornish fashion, a last second sling-shot past his teammate, Castroneves. Great stuff! The guy can just flat-out drive!

[enemy-ace]

Comparing Mario's oval accomplishments to Hornish's is not practical in today's realm as the car's Mario drove required more driver input than the IRL cars. Case in point, I read an interview with Montoya where he stated that he found the IRL cars easy to drive in that he never had to lift. He also spoke of how he used to watch the 500 when he was younger and loved how the cars would come right out to the wall on the limit and sadly the current cars didn't require that kind of commitment from the driver.
Hornish is clearly very good in his current environment but having big 'cajones' doesn't neccessarily translate to good road-racing skills. Sure they pass more on Ovals but that's because that's an inherent part of Oval racing. Setting someone up on an Oval for a pass is somewhat different than doing it on a road-course. Maintaining your pace on a road-course is infinitely more difficult than doing so on an Oval and thus more difficult to setup an overtaking opportunity.
Maybe when the IRL goes road-racing we'll see how skillfull Hornish is. Helio will surely put him to the test.

[Hazza]

Best driver not in F1? Tom Kristenson.

Others would include Scott Dixon (Okay, so he didn't win a road race, but he should've but thoose dastardly team orders held him up - not that it matters, I would've thought being CARTs Youngest winner would've done something for his reputation )

Sebastian Bordais is annother one, albeit slightly irrevelant, he's just on the way folks...

[gttouring]

Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, easy
you can look at PT, and Almendinger
Scott Dixon should get a shot,
Ambrose? or Skaife? can't decide.
Gronholm and Solberg should have a go at it..the list can go on, we have seen good driver go in and not make it work but they were brilliant elsewhere like Magnussen and Zanardi
so everyone should be tested for it, As dedicated as Townsend Bell is, I don't feel he is as good as Allmendinger- although bell has the best shot at the moment...