[Driver] Why is Fisichella performing so poorly?

[Chatters]

What happened since he finished in P2 at Spa? Is it the new car? Team orders?

???

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Chatters

What happened since he finished in P2 at Spa? Is it the new car? Team orders?

???

His dream becomes a nightmare?

Fisi nearly always seemed the sort of driver who was on top of his game when things were really good but way way off when things were not so good - for whatever reason. No consistency over the medium haul let alone a long one.

There was a year, I seem to recall, when he looked a little more consistent for more of the time - can't remember which one. But ultimately I have always wondered why teams kept hiring him. Presumably not for his overall results.

[Hawkwood]

I guess Fisi's poor showing sort of mitigates Badoer performances a bit

[Peter Mallett]

Or could that be the reverse?

[Ralf's Girl]

There are two obvious things to me:

1. The Ferrari isn't actually very good, Raikkonen is just driving better than everybody gives him credit for.

2. Fisi hasn't got the hang of when to use KERS - he got caught napping by Kovalainen coming out of the pits in Japan, when KERS would probably have kept him behind, and during the one dry(ish) practice at Interlagos he wasn't using it at any point in the lap.

And as Grant says, Fisi isn't the sort of driver to go well when his car isn't just right, so if he hasn't got to grips with the Ferrari then he won't be able to get it to go quickly.

[NPP]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

Fisi hasn't got the hang of when to use KERS - he got caught napping by Kovalainen coming out of the pits in Japan, when KERS would probably have kept him behind, and during the one dry(ish) practice at Interlagos he wasn't using it at any point in the lap.

And as Grant says, Fisi isn't the sort of driver to go well when his car isn't just right, so if he hasn't got to grips with the Ferrari then he won't be able to get it to go quickly.

To add to this, I remember him saying in an interview that he lacked confidence in what the car was doing under braking because of the influence of KERS.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

There are two obvious things to me:

1. The Ferrari isn't actually very good, Raikkonen is just driving better than everybody gives him credit for.

2. Fisi hasn't got the hang of when to use KERS - he got caught napping by Kovalainen coming out of the pits in Japan, when KERS would probably have kept him behind, and during the one dry(ish) practice at Interlagos he wasn't using it at any point in the lap.

And as Grant says, Fisi isn't the sort of driver to go well when his car isn't just right, so if he hasn't got to grips with the Ferrari then he won't be able to get it to go quickly.

That's right. The 1st reason should put to shame people who thinks that some drivers would easily be champions in a Ferrari.

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

There are two obvious things to me:

1. The Ferrari isn't actually very good, Raikkonen is just driving better than everybody gives him credit for.

2. Fisi hasn't got the hang of when to use KERS - he got caught napping by Kovalainen coming out of the pits in Japan, when KERS would probably have kept him behind, and during the one dry(ish) practice at Interlagos he wasn't using it at any point in the lap.

It's probably mainly #1, with #2 adding a tenth or so on top

Say what you want about Raikkonen, he knows how to handle that car.

[sizzle]

So are you all going to apologise to Badoer. A guy who hadn't sat in the race car for some time and also had no previous experience of KERS.

Nup didn't think so

[Fox89]

Originally Posted by sizzle

So are you all going to apologise to Badoer. A guy who hadn't sat in the race car for some time and also had no previous experience of KERS.

Nup didn't think so

The difference is, Fisi is a a few tenths to a second off the pace of his teammate. Which in a competitive F1 grid such as this puts him near the back. Badoer was about 3 seconds off the pace, which puts him right at the back, makes him a laughing stock and makes him a liability.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

Say what you want about Raikkonen, he knows how to handle that car.

Yup.

[jab]

He's had plenty of practice, though. Considering he had plenty of pre-season testing, it took him a heck of a long time to get to grips with it

Fisi just hasn't had time with the car. I sympathise with Badoer as I like him and he was probably affected by the fact that he hadn't driven an F1 car for months, but at the same time, he was useless. At least Fisi is mixing it with some cars, albeit in the rear half of the midfield. His spin yesterday could've happened to anyone

[cds_uk]

[QUOTE=Ralf's Girl;2563609]There are two obvious things to me:

1. The Ferrari isn't actually very good, Raikkonen is just driving better than everybody gives him credit for.QUOTE]

How many points behind Massa was he before Felipe got injured?, this must make Massa a driving god To be serious, surely its just about the closeness of the field, half a second slower is at least eight cars further down the grid.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Chatters

What happened since he finished in P2 at Spa? Is it the new car? Team orders?

???

Team orders. "Fisi make sure that you stay behind Kimi and everyone else you come across".

Difficult car to drive and merely adequate driver.

[ralf fan]

Well Fisi does suffer from chronic crappiness.

[broadrun96]

Speed hinted that Fisi is also running a lot of parts for 2010 as well. And isn't not like he is a rolling road block on the course, he's just not sprinting the car to the front of the field each week. For a guy that hasn't had the full season and any off-season testing Badoer had done he's still running decent times.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by ralf fan

Well Fisi does suffer from chronic crappiness.

There are no crap drivers in F1.

There are drivers who are not as good as others in the field, but all, without exception, are amazingly good drivers.

[Bononi]

I agree with that.

[Osella]

Originally Posted by JamesH

There are no crap drivers in F1.

There are drivers who are not as good as others in the field, but all, without exception, are amazingly good drivers.

absolutely right. But some drivers have a higher teflon quotient than others.

[Armco Bender]

There are amazingly good drivers in lesser Formulas in F1,but who are crap in F1 cars.

In the main game a really good F1 driver could put a milk float on the front row.

Still would have been good to see what Fisi could have done with the Force India.

[BootsOntheSide]

I think the testing ban is by far the biggest reason. Everybody has struggled when stepping into a car this year, which is hardly surprising when they have no opportunity to acclimatise. Grosjean and Alguersuari are among the most promising young drivers, yet they've both been inconsistant at best. Something has to be done for 2010, or an entire generation of youngsters could be affected.

KERS is the main reason why experience of the Force India isn't helping enough - not only does it requrie a whole new approach to driving fast sections and overtaking, it affects the car under braking. I'm not convinced that Raikkonen is driving beyond what the Ferrari can do, although he's clearly a better driver than Fisichella.

[AussieTimmeh]

Originally Posted by ralf fan

Well Fisi does suffer from chronic crappiness.

Rofl I didn't realise a diagnosis had been made but it all makes sense now!

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Speed hinted that Fisi is also running a lot of parts for 2010 as well.

I'd say that too, if I was performing like Fisi.

Originally Posted by Armco Bender

There are amazingly good drivers in lesser Formulas in F1,but who are crap in F1 cars.

Would Sebastian Bourdais fall into this category?

[ECW Dan Selby]

Slightly off topic but not here, I'd like to see some of the 2010 cars and how they differ. The Lotus (whilst still an early shot) just looks like a 2009 car.

Selby

[jab]

They're going to look pretty much the same - slightly longer for the bigger fuel tank, and hopefully no wheel rim disc things. That's about it

[Peralta]

I wished they would also cut the length of the front wing. How many broken wings, flat tyres because of them did we see this season? And they look fugly to boot.