Unpopular Motorsport Opinions

[lilcat89]

Painful though it may be (particularly for Evans), I have to agree. Thierry has had top class machinery through his career but has never backed it up with consistency. Hyundai bringing back Tanak is a sure sign they want to be aggressive to topple Toyota and I wouldn't be surprised so learn that Tanak will be given priority (effectively number 1 driver status) to do it, despite Neuvilles service to the team.

Elfyn is undoubtedly brilliant, very fast on his day and can compete and beat the best, but his consistency is a question mark, though it has improved, he still makes too many mistakes and often at crucial times (Monza 2020, CER 2023). If he wins a championship, it'll be done Richard Burns style (2001, 1 rally win, Mr Consistency) or Ogier 2017 (2 rally wins).

I happen to agree about Tanak next year, i tend to think that Hyundai will go through deja vu with priority battles throughout the 2024 year. Sure they got 2 manufacturers titles out of it, but you only remember what car the Drivers champion drove. Neuville has had Hyundai to himself since they came in, with nothing to show for it. Making no mistakes in the big moments separates the Loebs and Makinens from the Hirvonens. McRae only has a title because of the whole Toyota exclusion scandal. Kankkunen would have had a 5th title otherwise.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I happen to agree about Tanak next year, i tend to think that Hyundai will go through deja vu with priority battles throughout the 2024 year. Sure they got 2 manufacturers titles out of it, but you only remember what car the Drivers champion drove. Neuville has had Hyundai to himself since they came in, with nothing to show for it. Making no mistakes in the big moments separates the Loebs and Makinens from the Hirvonens. McRae only has a title because of the whole Toyota exclusion scandal. Kankkunen would have had a 5th title otherwise.

Not sure I agree with the McRae part. Kankkunen was in contention but it was very far from being over.

And you could argue he was only in contention because Toyota cheated.

 

[lilcat89]

Not sure I agree with the McRae part. Kankkunen was in contention but it was very far from being over.

And you could argue he was only in contention because Toyota cheated.

You could argue just about anything about that 1995 season. It just depends on who you believe. We will never know either how long it was used and who knew about the turbo cheat.

 

[Sum1s2pid]

Strong disagree. Of all the Irish accents you could be enamored with, her Fermanagh accent is so not one of them. Don't get me wrong, her speech is fine, she's a great pundit, but not the accent. No.

I don't get exposed to much out here, and she's the only one there with a mic. 😅

 

[Liquid]

Cut Bottas some slack.

Yeah, I said it.

People are expecting way too much from him. He's Lewis Hamilton's teammate. Lewis Hamilton's. That means his job, whether it is literally worded in his contract or not, is to not challenge Hamilton too much and take points away from any potential challengers. We might want someone to be in the same car as Hamilton and give him a challenge but that is absolutely not what Mercedes wants and I'm reasonably sure it's not what Hamilton wants. Think about Hamilton during his times alongside Button and Rosberg; sure, he edged them out more times than not but he was made to work bloody hard for it, possibly too hard given how Hamilton has cruised to his last four titles with an easier teammate.

It's a front-running Formula One team. They've got "their guy" and they build the car around him. Fielding a second car is simply a legal necessity. That's how it works and I'm surprised at some people seemingly failing to accept that in always looking for a reason to lambast Bottas for not being as good as or close to Hamilton. Did you really think that he would be?

I just think Bottas gets an unbelievably disproportionate amount of criticism in a way that, let's say... Johnny Herbert, Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard and Giancarlo Fisichella didn't at various points in time. And three of those names alone were partnered with Michael Schumacher, another top driver known for being literally the only thing that mattered in his team.

Ease up a bit; you'd swear that the combined incarnate of Yuji Ide and Jean-Denis Deletraz was driving the way some people go on. If you're looking for someone to be as equally brilliant alongside Hamilton in the second Mercedes, what sport did you think you were watching for the past four years? Just accept it until someone else takes the seat or until Hamilton retires. It's pretty much a case of if you've nothing nice to say, don't say anything.

And in anticipation of replies to this opinion, no, I don't think Bottas is doing a brilliant job and I don't think he ought to be in that seat. I stress that I think the criticism is disproportionate, not unwarranted.

Time to repeat this with some of the words changed.

Cut Perez some slack.

Yeah, I said it.

People are expecting way too much from him. He's Max Verstappen's teammate. Max Verstappen's. That means his job, whether it is literally worded in his contract or not, is to not challenge Verstappen too much and take points away from potential challengers. We might want someone to be in the same car as Verstappen and give him a challenge but that is absolutely not what Red Bull wants and I'm sure it's not what Verstappen wants.

It's a front-running Formula One team. They've got "their guy" and they build the car around him. Fielding a second car is simply a legal necessity. That's how it works and I'm surprised at some people seemingly failing to accept that in always looking for a reason to lambast Perez for not being as good as or close to Verstappen. Did you really think that he would be? The car is built for Verstappen and that's it, no matter what Perez's driving style is.

Ease up a bit; you'd swear that the combined incarnate of Nikita Mazepin and Narain Karthikeyan was driving the way some people go on. If you're looking for someone to be as equally brilliant alongside Verstappen in the second Red Bull, what sport did you think you were watching for the past three years? Just accept it until someone else takes the seat or Verstappen moves on.

Perez is the former King of F1.5. He was almost e v e r y body's darling when he drove for Racing Point, won the Sakhir Grand Prix and was usually the most interesting driver to watch during a race. Now he's the second driver, he's getting the Bottas treatment. Get over it.

Nobody's going to drive that second Red Bull well except for Verstappen's clone. Perez hasn't driven well this season, sure. Criticise him. But once again, the criticism isn't unwarranted but it is disproportionate.

 

[Pupik]

I don't know what's weirder, the complete domination of one driver which is almost becoming a recurring joke even outside Motorsport circles, or that Ferrari is letting their drivers race against each other more times this season than in the previous 40 years.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Cut Perez some slack.

How about no. It’s a car. He can set it up how he likes. Verstappen was messing about at the start and as soon as he was put under any kind of pressure he found 1.5 seconds a lap. If Perez can’t finish ahead of clearly inferior cars then that is on him.

 

[Liquid]

How about no. It’s a car. He can set it up how he likes. Verstappen was messing about at the start and as soon as he was put under any kind of pressure he found 1.5 seconds a lap. If Perez can’t finish ahead of clearly inferior cars then that is on him.

Perez hasn't driven well this season, sure. Criticise him. But once again, the criticism isn't unwarranted but it is disproportionate.

He finished 2nd and only 1 race wasn't won by Red Bull. Best performance by a second driver? No but he did what he was supposed to.

 

[McLaren]

How about no. It’s a car. He can set it up how he likes. Verstappen was messing about at the start and as soon as he was put under any kind of pressure he found 1.5 seconds a lap. If Perez can’t finish ahead of clearly inferior cars then that is on him.

Wasn't there even a story just around a month ago that he was asking the team to revert back to a prior configuration, but the team told him no, the cars are the same?

I mean, yeah, he did what he was supposed to do finishing 2nd & helping the team lock up 1-2, but it almost seems like he lucked into that with Hamilton's fall off at the end of the season. Otherwise, Max's 575 points carried Red Bull to both titles whilst Checo spent the season in his own way after Miami.

 

[Greycap]

Perez is the former King of F1.5. He was almost e v e r y body's darling when he drove for Racing Point, won the Sakhir Grand Prix and was usually the most interesting driver to watch during a race.

It also warrants the question, how good was this year's Red Bull really? Perez is a very good driver as proven by his earlier performances and definitely a step above Bottas for example, yet he was relatively nowhere with that car.

It's definitely an unpopular opinion but if the car was as good as most people think he would have finished second in every race without even trying. He didn't, instead he had to push too close to the limits which led to a lot of mistakes. I'd say it wasn't the car after all, it was just Verstappen that made the difference.

 

[Atarwii]

Respect to Max, Respect to Red Bull. They had an amazing season but I just didn't find it all that entertaining and many times I didn't even bother to wake up early for the races. Knowing a guy was basically entering a race with difficulty on easy didn't motivate me to wake up.

 

[SestoScudo]

This whole time I thought the F1 logo of the old was just headlights of a car.

 

[sillybilly]

It also warrants the question, how good was this year's Red Bull really? Perez is a very good driver as proven by his earlier performances and definitely a step above Bottas for example, yet he was relatively nowhere with that car.

It's definitely an unpopular opinion but if the car was as good as most people think he would have finished second in every race without even trying. He didn't, instead he had to push too close to the limits which led to a lot of mistakes. I'd say it wasn't the car after all, it was just Verstappen that made the difference.

Perez still managed finish 2 race wins worth of points ahead of 3rd place. It was convincing second place in the championship. If there was another challenger that was quicker consistently he might have been more motivated to score better.

I would say another massive part is the toxic management of second driver at RBR

Perez is a very very good driver but no professional gets the best performance if they are managed poorly.

I'm not saying RBR set him up for failure - far from it, as he walked in 2nd place in the drivers title.

However ever practice and qualifying did he have the best support to perform at his best?

Yes, I agree the gap is substantially because of Max being on another level this year. However, heaps of drivers could have won the championship in that car if they were in the team instead of Max and were treated as the #1.

Cut Perez some slack.

I agree with this.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Colin Mcrae was not a good rally driver. I don't understand why he's soo revered because compared to the likes of Carlos Sainz, Tommi Makkinen and Yuha Kunkkunen, the numbers don't really stack up. He wrecked a lot of cars and threw away a lot of opportunities.

 

[Liquid]

I don't understand why he's soo revered

Flashy drivers are more popular than precise drivers.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Colin Mcrae was not a good rally driver. I don't understand why he's soo revered because compared to the likes of Carlos Sainz, Tommi Makkinen and Yuha Kunkkunen, the numbers don't really stack up. He wrecked a lot of cars and threw away a lot of opportunities.

If numbers were the only thing required to be revered then Sebastian Loeb should be the most revered and popular driver of all time. McRae was immensely exciting to watch, you just never knew what you were going to get with him at any given moment, and that's far more exciting and endearing than being predictable.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Colin Mcrae was not a good rally driver. I don't understand why he's soo revered because compared to the likes of Carlos Sainz, Tommi Makkinen and Yuha Kunkkunen, the numbers don't really stack up. He wrecked a lot of cars and threw away a lot of opportunities.

POV Gilles Villeneuve.

McRae did manage to tie it all up enough to win a title though, and it's quite well documented how his win-it-or-bin-it attitude was directly responsible for him not winning multiple more championships.

The question you should really be asking is why is any driver popular? Ayrton Senna seems to be revered as the best ever, even though he was on the grid with Alain Prost - a driver who repeatedly beat Senna all through his career. Senna was the more "exciting" and "on-the-edge" driver, whereas Prost just sat there either well ahead, or just behind enough to win when Senna would make a mistake or have a failure of some sort.

When Tommi Makkinen comes past you in a forest road, he's sideways. When McRae comes past, he's sideways, has a wheel in the ditch on the outside of the corner, the inside wheel up in the air and covers the trees in a lot more mud and stones as he disappears into the next corner and out of sight. If you're standing in the forest, McRae is the one you remember and is the story you tell your mates at work the next day.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Colin Mcrae was not a good rally driver. I don't understand why he's soo revered because compared to the likes of Carlos Sainz, Tommi Makkinen and Yuha Kunkkunen

"Not a good rally driver" might be pushing it a bit. Not "the best", "over rated" maybe, but he was clearly a good rally driver.

 

[SestoScudo]

Colin Mcrae was not a good rally driver. I don't understand why he's soo revered because compared to the likes of Carlos Sainz, Tommi Makkinen and Yuha Kunkkunen, the numbers don't really stack up. He wrecked a lot of cars and threw away a lot of opportunities.

Colin Mcrae was the type of man who always brought in the crowds. Thats what fans loved they loved drivers which entertained them.

Colin Mcrae was a mad man on the wheel regardless of statistics or his legacy the man was loved by fans. The man was so crazy he even sacrificed winning a championship while driving on the edge when he did not even need to.

For me Richard Burns was the most underrated driver in my opinion. Rest in Peace.

 

[ScottPuss20]

View attachment 1312487

"Not a good rally driver" might be pushing it a bit. Not "the best", "over rated" maybe, but he was clearly a good rally driver.

Shows how much I know

 

[TheCracker]

Colin Mcrae was the type of man who always brought in the crowds. Thats what fans loved they loved drivers which entertained them.

Colin Mcrae was a mad man on the wheel regardless of statistics or his legacy the man was loved by fans. The man was so crazy he even sacrificed winning a championship while driving on the edge when he did not even need to.

He was also popular because of how he was out of the car too. He didn't mince his words. He made Kimi Raikkonen look like a corporate boot-licker.

 

[ScottPuss20]

POV Gilles Villeneuve.

McRae did manage to tie it all up enough to win a title though, and it's quite well documented how his win-it-or-bin-it attitude was directly responsible for him not winning multiple more championships.

The question you should really be asking is why is any driver popular? Ayrton Senna seems to be revered as the best ever, even though he was on the grid with Alain Prost - a driver who repeatedly beat Senna all through his career. Senna was the more "exciting" and "on-the-edge" driver, whereas Prost just sat there either well ahead, or just behind enough to win when Senna would make a mistake or have a failure of some sort.

When Tommi Makkinen comes past you in a forest road, he's sideways. When McRae comes past, he's sideways, has a wheel in the ditch on the outside of the corner, the inside wheel up in the air and covers the trees in a lot more mud and stones as he disappears into the next corner and out of sight. If you're standing in the forest, McRae is the one you remember and is the story you tell your mates at work the next day.

Being memorable doesn't always mean that you're good though. You can provide excitement without being reckless and plenty of drivers have done that. Colin had talent but his attitude got the better of him, which in my mind dilutes his legacy. Sure, he might have 25 rally wins to his name but he failed to finish many others because he didn't show restraint when he was in advantageous positions. A good driver knows when to fight and when to back off, which is something that Colin clearly didn't do. Talent is important but that will not guarantee championships if you have the wrong mindset. It's for this reason that I don't really rate Colin McRae as a driver.

 

[m355y]

Colin Mcrae was the type of man who always brought in the crowds. Thats what fans loved they loved drivers which entertained them.

Colin Mcrae was a mad man on the wheel regardless of statistics or his legacy the man was loved by fans. The man was so crazy he even sacrificed winning a championship while driving on the edge when he did not even need to.

For me Richard Burns was the most underrated driver in my opinion. Rest in Peace.

I'm not a massive McRae fan, I think his reckless nature left a trail of destruction that's often glossed over in hindsight. I'll leave that one there.

But I get why he was so popular, he was the embodiment of why the WRC was so exciting - people loved seeing those cars flat out over jumps, sideways and on the edge of control, and he jumped that bit higher and went that bit more sideways than anybody else. I can't deny the image of his Impreza or Focus sliding through the forests is the one that's forever in my head when I think of rallying, even if, personally, I think he's someone with quite a.....complicated....legacy.

But Richard Burns was my hero, partly because he was from near where I grew up (Hungerford to Reading, anyway) but also because he was underrated, professional and for my money every bit as formidable as Colin was in his Subaru days, even if he wasn't quite as much of a showman.

 

[SestoScudo]

I'm not a massive McRae fan, I think his reckless nature left a trail of destruction that's often glossed over in hindsight. I'll leave that one there.

But I get why he was so popular, he was the embodiment of why the WRC was so exciting - people loved seeing those cars flat out over jumps, sideways and on the edge of control, and he jumped that bit higher and went that bit more sideways than anybody else. I can't deny the image of his Impreza or Focus sliding through the forests is the one that's forever in my head when I think of rallying, even if, personally, I think he's someone with quite a.....complicated....legacy.

But Richard Burns was my hero, partly because he was from near where I grew up (Hungerford to Reading, anyway) but also because he was underrated, professional and for my money every bit as formidable as Colin was in his Subaru days, even if he wasn't quite as much of a showman.

Richard Burns death was so sad. Cancer was eating him up.

What made it even more sad his death barely made any headlines mainly due to George Best passing away.

Jeremy Clarkson despite his controversy. Paid tribute to Richard Burns on Top Gear.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I'm not a massive McRae fan, I think his reckless nature left a trail of destruction that's often glossed over in hindsight. I'll leave that one there.

But I get why he was so popular, he was the embodiment of why the WRC was so exciting - people loved seeing those cars flat out over jumps, sideways and on the edge of control, and he jumped that bit higher and went that bit more sideways than anybody else. I can't deny the image of his Impreza or Focus sliding through the forests is the one that's forever in my head when I think of rallying, even if, personally, I think he's someone with quite a.....complicated....legacy.

But Richard Burns was my hero, partly because he was from near where I grew up (Hungerford to Reading, anyway) but also because he was underrated, professional and for my money every bit as formidable as Colin was in his Subaru days, even if he wasn't quite as much of a showman.

The sad irony being that, if it wasn’t for McRaes all or nothing nature, Richard wouldn’t have won a title. Don’t get me wrong, he deserved it because he drive brilliantly and didn’t throw it away, but if McRae had just gone in at 90% instead of 110% he’d have been a 2 time champion.

Glad Richard did win it though, first and only Englishman to do so, his legacy still stands now.

 

[m355y]

For me Burns’ golden year was probably 2000, 2001 was a bit of a mess for all the top guys where nobody seemed to want the title. So I’m glad he got it, but I don’t think it was a classic title campaign. To be honest you could argue McRae’s title in 1995 was kind of a mugging of Carlos Sainz, too and 1997 was ‘his’ year. But a title’s a title. I always saw a bit of Burns in Elfyn Evans and was gutted when he let championship point slip in 2020. I hope it won’t be too long before we get another top British rally driver.

 

[sillybilly]

F1 should have drivers not pilots, cars not zero altitude flying machines...

I think they should get rid of the feet in the air driving position and flatten the floor of the car.

Make the cars have a flat floor and lift the driver a couple of inches so the feet and be on the 'floor'...

• driver can have better visibility forward that will be safer.
• if the drivers' back is a little more vertical the overall length of the car should be able to be shortened.

The only negatives are slight raised center of gravity and aerodynamic compromise of more front area but these should be pretty minor.

 

[TheCracker]

F1 should have drivers not pilots, cars not zero altitude flying machines...

I think they should get rid of the feet in the air driving position and flatten the floor of the car.

Make the cars have a flat floor and lift the driver a couple of inches so the feet and be on the 'floor'...

• driver can have better visibility forward that will be safer.
• if the drivers' back is a little more vertical the overall length of the car should be able to be shortened.

The only negatives are slight raised center of gravity and aerodynamic compromise of more front area but these should be pretty minor.

The more upright the driving position the more that disadvantages taller drivers, both aerodynamically and from the point of view of the centre of gravity.

 

[Liquid]

F1 should have drivers not pilots, cars not zero altitude flying machines...

I think they should get rid of the feet in the air driving position and flatten the floor of the car.

Make the cars have a flat floor and lift the driver a couple of inches so the feet and be on the 'floor'...

• driver can have better visibility forward that will be safer.
• if the drivers' back is a little more vertical the overall length of the car should be able to be shortened.

The only negatives are slight raised center of gravity and aerodynamic compromise of more front area but these should be pretty minor.

The more upright the driving position the more that disadvantages taller drivers

Yuki Tsunoda is a member of GTPlanet.

 

[sillybilly]

The more upright the driving position the more that disadvantages taller drivers, both aerodynamically and from the point of view of the centre of gravity.

Aerodynamically should be pretty evened out with Halo - they could review the option of an aeroscreen design again too.

Centre of gravity adjustment by driver weight I think it much less that the cars are 800kg - however, simple solution is to have a standard placement of the driver balast weigh on the back of the safety cell at approximate shoulder height. The could disadvantage smaller drivers relative to their current vertical position advantage if the cog is actually shifted upwards - It would likely end up with a very close vertical position of center of gravity for all drivers.

The profile of the seating position is just wrong for a car - it has been like this for many years, and it was clever thinking in the 90s to have more air under the drivers legs but now it is old thinking and looks silly.