Hamilton setting up the new McLaren

[mstillhere]

Is Hamilton going to be able to set the new McLaren and make it a winner? I personally have my strong doubts. He does not have enough F1 experience to successfully do a better job of his more experienced collegues. That should be a concern for RD. Remember what happened to LH when FA stopped sharing his set ups with LH. For a sake of a very competitive season, I would hope that he gets right. But if I were in RD shoes I would definetely hire someone who would be really good at it.
PS I wonder if PDL could be this person

[leopard]

They may need to simply copy paste from Renault data next season. :D

[Hotlavaaaa]

I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of car Lewis can develop for himself. I'm leaning towards him not doing such a great job. PDLR probably has the experience, but does he have the speed to help develop a quick car?

[Hawkmoon]

Perhaps. We don't really know how much input Hamilton was able to give the engineers. Neither Hamilton nor Alonso, despite the Spaniard's protestions to the contrary, put the McLaren at the front of the field. The engineers, along with input from Raikkonen, Montoya and De La Rosa, put the MP4-22 at the front.

The question is, who was responsible for helping keep it there? Hamilton or Alonso? How much value did De La Rosa add? I think Hamilton can be a team leader in terms of being a rallying point for the team and getting the best out of the car. Whether he can provide technical leadership, in the sense that any driver does in modern F1, is not certain.

[F1boat]

I think that Lewis might experience the problems JV had in Williams after Hill's exit from the team.

[Ranger]

I think that Lewis might experience the problems JV had in Williams after Hill's exit from the team.

Winning the world championship? :p :

With Williams in 1998 it was slightly different... It wasn't coincidental that both the '97-Renault powered Benneton and Williams teams faultered with private engine supply in 1998.

[I am evil Homer]

Remember what happened to LH when FA stopped sharing his set ups with LH.

I seem to recall him out qualifying his 2 xWDC team team 3 times (if we assume Turkey onwards they didn't share set ups) in his rookie season. Not too shabby all things considered.

[SGWilko]

I seem to recall him out qualifying his 2 xWDC team team 3 times (if we assume Turkey onwards they didn't share set ups) in his rookie season. Not too shabby all things considered.

Once LH found his own way on set-up's last year, I am sure there was reference made at some point on an autosport race review that FA used LH set-up data.

How LH goes next year can only be determined by waiting until, well, the testing of the new machines starts next year.

[markabilly]

Engineers are just as, and now may be more, important than the driver

[F1boat]

Winning the world championship? :p :

With Williams in 1998 it was slightly different... It wasn't coincidental that both the '97-Renault powered Benneton and Williams teams faultered with private engine supply in 1998.

He won, surely, but the Williams lost its enormous advantage during the season. McLaren did not enjoy such advantage.
So...
we wait and see :)

[Garry Walker]

He won, surely, but the Williams lost its enormous advantage during the season. McLaren did not enjoy such advantage.
So...
we wait and see :)

That was because of Newey leaving and some other issues.
If McLaren sucks or turns out great next year, it will have little to do with Hamilton or the other drivers, and a whole lot to do with the engineers. Hamilton s engineer can set up the car well enough, but I am always amused reading such stupidity that "hamilton cant set up the car"

[mstillhere]

[quote="Not too shabby all things considered.[/QUOTE"]
That's what I am saying. Not too shabby, in F1 we all know what that means.........

[mstillhere]

Engineers are just as, and now may be more, important than the driver

I don't know about this. I think that with the new cars racing without TC next year, the skills of the driver are going to be way more important than this year.

[truefan72]

I seem to recall him out qualifying his 2 xWDC team team 3 times (if we assume Turkey onwards they didn't share set ups) in his rookie season. Not too shabby all things considered.

couldn't have said it better

[Hotlavaaaa]

I seem to recall him out qualifying his 2 xWDC team team 3 times (if we assume Turkey onwards they didn't share set ups) in his rookie season. Not too shabby all things considered.

With the current qualy rules the two will never have been on the same fuel load in Q3, so looking at who qualified better really doesn't show who had the outright speed. I'm not gonna go back and look at all the Q2 results but they would give a more accurate representation of speed.

[wmcot]

I don't know about this. I think that with the new cars racing without TC next year, the skills of the driver are going to be way more important than this year.

But I think his engineers will have a pretty good idea of how he likes his car to be set up (understeer, oversteer, neutral, etc.)