Katherine Legge to test for Minardi (merged)

[Frank_White]

In any event, Massa was running with either the restricted V10 or the V8 Ferrari while the Minardi was unrestricted V10's having almost 200hp more than the Ferrari.

[insideline]

Originally Posted by speedfreek

i agree, aewsomely impressive by legge, what would be cool if super aguri ran both legge and patrick in an all women team.

Would be more cool if one of them beat Jenson

[Nismo]

impressive!! just shows hows slow sterling mossad is!!

[Nismo]

also just goes to show how easy an f1 car is to drive these days, point and squirt!... Gionvanna amati struggled to get anywhere near the pace of her team mates in 1992.. remember those were raw and physical cars to drive..

today they have power steering so helps a lot, all the driver aids.. etc...

[SpawnyWhippet]

I honestly believe that if you put Stirling Mossad in most competitive club races in UK, he would not win.

[JeremySmith]

She did a really good job today don't you think? I am impressed, well done Katherine she looks very nice in that helmet too.

[sonic]

It was average. and she is an average racing driver.

if her male equivalent put in that sort of performance no one would mark it out as especially praiseworthy.

so I can't help but feel the tone of people's praise is that she did 'good for girl' which is pretty patronising and sexist in my book.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by sonic

It was average. and she is an average racing driver.

if her male equivalent put in that sort of performance no one would mark it out as especially praiseworthy.

so I can't help but feel the tone of people's praise is that she did 'good for girl' which is pretty patronising and sexist in my book.

My comments are not intended as patronising or sexist.. She has never driven a F1 car before.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

My comments are not intended as patronising or sexist.. She has never driven a F1 car before.

Well put,

Surely we should be asking ourselves how she compares with the other people who tested, and the answer is fairly well?

Or either they're all pretty inexperienced and showed promise, Caceres and Filipi have been in Italian 3000, Rigon a WSR guy, Legge Atlantic/F3 so Nissany apart they are all from simialr levels of series and experience?

I thought i read somewhere that Caceres has some pressure on him already because of where he is from?

[Frank_White]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Surely we should be asking ourselves how she compares with the other people who tested, and the answer is fairly well?

Or either they're all pretty inexperienced and showed promise, Caceres and Filipi have been in Italian 3000, Rigon a WSR guy, Legge Atlantic/F3 so Nissany apart they are all from simialr levels of series and experience?

I thought i read somewhere that Caceres has some pressure on him already because of where he is from?

I'm enlightened. So I guess Legge is all set to compete at the F1 level. Maybe the first female champion.

[Born Racer]

That's hardly what he suggested. He was merely saying that she was one of the quicker drivers in the test.

[sonic]

Oh, okay. well what a fine example of up and coming racing talent you have chosen to compare her with.

didn't she do well, in her little pink helmet and glove and all.

[Frank_White]

At the most I'd say that she didn't embarrass herself. But it was hardly a notable display of driving talent at the highest level.

I agree with Sonic. The attention she's getting is patronising and sexist.

[Born Racer]

It's inevitable though. Yes, she's just a driver like the rest of them, but the fact that she's the first female in a while to do a serious test will get people's attention.

Personally, I would be happiest if I felt confident that the 20 drivers in F1 are the 20 best available (sure, most are probably at least among the best). But people talk of things like the promotional benefits for the sport of having an Indian driver, of having a black driver in the future etc.

To me that's the same as talking about the promotional benefits of a female driver and just as potentially patronising.

[Frank_White]

Agreed 100%.

[speedfreek]

i dont think the attention is all because shes a woman f1 driver, its minardis last test so was gunna be publisised anyway, and the reason im intresssted in the test is because of the same reason im interessted in gary pafffets test, shes british. i would have liked to know how any new british driver did.

[mike bt]

Just for the record, dcp is correct in comparing Massa's time of 1.13 which was set on Oct 27 th on the extended circuit. A good time on the 3.2km layout was around 57 secs earlier this year.
So to be 8 seconds off the Ferrari time is not too bad ........but nothing to really write home about, so I'd have to agree with sonic it was just average. I see that according to Autosport she's said she's not ready for F1 yet.

[dcp2685]

Originally Posted by mike bt

Just for the record, dcp is correct in comparing Massa's time of 1.13 which was set on Oct 27 th on the extended circuit. A good time on the 3.2km layout was around 57 secs earlier this year.
So to be 8 seconds off the Ferrari time is not too bad ........but nothing to really write home about, so I'd have to agree with sonic it was just average. I see that according to Autosport she's said she's not ready for F1 yet.

Thank you mike. That's what i was getting at. Putting in a 1:21 is highly respectable. Whether or not she is F1 material remains to be seen. Probably not for a variety of reasons. (a: she's 25. b) her goal is to get into champcars. c) by the time that happens she'll probably in her 30's and out of the F1 time frame..

Unlike some of the previous posters, it sickens me to see people say that what she did wasn't anything to write home about. The bottom line is she threw up a time 8 seconds off a Ferrari testing time set buy a guy that's been driving in F1 for a number of years. She had 27 laps in a car natually 5 seconds off the ferrari pace. Take that into consideration and she was 3 seconds off. The woman clearly has talent and it's disgusting to see people write her off simply because they can't come to a grip. Oh and has she driven the track before? While I honestly don't know, but somehow me thinks NOT!

I'm willing to bet give her another 300-500 laps in test and she's right on the pace.

[Robin_D]

I think she did well, all this pressure that is being put on her and the publicicty aswell. She needed to do well.

I couldn't give a damn about her gender, she is british and upcoming and therefore the interest is there.

Regardless of whether she is ready for F1 at the moment she has a long bright future ahead of her.

It seems sexism is still running rife It is actually shocking at how shortsighted some people are.

[SpawnyWhippet]

Originally Posted by dcp2685

The bottom line is she threw up a time 8 seconds off a Ferrari testing time set by a guy that's been driving in F1 for a number of years. She had 27 laps in a car natually 5 seconds off the ferrari pace. Take that into consideration and she was 3 seconds off.

Actually, the end of season 2005 Minardi is much closer to the 2005 Ferrari times than 5 secs. Take Japan GP - MS fastest time was only 3 secs faster than Albers, and in China, MS was only 1 sec faster than Doornbos. Hence, the cars probably only have a couple of secs between them in current trim. That was over 95 sec laps, over a 70 sec lap the gap should be quite a bit less. The test would have been more meaningful to this analysis if a current Minardi driver set a time. It should also be taken into account that testing uses the remaining life in components, so the test-spec cars would not be in as good shape as when they race. As best as I can make out, she would have been 8 secs slower in China than Doornbos was.