Which teams have equal cars?

[Phoenix1]

We hear alot in rumour and speculation about the number one driver in a team being ahead because he has the best equipment and although it is only natural for a team to bond slightly more with one driver than another how do people rate teams not just now but in the past on being fair. The team I personally rate as most fair is Williams, no one car, as a rule, will be massively different from a performance view point. There are other teams, again in my opinion, that bias greatly towards one driver such as Jaguar and Ferrari although it seems either Rubens has become alot strong or Ferrari are playing a bit more fair now. I understand teams like McLaren giving Kimi DC's car in the last race because of the points.

[climb]

Normally a team should be fair whenever no WDC is on the line for them.
In any other kind of a situation, the team needs the most points from both of their drivers, and cannot afford to
penalise one of them.
That is why, for instance, I don't believe JV at all, when he whined for a better treatment given to Jenson...

[MrBluesman1]

I think maybe in the past more so than now that was the case. Just ask Prost and Mansell But with today I think a lot of it comes down to how each driver drives. Maybe Rubens has more failures because he is harder on his car than Michael is and same goes for other drivers in other teams. You'll remember Imola last year I think it was when Michael took Rubens' car for the race and he had no problems with it (if I am wrong with this I will stand corrected).
You are probably right with regards to the likes of Minardi not being able to put upgrades on to both cars so they give it to the better driver. So all in all I think teams today are fair with regards to this matter even though it doesn't seem to be that way all the time.

[Red]

Every team has equal cars. I mean they try to have equal cars. If they can't, and that happens due to various reasons for example having only 1 "new chassis version" car, they will asign them according to their best interest. For example, if that chassis is much better, but also not exactly proved as reliable, they gamble between taking a risk-and give it to their best placed driver, and using their second driver as test-driver. Of course, journalists and fans will try to make a fabulous story out of it, but the boring truth is that all team want to maximize the results using the equipment at hand.

[Redlake27]

I agree with Red. I can't see any reason why a team would want to give a driver an inferior car, apart from reasons of parts/chassis availability. Rubens had an old Ferrari longer than MS last year (Brazil?), but that could have worked in his favour with reliability etc.

It is all too professional these days...it was often amusing when some of the smaller teams dragged out old sheds if they were to run a second or third car. I think Gabriele Tarquini made his debut in 1987 with a 1984 Osella that the team 'borrowed' from a museum! I guess that was not an equal car......

[Adam43]

I agree they all have equal cars (apart from in the odd situation due to circumstances).

These odd situations are probably more frequent for some teams than others. I have my doubts, for instance, that Minardi produce equal cars all the time. And for different reasons I wonder about Jaguar too.

Minardi because they just can't afford to make thousands of parts quickly. Jaguar because they are a bit odd generally and don't really care (and maybe they watch the pennies a little too).

When Ferrari do it it is becuase of a different reason. It is because they can get things through the design stage so quickly. They then just run out of the time to physically make the parts!

[Gt_R]

I believe Williams, Ferrari and Mclaren give their respective drivers equal cars. They had the ability to provide a car for each driver, and equip them both with the latest updates/engines. Only in unique circumstances (ie one F2002 was first made available to Michael, Williams '01 or '02 only had one B-spec chassis for one of their driver)where it is not the case, but they are justifiable circumstances

I also believe Minardi din't had equal cars, not because of unfair favourtism, but simply because lack of testing coupled with funds make it difficult. We have heard Alonso complaining that Trulli got a better engine deal than him. Another team which had un-equal cars is BAR, prior to David Richards, where it's made known JV got the new engine updates and new parts before the other guy - reason? - up to your own conclusion.

No complains from anybody from Sauber and Toyota so far

[Thorstone]

Originally posted by climb
I don't believe JV at all, when he whined for a better treatment given to Jenson...

Well I do believe Jacques,it was first time in Japan,
it did seems the BAR driver's did have equal cars,
no one can convince me
and say Sato are better driver than Jacques Villeneuve

[DSM]

Iwould say a highly motivated Sato would be a lot better than a Villeneuve totally without motivation.

[BootsOntheSide]

I certainly think Sato got better material in japan 2002, and perhaps 2003 - most likely, early test versions of the next year's enigne. the teams knew that, if it blew up, it wasn't the end of the world,a dn at least Honda's boy had showed his ability.

Maybe it usually comes down to resource allocation. Past a certain point where the cars are equal, extra work to improve one car's reliability, or give that driver more testing time, may have too much of a detrimental effect on the second car.

When hardware is new and hasn't been isntalled on more than one car, I think the lead driver (in teams sucha s Ferrari and B.A.R., where the lead focus was always on one car) sometimes does get an advantage. And there's no doubt that Trust paid for Jos to get better machienry than Wilson or Kiesa, thus making him look competant.

[ralf fan]

All teams have equal cars its just up to the driver how he sets it up!
ofcourse in the final few races the WDC contenders were given pit stop preference but that has nothing to do with the car. its just strategy

[GP Racer]

Equal cars? EQUAL CARS!? Where have you guys been all year? Havn't you read all those threads about poor JV driving around in an "obviously" inferior car? Hell, the damn thing was sabotaged I tell you!

Equal cars, my #ss!

[vatuloa]

At least we can laugh on this topic. No two people are the same and no 2 cars are ever going to be the same this is about the small differances or large differances. The drivers attitude plays a big part as well.

[Mathias]

I can't believe the number of people out there saying "blah blah blah all F1 teams give their drivers equal cars blah blah blah, except those that don't blah blah". It's patently obvious that almost every team diverts resources to the driver they think has the best chance of scoring maximum points.

Whether that's because they don't have the resources to upgrade both cars (the "Minardi syndrome") or because the technology is moving so fast their fabricators can't keep up (the "Ferrarsi paradigm"), but it's never a case that they deliberately disadvantage the "worst" driver. They will always try to keep their number 2 ahead of their rivals' number 2 (if not number 1 also).

The only teams that really work on having equal cars are those that really believe their drivers are equal (i.e. Williams and Sauber).

But I'm probably wrong; I usually are.

[Red]

Ferrari never had identical cars, at least since 2000. And never tried to make them identical. Rubens is a right foot braker while Michael brakes using left anyway.

[Bononi]

They are always equal in livery.



That's all.

[Mathias]

...and, of course, they all have a different type of nut holding the steering wheel...,

[Red]

Bononi, you're wrong. Actually I don't think that there was a team, last year, with identical liveries.

[FastCar5]

i think i read somewhere JV had like 9 DNFs from mechanical stoppages this year. If true it would be interesting to compare to his team-mate.

[Bononi]

Jos Verstappen ???????

[climb]

Jos who?

[GP Racer]

Originally posted by FastCar5
i think i read somewhere JV had like 9 DNFs from mechanical stoppages this year. If true it would be interesting to compare to his team-mate.

Ahaa! Proof that JV's car was sabotaged!

[BARrouette]

Originally posted by GP Racer
Ahaa! Proof that JV's car was sabotaged!

I think it was sabottage .9 dnf in 16 races.All year long with diffrent cars...

[corkholio]

The only difference between the two BAR cars are the drivers.

[DriverT]

Originally posted by BARrouette
I think it was sabottage .9 dnf in 16 races.All year long with diffrent cars...

Oh yeahhh what more proof do we need?