A fan called in and asked Bob Varsha and Steve Matchett last night, if the car was the all-important parrt of F1 racing and if that was the case, could Scott Speed, if he was driving the Ferrari this year, could he win the world driving championship.  I was surprised at the answer Varsha gave, "yes, probably he could".  Matchett sort of agreed, but not whole-heartedly, saying Speed would certainlly win a few races if that were the case.  I don't know of another series where the car is THAT all-important. 

speedyracer:

A fan called in and asked Bob Varsha and Steve Matchett last night, if the car was the all-important parrt of F1 racing and if that was the case, could Scott Speed, if he was driving the Ferrari this year, could he win the world driving championship.  I was surprised at the answer Varsha gave, "yes, probably he could".  Matchett sort of agreed, but not whole-heartedly, saying Speed would certainlly win a few races if that were the case.  I don't know of another series where the car is THAT all-important. 

Bollocks.

If that were the case, how come Rubens Barrichello didnt win a championship in his years at Ferrari?  Or how come Kimi Raikkonen faltered so badly last season at McLaren?

The car is definitely a part of the equation, but so is talent behind the wheel.

Varsha is definately a homer but that's okay.  Scott could probably win races in a Ferrari but he needs a bit more experience to win a championship.  The F1 game is a marriage of man and machine and you just can't put any driver in any car and expect it to work.  However, to win in F1 you need a winning car, no question about it.  On the flip side of that, you can't win in F1 if you do not have a winning car and I do not think Kimi or Alonso could win races behind the wheel of the STR.

Regarding Rubens never winning a championship with Ferrari one must keep in mind that his job was to be the Number 2 driver and support Schumacher.  I think a better modern example of driver who had the opportunity to win the WDC but came up short is Eddie Irvine's bid for the title in 1999.

 

rubens never won the title because ferrari wanted shumi to win

kimi never won the title because the mclaren was never better than the ferrari

in f1, the car makes 80% of the speed, and the driver the last 20%.  that's my opinion and i'm sticking to it!  others have different ratios.

take a look at this year for example.  renault is complaining that their car isn't as fast as bmw, ferrari or mclaren.  fisi finished 5th.  how would alonso do driving the same car?  i bet he would've finished 2nd.  that car isn't good enough to win but in the right hands, it would've finished better than 5th.

schumi would've never won 5 straight titles in another car...

ronwilker:

rubens never won the title because ferrari wanted shumi to win

kimi never won the title because the mclaren was never better than the ferrari

in f1, the car makes 80% of the speed, and the driver the last 20%.  that's my opinion and i'm sticking to it!  others have different ratios.

take a look at this year for example.  renault is complaining that their car isn't as fast as bmw, ferrari or mclaren.  fisi finished 5th.  how would alonso do driving the same car?  i bet he would've finished 2nd.  that car isn't good enough to win but in the right hands, it would've finished better than 5th.

schumi would've never won 5 straight titles in another car...

Schumi did win two straight in a Benetton. Is it a coincidence that he won five straight (and could have won a couple more) with another team that was previously in the dumps before he got there?

As far as Kimi faltering in the McLaren, there's a legitimate defense for Kimi. As a McLaren fan, I am fully privy to what has always been their arch-nemesis: reliability. If not for all of the mechanical failures in 2005, Kimi most likely wins the WDC, and McLaren probably easily takes the WCC. This year, they have improved reliability a ton, and they've caught up to Ferrari on some things. It shows: two McLaren drivers are tied for the lead in the WDC. Part of it, you could say, is their new stock of drivers: the two-time defending WDC, and perhaps the most talented rookie to come into F1 in years. But the McLaren has improved quite a bit from last year.