MOTORSPORTS: WHO IS IN CHARGE?

Cars are an essential part of motorsports but are they so important? Are drivers more vital than
the the cars or vice versa?
In every field of motorsport there are different cars: fast, technological cars for F1, agile off-road
for rally, lightning accelerating for drag racing, or super-efficient for endurance; I will consider only
the two I am more confident with, Formula 1 and Rally. Once Nico Rosberg, the F1 driver, said:
''The difference between each driver[]is about .3 seconds a lap; from the best car to the worst
car, I guess it's two seconds or one and a half seconds. So [] 20 percent driver and 80 percent
car.''
The cruel thing for the drivers is that he is right; all the F1 drivers are among the best in the world
so all of them can complete any race. However, since the 1950s, only a few, like Senna or
Schumacher, have really shone above everyone; for the rest of them its always been mostly the
car that let them win. But not all hope is gone, in rally the driver and his co-drivers skills are a
crucial part of every race, because the cars are much more similar to each other in rally than in
f1, where they are designed from nothing; in rally they are heavily modified production cars with
clearly prescribed limits and precise rules to respect while in f1 manufacturers always try to find a
gap in the rulebook to improve the car over the competition average.
I miss the first period of formula 1 history where races were meant to actually show drivers ability
to win a race independently of the car they were driving, technology was rough and engines were
as simple as pistons and tyres. I remember when i first seen Enzo Ferrari's Alfetta 158, it was so
simple a functional, it was so great that today it still have the record for the longest-used one
seater in history. I'm a fan of Ferrari's carrier both as a driver and as a car designer, in fact sone
of the cars he has driven were a children of his hand, he is probabli one of the man that inspired
me the most getting to the way to automotive engineering.
This world completely changed in the early 1970s with the introduction of a new, more
aerodinamic chassis standard. Probably the most critical parts introduced have been both the
frontal and rear wing that helped the car create more downforce and so perform better in curves.
I want to specify that i am not a retrograde person that deny technical improvement but i am a fan
of simple things where in my opinion little things are more important as there are fewer of them if
one fails everithing is broken, and on the other hand if it is designed really well will armonize the
car equilibrium.
A factor that helped obscuring drivers skills has been technological improvement, where it
enhances cars performance to score better time, it also made design an increasingly
fundamental component. This was easily seen in the 1980s early 1990s where there was a boom
in car technology such as the introduction of an early development of carbon fibre and the
installation of new turbocharged engines. Nowadays technology, even if it is under control by the
FIA rulebook, is still overwhelming the driver even more than in the past.
One among of the best drivers ever lived, Ayrton Senna, kneed in front of the competition; the
golden age of McLaren ended in 1988 where they won fifteen out of sixteen GPs; the seasons
after Senna achieved less than half the victories because of the poor car development. On the
other hand Sebastien Loeb, the greatest rally driver the world ever had, according with the sport
community, with an average quality car compared to the competition, managed to get a win
streak of nine consecutive years and many world records in different specialities.

Motorsports are very different from each other and every one of them have different
characteristics, in some the car rules over the track, while in others the drivers skills are
fundamental for the success of the race; The importance of the car or driver is personal, but we
all enjoy watching them both at the TV or live, thinking: Was it him to win or the car? I think we
will never get to an absolute answer.
Few
a few
A lot avoid as too informal. (use much/ many/ several as appropriate)
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