Can Danica Patrick make it into F1 ?

[sgd]

Thing about ballast is that it can be distrbuted in a way that might even help her lap speed, against the other teams with ballast.

yes of course she will be still in an preferenced position, but by no means better then the current situation. her tema will of course miminize the damage by distrbuing the ballast inn an optimal way...

let see an example:

DP:60kg
Xx:90Kg

Now:
Ballast in DP'car: ~50Kg
Ballast in Xx'car: ~50Kg

cars' weight (no fuel no driver):
DP: 700Kg
Xx: 700Kg

cars' weight with driver:
DP: 750Kg
Xx: 790Kg

so she is in advantage.

===========
Future:

Ballast in DP'car: ~50Kg
Ballast in Xx'car: ~20Kg

cars' weight (no fuel no driver):
DP: 700Kg
Xx: 660Kg


cars' weight with driver:
DP: 750Kg
Xx: 750Kg

She is still in advantage (because of better distributed ballast )but not as she was before...

i supouse here that all the teams have their ballast in an optimal distribution. And of course more ballast won't make cars go faster...

Of course have a light driver will always help. but if the weigth limit is for a car without driver then a light driver will be even a much better thing to have... as you'll have a factual ligther car.

as you can see in this example, if rule change teams would have ~30Kg less of ballast on the cars then now... that will speed them up. On the other hand DP's car will be just the same. the same ballast in the same optimal distribution....

so she'd be "slower" in respect to the hevier drivers in the case of such a rules' change...

other exaplmes would be less clear...
all in all DP will have the heavier car... that won't help her.

did I explaine clear enough?

[mlittle]

Close, sgd. Let's examine it this way....Suppose you had in front of you two of the IndyCar Series' cars, one driven by Patrick and the other driven by, say two-time series champion Sam Hornish, Jr. Alright, now their cars weigh 1525 lbs. w/out fuel and driver wt. included. Now, add 30 gallons U.S. of racing methanol fuel. At 7 lbs. per gallon, the cars now weigh around 1735 lbs. Still equal...until you add the weight of the drivers.

Patrick:1735 lbs. + 105 lbs--total wt. w/driver of 1840 lbs.
Hornish:1735 lbs. + 170 lbs.--total wt. w/driver of 1905 lbs.

In theory, Hornish is spotting Patrick a 65 lb. advantage. In theory, assuming 0.1 secs. per 10-15 lbs., Patrick should have a 0.5-0.6 sec. adv.
Unfortunately, theory and reality don't mesh. When you factor in experience(Hornish has raced since 2000, while Patrick is a rookie), drving styles and other intangibles, the weight factor is a virtual non-issue.

Ironically, under ChampCar rules, Patrick's team would be required to add 65 lbs. of ballast to the car, cancelling out any wt. adv. It's just blind, dumb luck that the IRL never thought of this until now. My guess...they'll change the rules in the off-season...very quietly.

[Julian Mayo]

Close, sgd. Let's examine it this way....Suppose you had in front of you two of the IndyCar Series' cars, one driven by Patrick and the other driven by, say two-time series champion Sam Hornish, Jr. Alright, now their cars weigh 1525 lbs. w/out fuel and driver wt. included. Now, add 30 gallons U.S. of racing methanol fuel. At 7 lbs. per gallon, the cars now weigh around 1735 lbs. Still equal...until you add the weight of the drivers.

Patrick:1735 lbs. + 105 lbs--total wt. w/driver of 1840 lbs.
Hornish:1735 lbs. + 170 lbs.--total wt. w/driver of 1905 lbs.

In theory, Hornish is spotting Patrick a 65 lb. advantage. In theory, assuming 0.1 secs. per 10-15 lbs., Patrick should have a 0.5-0.6 sec. adv.
Unfortunately, theory and reality don't mesh. When you factor in experience(Hornish has raced since 2000, while Patrick is a rookie), drving styles and other intangibles, the weight factor is a virtual non-issue.

Ironically, under ChampCar rules, Patrick's team would be required to add 65 lbs. of ballast to the car, cancelling out any wt. adv. It's just blind, dumb luck that the IRL never thought of this until now. My guess...they'll change the rules in the off-season...very quietly.

Which just might serve as a push to Patrick to head for F1. One would assume that she has a preference for road tracks, based on the direction of her earlier career.

[mlittle]

What's ironic about all the F1 talk around Patrick is that, had she stayed in Europe following her 2nd at the FF Festival, chance are she might be in Formula 1 now. At the time, from what I've heard and read, Rahal(who ran Jaguar F1 for Ford then) was pulling all the stops out, trying to get a test session for Patrick w/a couple of teams, including McLaren and Renault(Benetton at the time) w/a possible F3000 or Formula 3 ride forthcoming then. Unfortunately, right as they seemed to have a session ready, Ford yanked Rahal and everyone around him out and, well, Jaguar's now out of Formula 1.

You're right, though; with her road-racing background, she should be in F1 now, not a few yrs. down the road.

[JayVee]

anyone interested in betting some Roubles DP won't do it to F1 in the next 3 years?? ... still it'd be iteresting and nice to see her in minardi alongside SS... (maybe 2009?)
no seriously, it'd be nice to have her in the F1... sad it won't happen...

You are being cynical again sgd

The success Danica has enjoyed so far will guarantee that if she moves into F1 it will be with a top team or at least a midfield team. There is no way she will start in a Minardi and I am willing to bet on that. Besides Stoddart cannot afford her )

Scott Speed is a Red Bull driver and he will only start with Red Bull

On the weight issue, ok she has a small advantage so ? She didn't make the rules and I am sure that there are male drivers that a slightly heavier but can't produce the results she has achieved

[mlittle]

That's what I've been trying to explain to him, JayVee. The weight issue's a non-starter, as I've explained in a recent posting. The problem is, no one ever thought of it until now.