Would AI win yet? Has to be an easier problem to solve than driving in traffic.
As for AI... they're trying that. It isn't working out well yet. https://a2rl.io/
The differences in performance between these cars is so small that in fact the driver makes a lot of difference in a relative sense and not an absolute sense.
This is a really good way of putting it.
I’d say the difference is large.
I’ve been following F1 since the mid 90’s. It has always been about both the engineering and the driving. That’s what makes it fun (to me).
If you put a great driver in a bad car, they won’t do well because the car limits them. If you put a bad driver in a great car, they won’t do well because they limit the car. If you put a great driver in a great car that doesn’t fit their style, they’ll do okay but not great. You need a great car and a great driver and they have to fit.
But here’s the thing: A great driver will be able to outperform the car and is more adaptible to variance in car performance.
You also have to keep in mind F1 margins are incredibly tight. The first 7 qualifying times were within 1 second in Baku this weekend. 1 second for 7 drivers. The difference between first and last was 2.3 seconds.
Over the whole grand prix the distance between first and last amounted to 148 seconds. That means the slowest driver was just 3seconds per lap slower than the fastest driver on average.
The margins are absolutely ridiculous when you think about it.
Except when that RB has rocketship mode on.
It's like saying that because of the new high tech swimsuits and caps, the olympics is a contest of clothing superiority. Technique is still king, but a couple percentage points of advantage from your equipment is absolutely huge at those levels.
No, it absolutely is not - the opposite actually. F1 history is full of mediocre drivers getting catapulted into top spots by rocket-cars, only to fall back into mediocrity once competing teams catch up on the engineering.
It's also why everyone knows that, outside the 2-3 top teams that dominate the table on any given year, the real competition is between drivers in the same team, because it's the only fair fight for drivers (since both have basically the same car).
Driver skill is definitely a factor, don't get me wrong, but F1 is 95% about the car.
from: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f...
I'm not denying motorsports are dangerous - particularly F1 - but it has become much, much, much safer over the past 10-15 years.
The thing is, the teams putting in the money and effort to build the best cars also want to hire the best drivers. I don't think it's too surprising that the best drivers in the best cars get the best results.
There is an autonomous racing league now. You can watch races on YouTube. The cars don't go nearly as fast, and they're much more prone to boneheaded mistakes than human drivers. It wouldn't be safe to have them race against humans. But I do expect them to improve.
[1] modulo some natural variance, leading to situations where a wealthy go-karting competitor can buy a dozen of the same go-kart and pick the engine with the most horsepower
[2] modulo differences in finding the setup of the vehicle, which can be done more effectively if you have the best engineering team or otherwise throw the most time and money at it
The only confounder is really that the top teams have the ability to attract the top driving talent, so it can look like driving skill matters less than it actually does at times.
Might happen this year as well, with Verstappen still favorite to win, but McLaren having the best car.