France Leap-frogs A1GP Field: Why?
Written by Marc Boland · January 6, 2006
Team South Africa technical and sporting director Mike Carroll believes he has the answer to the question many are asking: “Just what makes them Frogs so damn fast!?”
Some have said it’s the talent level (A thought I’ve entertained) of the teams two chauffeurs, Nicolas Lapierre and Alexandre Premat. In addition to their native talent they both have plenty of time at the wheel of similar cars in the European GP2 Series (Premat has just resigned for the ‘06 season).
As Carroll points out it’s much more than talent and sitting in a familiar monocque. They are both reaping the benefits of what can be best described as a NASCAR-like Roush or Hendrick data mining project.
France’s team coordinator DAMS not only have a hand Carroll’s South African efforts, but also in Team Switzerland and Team Mexico. Four teams, four drivers (at least France has alternated their two) and a lot of data input the other 21 A1GP teams are lacking.
Explains a lot doesn’t it? Carrol thinks as the Championship wears on “the countries with less experienced drivers are catching up, and the teams that aren’t running four drivers are catching up too.”
Yea Riiight! There hasn’t been any catching up to this point with the exception of the “Swiss Mr.” Jani Neel who broke France’s winning streak last round and prevented a ten spot being posted in the “W” column.
For the sake of competition, and health of the Series, I hope Carroll is correct but as long as France and Switzerland have access to extra performance data and driver inputs I can’t see it happening.
BTW, the pun in the title was intended.
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I think Super Nova & possibly Carlin are running more than one team so DAMS are not alone. With the exception of India, all the teams have plumbed for seasoned European F3000 squads to run the cars.
Personally, I don’t totally agree with the theory that DAMS data pool is the reason for the French team’s success. IMHO Nicolas Lapierre and Alexandre Premat are the class of the field, along with Piquet junior. Considering Premat’s experience & results in GP2 this season, driving an A1 GP Lola is not particularly taxing for this driver. Similarly, Lapierre has been a F3 hot shoe throughout 2005 & has adapted quickly to this category.
Yes, Driot’s DAMS operation is a first class team, but I don’t think that they are operating at a level that is giving their drivers a huge advantage. Unlike Premat’s ART squad which definitely gave him & team mate Rosberg a quantifiable edge over the GP2 field, putting Heikki Kovalainen & Arden International on the defensive from mid season in 2005.
Oh, and Marc. The leap frog pun went right over my head, too much New Years indulging I guess.