Franck Montagny has been talking about his role as a Toyota F1 test driver and his life in general; he seems quite content and refuses to get involved with the speculation that he is being considered as a replacement for Ralf Schumacher in the racing team. I find that quite interesting as we always assume that test drivers are merely passing the time until they can get a race seat. Franck's attitude may be evidence of a new specialization developing within the sport.
Franck in the office
It is clear from what Franck says about his early development that he was involved with cars and motor sport from the very beginning:
"My father was real crazy about motorsport, he was a rally man and my mother followed it all the time. I had no choice! My father was a car salesman and he also raced in amateur rallying. He did well, he raced well and I was always with him. When I was young I was always in the garage, with the tyres, the fuel and all that stuff from a very young age.
"I was three or four years old when he was competing so I was too young to help but I went all the time with my mother. She would take care of me and the crew, they were basically his friends who went rallying with him."
Quite a number of drivers in the past have had their appetite for competition nurtured by an interest in the workings of the car; Jack Brabham was always so involved with the mechanics that it was inevitable that he would start designing his own cars sooner or later, and Nelson Piquet was an important addition to the team that developed the Brabham BT49 into the race winner it became. So Franck is following on from a long line of drivers who have had more interest in the sport than just driving faster than anyone else.
Such an interest is bound to make the driver a better test and development man than other drivers. It is said of Raikkonen that his weakness is that he just wants to arrive at the track, drive the car as fast as it will go, and then leave; which is fine as long as someone else is honing the car for you. But the driver who can work with the engineers and describe exactly what it is doing is more valuable to the engineers in helping them to decide how to get the best from the car.
Franck is one of these, it would seem, so is Alex Wurz, and the Super Aguri team have great respect for Anthony Davidson's contribution to the development of their car. So it may be that we are seeing the rise of a new profession, that the role of test driver will become a respected specialism in its own right. There may be drivers in the future who are not all fired up to prove themselves the fastest in the world but have exceptional talents in reading a car's behavior and understanding what changes need to be made to improve it. And that is just as important as a gift for driving cars at the limit for lap after lap.
It is often said that, to be champion, the driver needs to have "a killer instinct", that urgent need to be first regardless of whose ego gets crushed in the process. And there are those of whom it is hinted that they will never be the best because they lack the fierce competitiveness that wants to win at all costs. Is it coincidence that many of the drivers who know best how to set up a car are also the nicest guys in the pit lane? Perhaps they are really designed as test drivers but are following the dream of racing success because it's the done thing.
Alex Wurz is a case in point. You cannot help but warm to his happy demeanor, his great grin and honesty; but he is under pressure now to improve his qualifying performance - he races well but too often has to start from near the back of the grid. Would he be happier to accept the role of test driver only and fulfill his dreams by being an important part of the team that creates a winning car? The designers, engineers and mechanics have satisfaction in just that manner; there is no reason why a dedicated test driver should not receive just as much respect and honor as a necessary part of the team.
Franck in the office
It is clear from what Franck says about his early development that he was involved with cars and motor sport from the very beginning:
"My father was real crazy about motorsport, he was a rally man and my mother followed it all the time. I had no choice! My father was a car salesman and he also raced in amateur rallying. He did well, he raced well and I was always with him. When I was young I was always in the garage, with the tyres, the fuel and all that stuff from a very young age.
"I was three or four years old when he was competing so I was too young to help but I went all the time with my mother. She would take care of me and the crew, they were basically his friends who went rallying with him."
Quite a number of drivers in the past have had their appetite for competition nurtured by an interest in the workings of the car; Jack Brabham was always so involved with the mechanics that it was inevitable that he would start designing his own cars sooner or later, and Nelson Piquet was an important addition to the team that developed the Brabham BT49 into the race winner it became. So Franck is following on from a long line of drivers who have had more interest in the sport than just driving faster than anyone else.
Such an interest is bound to make the driver a better test and development man than other drivers. It is said of Raikkonen that his weakness is that he just wants to arrive at the track, drive the car as fast as it will go, and then leave; which is fine as long as someone else is honing the car for you. But the driver who can work with the engineers and describe exactly what it is doing is more valuable to the engineers in helping them to decide how to get the best from the car.
Franck is one of these, it would seem, so is Alex Wurz, and the Super Aguri team have great respect for Anthony Davidson's contribution to the development of their car. So it may be that we are seeing the rise of a new profession, that the role of test driver will become a respected specialism in its own right. There may be drivers in the future who are not all fired up to prove themselves the fastest in the world but have exceptional talents in reading a car's behavior and understanding what changes need to be made to improve it. And that is just as important as a gift for driving cars at the limit for lap after lap.
It is often said that, to be champion, the driver needs to have "a killer instinct", that urgent need to be first regardless of whose ego gets crushed in the process. And there are those of whom it is hinted that they will never be the best because they lack the fierce competitiveness that wants to win at all costs. Is it coincidence that many of the drivers who know best how to set up a car are also the nicest guys in the pit lane? Perhaps they are really designed as test drivers but are following the dream of racing success because it's the done thing.
Alex Wurz is a case in point. You cannot help but warm to his happy demeanor, his great grin and honesty; but he is under pressure now to improve his qualifying performance - he races well but too often has to start from near the back of the grid. Would he be happier to accept the role of test driver only and fulfill his dreams by being an important part of the team that creates a winning car? The designers, engineers and mechanics have satisfaction in just that manner; there is no reason why a dedicated test driver should not receive just as much respect and honor as a necessary part of the team.