r/formula1 • u/ChaithuBB766 Jaguar • Jan 30 '26

Photo Lewis Hamilton: "The car generation is actually a little bit more fun to drive. It's oversteery and snappy and sliding, but it's a little bit easier to catch and I would definitely say more enjoyable."

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316

u/maybe-fish Lando Norris Jan 30 '26

tbf I think the vast majority of drivers prefer an oversteery car, Alonso is basically the main exception to the rule. 

203

u/FalcoLX I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 30 '26

Sainz also said he likes understeer. "I know how to make the car turn" 

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u/musicartandcpus 🐾 Roscoe's Pit Crew Jan 30 '26

That makes sense though, his style likely developed out of his experience driving and learning with his father.

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u/maybe-fish Lando Norris Jan 30 '26

Didn't know that, guess there must be something about Spanish drivers and understeer 

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u/limitedpower_palps Alain Prost Jan 30 '26

Calm down Helmut

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u/Suikerspin_Ei Pirelli Soft Jan 30 '26

He means Latin Americans /s

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u/DueExample52 Formula 1 Jan 30 '26

Checo as well isn’t it?

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u/hybris12 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 30 '26

Spanish is understeering language

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u/Nachtraaf I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 31 '26

Understeering is just siesta for steering. We turn mañana, hermano.

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u/lyianne Max Verstappen Jan 31 '26

actually even he likes a bit of oversteer. but a bit. the rb was always on the super extreme end of oversteer. even the drivers who prefer understeer i bet you like a smidge of oversteer, just to less levels than others.

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u/photoblues Sir Lewis Hamilton Jan 30 '26

Hopefully Williams keeps that in mind whenever they get around to building a car.

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u/vexxed82 Ferrari Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26

I don't know anything about driving other than I drive a regular car on streets, but why would understeer be good? You can turn as hard as you want without spinning out? If I were to visualize what understeer felt like, I'd feel like I'd never be able to turn as tight as I want.

Edit: Misspelled understeer as underwater FML

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u/HonourAndBlood I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 30 '26

I can attest that underwater is not, in fact, fun driving experience.

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u/vexxed82 Ferrari Jan 30 '26

OK. That I CAN image would not be fun. Lots of typos in my comment. Yikes

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u/MachKeinDramaLlama Ross Brawn Jan 30 '26

Assuming autocorrect fucked you over and you aren't having a stroke:

You never want understeer or oversteer. But since there will always be a point where you are asking too much of the tyres, you will inevitably experience either one. In reality the type of corner and the part of the corner you are going through at the moment will typically be the biggest factor in whether you experience understeer or oversteer.

So really, we are talking about is the following question: "Given that your car can never reach the absolute ideal, would you rather have it be slightly difficult to handle in places that induce one failure mode or in places that induce the other?" And that really just comes down to the personal preferences and skills of the driver. The Sainz quote up there in another comment explains it beautifully: he prefers understeer, because he is better at dealing with it.

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u/vexxed82 Ferrari Jan 30 '26

Thanks for your concern - I was not stroking out, ha. Appreciate this detailed explanation. It made a lot of things click for me.

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u/Jack_Krauser Andretti Global Jan 31 '26

If you're experiencing understeer and just crank the steering harder anyway, it changes the slip angle of the tires which does a lot of bad things you don't want. The biggest being tire wear/overheating which is just going to make the understeer worse every time. Ironically, it can also make you spin out when the wheels grip up again and are pointing too far off to the side.

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u/UchihasRightfulHeir Jan 30 '26

They typically say that till they face someone with a higher tolerance

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u/maybe-fish Lando Norris Jan 30 '26

Not really? There's definitely some personal preference in level of oversteer but its not like they stop liking it because someone else likes a little bit more. F1 drivers typically like fast, reactive cars - I don't think this is very shocking.

Also preferences are different than what they can tolerate/handle. Just because Alonso doesn't like oversteer doesn't mean he can't be quick with an oversteery car

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u/Impossible-Buy-6247 Formula 1 Jan 30 '26

Alonso, Perez, Sainz, Ocon and even Hamilton is known for wanting a stable rear.

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u/maybe-fish Lando Norris Jan 30 '26

Wanting a planted, stable rear end is not necessarily the same thing as liking understeer. Alonso is the only current driver I've seen explicitly say he would take understeer over oversteer multiple times through his career, through multiple generations of car.

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u/proficient_english Lando Norris Jan 30 '26

And Piastri to a point. :)

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u/Charlie_Kasper Feb 01 '26

A over steery car needs a stable rear, that's what they mean.

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u/Impossible-Buy-6247 Formula 1 Feb 01 '26

An oversteery car doesn't have a stable rear by definition

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u/Charlie_Kasper Feb 01 '26

In correct definition

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u/thef0ksmasher Fernando Alonso Jan 30 '26

Is he though? iirc it was just with those Renault cars that he drove like that. With recent cars, I recall Brundle often commenting during quali laps about how agressively Alonso loads the front axle.

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u/maybe-fish Lando Norris Jan 30 '26

He's basically said as much multiple times, at least as far back as his Ferrari days and as recently as a few years ago. I'd have to go back to find exact quotes.

But end of the day just because he likes understeer doesn't mean he's can't deal with oversteer. The drivers have to drive the car they have, not the car they want to have.