Why Alonso LOVES UNDERSTEER 

Regarding Räikkönen, isn’t it always said that he needs a very solid FRONT end because he cannot cope with understeer? So seems extremely strange to categorize him like this. Martin Brundle says Räikkönen drives like Schumacher - by sliding the back.

didnt kimi used to hate understeer, he couldn't drive that 08 car and also the 14 car which had massive understeer, I thought he was in os camp

There is so many wrong things with this video but putting Kimi in the understeer camp is ridiculous. Kimi absolutely despises understeer. Like, notoriously.

Daniel ricciardo actually likes oversteer not understeer, which is one of the reasons he struggled in the mclaren f1 car. Max and Daniel have similar driving styles. Checo is used to understeer cars like the mclaren, which he once drove, same as Alonso.

I would hardly categorize Vettel into a oversteer driver. He gained all his championship with Red Bull when the rear was very stable.

Raikkonen is the father of oversteer

I thought Kimi preferred oversteer.. I think he said so before

Did he just say Kimi likes understeer? 💀

I thought Seb would love a car with more understeer because it’s makes the rear more stable. I thought Seb was known for breaking late and accelerating early where you need a lot rear end stability and therefore a car wich is more on the understeer side

Erm, senna said he preferred understeer. And Kimi is the most extreme oversteer driver you'll find

Raikkonen likes turn in oversteer. Massively. This is what he struggled in finding at Ferrari. With all due respect, you have no idea what you're talking about. Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher have similar styles.

I always thought Vettel prefered understeer because of the blown diffuser Red Bull he used to drive in the early 2010's and also the fact he was prone to spins during his Ferrari years

Always thought you'd put Ricciardo in the oversteer-camp. Usually you stressed him liking the Red Bull's pointy front end

Imagine doing a video titled " why alonso loves understeer" and not show any of his onboards from his early Renault days when he was inducing crazy amounts of understeer.

Ummmm Kimi has stated that he likes oversteer over understeer. In fact when he return to Ferrari in 2014 with the F14-T it was set up and designed around Alonso who likes understeer and that’s why Kimi had difficulties with it

From what I've heard before, I think you might have put Kimi and Danny Ric in the wrong category. As I understood it, both drivers were more comfortable in oversteering cars.

Seb likes oversteer? Danny understeer? Seb faltered against Ric when that rail-like rear was taken from him!

This is the first time i hear that Raikkonen likes understeer. As far as I remember he has always preferred oversteer

How did I just NOW realize that Scott Mansell is Nigel Mansell’s son? Hahahaha everything makes so much more sense now.

Thank you. Every time I try to explain this, I generally get a lot of push back. I also set my track car up to understeer at the limit.

I remember your first huge video being Fernando Alonso’s driving technique in 05&06… how come that got deleted?

I dont think Kimi and seb are on their corresponding tier, Kimi likes oversteer while vettel does not like a loosy rear end

I’m going to have to disagree about Ricciardo preferring understeer in his cars Quite the contrary he brakes early but then lifts off and tries to carry a lot of speed through the corner which of course means he wants his cars to pivot on the front This was the reason he struggled at McLaren McLaren built cars that understeer and Ricciardo just didn’t have the confidence to carry that speed and expect the car to rotate Instead he was having to brake more than he wanted and then he just didn’t have confidence it would turn in

0:39 Uh what? Kimi generally liked a bit more oversteer than understeer...

Eeeh Kimi likes oversteer. Pedro De La Rosa and Ferrari team have said they couldn't believe how much front end Kimi prefers. Kimi would still be very strong on those Red Bull's even at his age.

If you vheck the list he made on understeer vs oversteer , most of the drivers with oversteer tend to have more flair in their driving. In other words, are very well know of being fast and aggressive. Meanwhile, understeer drivers tend to be more calm and consistent. But they can get aggressive from time to time. Interesting observation

Why we all love driver 61?

Another thing to mention is that aggressively downshifting while turning and coasting can also help reduce mid-corner understeer as it is a sort of “rear brake only”. This is opposite to the commonly known “short-shifting” done to increase rear grip.

feels like understeer allows fast times more consistently, but a looser car is outright faster. This could also be the reason why perez is fast on street circuits, it gives him the confidence to push harder if he knows the car won't snap

.. Did you just put Kimi in understeer? E H M.

I love understeer too I just can't get enough of kissing trees with my front bumper

I'm confused, even in your previous Driver61 video on Danny Ric's driving style, you said that he liked a sticky front end, implying he's an oversteer-y driver Yet here you have him among the understeer group

I think it comes down to which aspects of cornering and grip feel a driver values. With various behaviors during different phases of all the variety of corners, It's tough to put drivers in 2 categories. The reality is less polarizing.

Daniel Riccardo on understeer and lando norris in oversteer?!? When Danny ric was still in mclaren he struggled because of the understeery nature of the mclarens and lando is a bit more used to it so i think you might got it twisted because you also havea video that explains why danny struggled in a mclaren

I recall you describing Hamilton's driving style as Schumacher 2.0 in a previous video. Was this referring to corner entry ability then?

Mate, people were asking for Kimi's driving style video for years! Now after you put him in understeer camp you really need to explain your view on it, because maybe most of people are wrong including Brundle and Windsor among other guys, but I thought that Kimi loving oversteer is a common knowledge at this point.

0:37 “Dad” what was that 😂

Sim racing driver and setup maker here. Aka internet armchair expert not knowing much but giving his 2 cents. I know it is highlighted how drivers adapt, but I strongly believe that drivers cannot be categorised at all in "towards understeer or towards oversteer" as it largely depends on what the car, and especially tyres, like. From one year to another, depending on the car and its forgiveness, drivers completely change how they cope with the real thing they hate: unpredictable handling at the limit. Sometimes it involves making the car very understeery as it is the only way to make it predictable, sometimes not. Sometimes the rear tyres need to be protected, sometimes not. Alonso's style nowadays is not even remotely comparable to how it was in 2005 as it used to be much more understeer focused, a trait that the Renault loved. it cannot even be summed up as "tyres from that era" as the Mclarens had the exact opposite in terms of handling, yet were usually fast in the hands of Raikkonen. Raikkonen's style in his McLaren days was ridiculously pointy, to the point that he made many corners with the steering wheel just aimed straight. Hamilton's style in the 2007-2008 era was almost identical to Raikkonen, so it is a car design thing. regarding Hamilton, even in the 2017-2018 years, he coped with a car full of oversteer. Yet in 2020, it was very planted. As pointed out and as far as I can tell from making setups, every single fast driver prefers understeer in any given situation if the car allows to be fast with it, but only very tiny amounts. It is safer without sacrificing much qualifying speed and always better for tyre management. The difference is in how much they accept to cope with some oversteer to remove the excess of understeer in other stages of the corner.

You can correct understeer, you need to keep some braking (Alonso likes engine braking) to shift the weight on the front. But you really need to nail your braking point otherwise you brake a lot and enter the corner too slow. Also post apex you can trail in some gaß as the rear is not at the grip limit. Depending on weight transfer and level of downforce most of the load is on one rear tire anyway, so you can even rotate the car with a bit of gaß.

One of your most interesting vids. Thanks!

In the 'Would You Rather' video on the F1 RU-vid channel, Alonso was the only one to choose understeer over oversteer

is Lewis being in the understeer camp a long term thing? he said himself a few years ago that when he was in mclaren he liked a pointy car but the low rake merc preferred a slight understeer balance

„If you see the tree you're about to hit, you have understeer. If you just hear it, you have oversteer.“ Walter Röhrl

Another thing that can also be done, namely by Senna, is correct understeer using the throttle. If you have supreme throttle control you can use the throttle to turn the car. However, this is more commonly used in touring cars as they simply dont have any cornering grip due to the lack of downforce

This video may have saved my life (or at the very least my car) the other night Entered a corner a bit too ambitiously and recovered from some nasty understeer thanks to some of the principles you’ve taught me

oversteer is always faster if u can handle it. the pivot point of the car is in the middle of it, so for maximum rotation, a little oversteer is needed.

Off topic but I love the scream of the early 2000s engines with the 20K rpm, when the driver pancakes the accelerator to the firewall. Always gives me Goosebumps.

I’d love to see a vid as to how they tune in different vehicle characteristics via the suspension mid corner.

Vettel likes a very strong rear. The 2020 Ferrari for exemple was very unstable on the rear and last time I checked, Leclerc was the one who was okay with that, not Vettel. Never heard that Riccardo likes understeer... Last time I checked, the McLaren was actually understeery and that was a problem for him... Never heard that Raikkonen likes understeer, I thought that it was the contrary...

Raikönnen understeer???

Great video and thx for mention brilliant, i almost forget to keep my streak.

I definitely prefer understeer, but (obviously) not too much. If you have the perfect amount of slight understeer, it makes judging exactly how much power you can hold through a corner is much easier. You simply watch the curve of your line, and if you are drifting too far outside you ease up on the gas. Slight oversteer can work too, it just requires more active hands to catch any snaps AND if you do snap you're gonna slow down a LOT.

I love having the capacity for both, which is why I've resisted replacing my rear suspension in my fwd car which tends to cause my car to tend towards oversteer. When the snow comes I regularly get out and practice sliding so I recalibrate my assometer.

Love this content :D Keep it coming!

In Nascar they call those being lose(oversteer) or being tight(understeer) and the same concepts are true in oval racing, shorter tighter with no banking seem lose setups and drivers that master that are faster, while on super high speed banked tracks a more tight understeer car seems more stable and planted. I am only a fan though and have zero driver insight. awesome video!

Lots of wins and championships in that understeer group...🏁🏁🏁

im an understeer enjoyer, it make the car comfortable, yes it makes the car less responsive but it can be worked with and is far less dangerous mid corner and i thats why i like it it just makes it cleaner, maybe slower but limiting the dangers of driving and that grip makes me learn to focus on exit speed

I think if the car is more rear bias (understeer). You can hv more control during the corner because it can be balanced with throttle and brake. For example, you can induce oversteer by adding throttle while left foot still on the brake

I think you hit the nail on the head. I've always set up my cars to be +1 on the understeer. Trailbraking and throttle can give you the tail out you're looking for. Most people think it's significantly one way or the other, but you just put it barely one way or the other. Significant oversteer didn't work for me because I'm too aggressive of a driver.

I've tried both. I like oversteer as a general rule because it feels fast but the stopwatch said I'm faster with understeer on a smaller track or in things with much more power than grip. The faster the track or the less overpowered the tyres, the more oversteer helps. Most of that is from karts but I've experienced similar in all the other things I've tried. I tend to find it easier to lap fast with understeer than oversteer but it just dosn't feel as nice.

I love this stuff thank you

Thanks for clarifying, I needed some clarification on the terms used here. Some people likened me to Alonso, now I see why.

Amazing research! /s

0:37 - Funnily enough I was checking that out yesterday on Wikipedia after seeing Nigel in the FW14B at Silverstone

Great topic and thanks for explaining....the hits today show that others appreciate it too :)

I was at the Hungaroring, close to turn 14, in 2022 and watched Lewis catching up, and it was impressive to see the gains he made in turn 14, the immense grip he had going out of the corner, this was so much more than other cars. For sure made possible by having a bit of understeer at first.

I attended a Bounderante racing school years ago and he was a big fan of "Trail braking". it allowed you to play with both understeer and oversteer in particular corners so a neutral car was best to get the most.

2013 was his first merc season! 2014 is his first merc WC season! Thanks for the vid!

In every racing game I’ve been told that understeering is ALWAYS a bad thing, never a good one. While I quite liked driving cars (virtually) that were a bit on the understeering side. Fascinating to see that I’m likely not the only one.

I thinks Kimi is more oversteer guy and Vettel understeer.

yess finally this video is back up

As a sim driver myself I prefer understeer and I'm really fast with it...when I tell that to some friends from online racing leagues most of them say they like oversteer... I think I saw Rubens Barrichello say he likes understeery cars too

Man I follow you almost since the beginning of your channel just now I found you’re Mansel’s son! So cool! Cheers from 🇧🇷

Fantastic job 🎉🎉🎉🎉

I really prefer an oversteery setup in more wheel-to-wheel racing circumstances because it makes it easier to drive the car on a variety of lines which will be needed when you’re constantly 2-3 wide.

My understanding of preferring understeer from playing Gran Turismo is that it gives you more fine-control over how much you're steering. At the highest speeds, even the slightest mistake can cause you to miss a turn, so adding some understeer will let you steer without it being catastrophic.

This video opened my eyes, I never knew I have always been on the understeer side, I thought my driving was sh@t because I don't have those subtle steering input going in and out, now I know which direction I can go deeper.

@Peter_Windsor has ridden with Alonso, and surprisingly he sees him favoring OVERsteer ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tEvHkOumjHA.html But in a way, it's semantics. Alonso's sharp turn-in induces understeer, but counts on the car's natural oversteer to return it to neutral, mid-corner. [edit - in my opinion back when Alonso REALLY cranked it over, the cars were running too much rubber on the front per the regs, and that famous move served to 1) scrub off speed, 2) use the fronts and 3) save the rears]

As a seasoned sim racer (yes, please crucify me), I’m in the oversteer camp. If I know that a car will slide easily, I know that I can adapt myself to its evolving limits as tires wear and fuel burns down. An understeery car, on the other end, never gets any better - rather, it tends to get more severe throughout a run, which, ultimately, becomes frustrating and overheats tires.

I think it's just better to say they like fast setups and are happy to deal with any understeer they might have to deal with because of it.

Would be cool to look at all the current drivers on the grid instead of just the top guys. Would be very interesting to hear how driver styles vary throughout the current grid.

Nice it's back 😍

4:00 was that you!?!😲😲😲 what an overtake mate!!!

Is my M3 balanced? 100% sure I’m not pushing enough. I can command oversteer or under steer using throttle input with lift or with throttle to play with weight transfer. Perhaps F1 requires massive loads for suspension travel to squat and dive that you can only be extremely biased on one end of the spectrum. I feel understeer works well on a Front engine RWD platform when front tires plow ahead and then apply throttle for rotation but definitely not a professional here.

Mid corner understeer is actually nice for corner exit. But... Understeer caused by a very grippy rear is different to understeer by a very lose front... Understeer on initial turn in is different to understeer on mid corner going for the exit. I could be wrong though...

I learned to drive fast and on track in FWD cars. So I am really good at driving around it and getting any car rotated. But I hate understeer.

Bro u r Absolutely Correct

Great video and great channel. Stupid question dose big feet make it harder to heal toe in a race car. Cheers from Canada 🍻

I met your dad in Northampton a few years ago and I have to say what a top bloke he is, looks like the apple didn't fall far from the tree! 👍

From what I understand You can correct for understeer using the pedals And you can correct for oversteer using the steering wheel Is that correct?

Went into that brilliant ad with plenty of oversteer. :P ... Also thanks for video's, they are pretty informative and entertaining. Almost as much as your dad's racing, if you read this, I wouldn't mind if you could pass on a thanks to him.

Now i understand why alonso make weird cornering at silverstone that costs him 0.2 ~ 0.4 sec

I want to see the setup video on how they change the grip balance

I think the most important part is that oversteer camp needs car setup where the transition from traction to sliding is as smooth as possible. If the traction is lost without a warning, it will be too hard to drive fast no matter how much skill you have. Human reaction time is the limiting factor.

It's fairly straightforward tho, with a bit of understeer you can turn your vehicle in a sharp corner as it will automatically understeer into a good driving line.

You find the balance of the push quicker. More consistent it gives better tire wear indication. Traction

Guess you have to take views on drivers style with a grain of salt. Heard others say he likes an oversteering car, which Lance doesn’t like at all. Vettel oversteer?? Always heard the opposite and the spins at Ferrari seemed to prove it.

8:33 You scandi flicked my mind with this one.. Me, from Finland, carting from 6 - 13 and former Semi-Pro-Simracer, is suddenly scared beeing driving understeery!? Then I realised it´s a double apex! 😉 No seriously, I´m happy you called out adaption.. And Räikkönen is well known for adapting to cars and circuits. In other words, there are numerous attempts to a corner based on your racecar, setup abilities and what is the fastest way around.

Kimi and Lewis definitely does not belong in the understeer camp. Kimi has always stated that he prefers cars with more front end grip and hated understeering characteristics. Lewis has been the same way. Even though he complained that the W14 lacked rear down force this year but that doesn't change the fact that he has always stated that he prefers his cars to exhibit over steering characteristics. Also, I don't think Senna gave a damn whether his car over or under steered.

Random, but would you be able to make a setup guide graphic like the one you all did for f12021