. I was speaking to Chandok about this at FOS and he was saying that LH has bags of natural talent and can party all weekend and then turn up at an F1 event and be at the sharp end straight away, whereas NR has to spend a greater amount of time studying, discussing, and analysing to get to the same level of performance.
This is the difference, IMO. The best of the best can be on it straight away, and in any conditions, which is why they are generally quick in the wet when things are changing constantly.
In the dim and distant past, I raced with a lot of the top guys at the time - Magnussen, Montoya, Webber, Franchitti, Heidfeld, Castro Neves and lots more. Montoya was the best, Magnsussen next in terms of talent if not ultimate achievements. The best had done it from very young, were in the best cars/karts more or less throughout their lives, had massive self-belief, and could turn it on immediately. I now realise there was a lot of behind the scenes prep going on that made it all look easier, but that's another thing, and nowadays everyone gets access to simulators etc.
One example - Formula 3000 race at Pau, very tight street circuit, barely flat out and blind entry kink on main straight at say 150mph. Some drivers were not quite flat by end of the weekend. Montoya took it flat on first lap of practice, having never driven there before. Having said that, his driving style didn't suit F3 cats which had more grip than power and needed more finesse. Magnussen if you might remember, won every F3 races one year, other than when he knocked himself out in qualifying!
I would say the actual time difference between best and worst F1 drivers (excepting real pay for seat pilots), is 0.5-0.7s per lap, circuit dependant. I can remember an F3000 race at San Marino where the whole 33 car field was within 1s in a single make formula, even though some teams/budgets were much better than others (which is my excuse..!)
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