Podcast: Frank Dernie | Engineering the Greats

[@runawayplane6166]

I’m ashamed to say, I’d never heard of Frank Dernie. One of the best Motorsport interviews I’ve ever listened to. What an interesting/articulate guy. Great interview.

[@stewartgrindlay9760]

Mr Active Suspension himself. Gave a lot of good info Post Senna accident.

[@barryhallam1628]

That was a privilege to watch and listen to someone with engineering talent, and motor racing in his blood, Thank you.

[@wolfganghimmelsbach6929]

Absolutely brilliant interview...

[@sultanabran1]

great chat with frank dernie. these old boys are the best. these are way too short though. easily go for another hour. i don't think you guys understand how good these chats are for us long term fans of f1. back in those days, there was not the coverage or access there is today. so hearing from these ground breaking engineers is fascinating.

[@spice3767]

Worked with Frank at Williams, great character and engineer

[@icbtech01]

Frank's assessment of what would make F1 interesting again is spot on. Fantastic interview, I didn't expect to be so engaged.

[@arthurhyde8428]

Awesome and candid. Speaking as an engineer, we are all just people and feel so lucky to be able to work in our hobby. This interview really resonated. Good work.

[@jonelson1983]

All of these interviews have been brilliant.

[@SachiGortchi]

I ever wanted to know the story about the cooling device for Keke's helmet at Dallas 1984 -- can you podcast him again ?

[@ohcamsrazor1966]

Another excellent episode and insight into my favourite sport. It’s a shame the sport is neglecting its fan base and new ones by going behind a paywall.

[@flyingdutchman773]

Fantastic interview, the entire series is A+.

[@41BOT]

Superb personality. Enjoyed everything that has been said, it was very interesting and refreshing. The man is just simply right.

[@drewsteroriginals4564]

Great interview, was fully absorbed but you had me at 'my mum can change gear as fast as ayrton senna' love it! Thank you

[@klaushaunstrupchristensen7252]

Brilliant, nothing less! As high fidelity enthusiasts myself I just wish sooo much that they would have questioned him about his hi-fi system. What he owns and what makes a great system. My own take in this regards can almost be distilled to 3 parameters,. like Dernie distilles the important parameters in formula one performance to two main subjects, aero performance and tyre temperature management. I claim that 95% of an audio systems performance can be seen from 1: frequency flatness 2: loudspeaker dispersion characteristic 3: the loudspeakers integration with the listening room at all frequencies. I hope to hear a lot more from Frank Dernie in the future, he clearly sees things in a down to earth logic way. Things are complicated but they don’t need to be more complicated than they actually are.

[@Howling-Mad-Murdock]

Klaus Haunstrup Christensen I believe Frank has posted some of his thoughts on hifi wigwam. You might have to go back a few years though. His username is f1 eng.

[@Fran_SG]

A VERY interesting interview. Thanks!!

[@TakiInoueDidNothingWrong]

Brilliant. In under an hour of talking it’s clear to see that Frank is so down to earth and intelligent. 57:20 Regarding his point about the cost cap loophole, I think it would make the sport better culturally and would give drivers more autonomy over the teams if the drivers were responsible for some of their own personnel. Nicky Grist who was Colin McRae’s co-driver has said that he preferred to be contracted by the driver rather than the team because he felt a co-driver should be responsible first to the driver and then second to the team.

[@MegaOwel]

What a absolutely fantastic series o interviews Plees go on whit them 🚀🚀👑👑

[@seansmith4833]

Another great appearance by Dernie!

[@theochristofi1071]

Very interesting Engineer and a wholesome perspective on the way F1 is and is going ..

[@amazinplays7813]

Fantastic, many more please.

[@gioponti6359]

Very entertaining and interesting, tx alot for sharing!

[@gearsau]

Great podcast..... Keep up the good work.

[@SachiGortchi]

Frank Dernie is a very SUPER top F1 engineer -- and generalist / person

[@tedzehnder961]

Great interview. I`m surprised more F1 fans aren`t tuning in.Especially English ones.

[@TheChipMcDonald]

"Exciting motor racing may have to go back" exactly. Embrace the anachronism of what s total analog driver controlled vehicle is.

[@LurcherVonPapsmear]

Another great chat with Frank, but hold on... Patrick AND Frank were interviewed on the same day?! Why couldn't they have both been on the same podcast together? That would have been a fantastic duel podcast!

[@bramwell9544]

I think there was some fear that had Frank said something that Patrick disagreed with then Patrick may have tried to eat him .

[@edfoster1447]

We did all have lunch together and most of the stories were unrepeatable!

[@LurcherVonPapsmear]

@@edfoster1447 You obviously like teasing us!

[@Pfigueira78]

Piquet, before 87 Tamburello’s crash, was faster than Mansell. Period.

[@geoffclarke8934]

No way. Mansell was way quicker than Piquet.

[@johnmorrison27]

Brilliant as always 👍👍

[@TheGucandido]

He´s great! Not afraid to tell the truth!

[@BRI535D]

I suspect”I’m off for a steak” was Alan Jones 😂

[@kassy6373]

Yep. Second part also fits if you listen to the F1 official podcast with him.

[@gregj3515]

what a character....well done to him

[@fam.hunger5244]

52:08 thank you Frank! Absolutely agree! And you are right! Todays F1 is just so bad! A shadow of what it used to be' Since 2003 F1 regulates itself to death! This actually killed the essentials of F1 piece by piece, year after year! If you know F1 of the 80's and 90's and early 00's - todays F1 is a shame! Sorry to say that, but it is like it is.

[@davidorama6690]

I’m a year late to this, but I wish Frank Dernie had a hand in crafting the delayed 2021 2022 rules.

[@slipstream311]

Learnt a lot from listening to this; better than watching many modern races sadly enough. Agree that hybridisation and not electric is probably the way forward - and moreover hydrogen as a solution to fossil fuels in the medium to longer term (5/10 - 15/20 years).

[@heliumtrophy]

I remember Frank's comments in the Williams doc which beautifully sums up his feelings towards Nige. "Out of the car, he was a loving, family man when in the sport there where few but behind the wheel he was an absolute arse to deal with." While many find inter-team rivalries to be fascinating, soap opera stuff, for the most part I find it hugely depressing and I cannot empathise with Frank enough over his feelings over the whole affair of the Piquet/Mansell squabble.

[@heliumtrophy]

Incidentally, I'd love to see his circumvention of the salary cap be put in place. You can just imagine those of a reality-TV persuasion or a subsector of Netflix's Drive To Survive being "Build My Entourage," which I think would be a lot more fun to watch.

[@katletasdomkratas4092]

32:04 please get Peter Windsor on.

[@motary]

These awesome interviews have one major flaw - 1 hour length is just not enough :P

[@theant9821]

no one ever asks about Lotus, why? I`d like to know more about the decline of Lotus, Frank was there. tell us about it. Please.

[@mark4lev]

Yes. People are bored with the Mansell piquet stuff.

[@markholroyde9412]

What a bloke, great vid, Someone who thinks the same way as me about electric garbage, it wont work. Its all hype. Long live old school F1 cars.

[@bramwell9544]

Mark holroyde Too Right. I’m off to Oulton Park this weekend. Formula one is crap.

[@johnvaleanbaily4859]

Yup. Hunt was definitely an introvert ! But I agree about the cost wasteage and silly build rules. Back to the garagistas...

[@kekepiket9153]

In a previous Motorsport interview Frank says that about multiple champions, so Hunt is not taken into consideration really.

[@johnvaleanbaily4859]

@@kekepiket9153 Good point - I missed that. Thank you.

[@kekepiket9153]

@valleywoodworker yeah he could be wrong. However the guys you mentioned. Out of them multiple champions are Brabham, Stewart and Senna. From all I hear and read I would definitely call them introverts. They were very detail oriented. Hill probably is an exception bit he did fiddle a lot with the car. Introvert in terms of character he was not.

[@Onerideone]

Great stuff BUT as a sofa fan I don’t agree with his view on Mansell about the 86 season the top 3 drivers all had issues in the season and remember Prost changed his tyres in the last race Mansell should of done it to

[@HammyMansell80]

Totally agree.....Dernie always had a problem with Nigel Mansell, probably for being Piquet's "right hand man" at Williams at 86 and 87......Arse sore I think it's called. And you noticed the question early on in the interview at about 16:00, when asked about Mansell beating Piquet over the 1986 and 87 seasons, he just said that he didn't agree with it, without giving and example or two as to why. Nigel beat Nelson 11-7 on wins over the two seasons, and had more pole positions too.....Mansell was always underrated, even by some that worked with him.

[@1proplover]

It was a team decision before hand and if you listen to some of the interviews Mansell had said that he had the position he needed and was just cruising along when the tyre let go - lets face it Williams only pulled Piquet in after Mansells tyre blew but by then it was all to late.

[@bbbccc9813]

@@HammyMansell80 I can't disagree with Dernie. His claims are plausible considering Nelson was an engineering genius and super fast. Mansell on the other hand you said was underrated? In fact its the other way around. People praise him like he was some god but his statstics prior to Williams were not that great. I mean he got destroyed by DeAngelis. His Ferrari seasons weren't anything to write about either. He got beaten by every decent teammate he got paired with. And we can't forget 86'. Nelson just got into the team and jumped into a car which was unfamiliar to him. It was his first season in the team and he was getting used to Frank's unusual way of doing things. Nigel already knew the team and the car hence he won more races. But Piquet did only lose out by 2 points to him despite suffering misfortune just like Nigel. Now about the 87'. After the crash Nelson was not the same driver as we all know. He missed a race and still won the title. But im fairly confident when I say this that without the crash Nelson would have won it over Nigel much easier than he actually did. Because by then he got used to the team and the car. Nigel was fast and a brave driver and because of it he excelled over one lap. His races were incosistent tho. One race he would drive like a champion the next he would be like a granny on motorway. I remember watching 85' season again and in races he was snail like next to Keke. I think Keke even lapped him in some races. Keke would slide the car around like he was on a quali lap fight for wins until his engine died and then the race directors would just cut to Mansell driving alone in 5th place looking like he got lost in the woods. I remember the race in Monza Keke and Nigel running behind another with Keke in front. Keke leading Nigel and pulling away just sliding the tail a bit with finesse and there was Nigel behind him going almost full opposite lock and all over the kerbs just trying to catch him. Difference between a fast driver (Mansell) and a world champion caliber(Keke). 1990 season I think exposed Nigel that he wasn't on the level of greats like Prost, Senna, Lauda. I mean Prost doubled Nigel's points that year. The only teammates he genuinely beat were Berger and Patrese drivers that barely won 10 or close to ten races in 10+ years in f1.Nigel Mansell is the only world champion to be outraced, outqualifed and outscored across his career. Its a genuine statistic look it up. Thats actually unreal and kinda shameful for a driver that gets rated top 15 on f1 all time list...

[@HammyMansell80]

@@bbbccc9813 🙄

[@Pfigueira78]

Totally wrong… go check how many issues Piquet had during the first half of the season. Piquet was faster than the cry baby. Period.

[@eb6084]

Nigel Mansell is such a meat head Like Piquet said Mansell lost 3 championships, I won 3…

[@AndyHack10]

No surprise that you like Piquet, you're apparently just as empty as him.

[@michaelpashut4763]

​@@AndyHack10you the clueless one

[@chobson8602]

57:41 lol

[@john-kl3ux]

Didn't realize Dimitar Berbatov had such a posh english accent.

[@filipborin555]

Haha it's an ex Man Unt and Tothenham soccer player from Bulgaria.I don't know why he mentioned him here probably cuz it's a bulgarian too?!

[@mk1productions546]

Patrick Head was a big fan of Mansell and doesn’t share Dernies views on him.

[@hmdwgf]

Farina: best car 4 times, world champion once Fangio: best car 5 times, world champion 5 times Ascari: best car twice, world champion twice Hawthorn: best car once, world champion once Brabham: best car 4 times, world champion 3 times Phil Hill: best car once, world champion once Graham Hill: best car twice, world champion twice Clark: best car 3 times, world champion twice Hulme: best car 4 times, world champion once Stewart: best car twice, world champion 3 times Rindt: best car once, world champion once Fittipaldi: best car three times, world champion twice Lauda: best car three times, world champion three times Hunt: never had best car, world champion once Andretti: best car twice, world champion once Scheckter: never had best car, world champion once Jones: best car 3 times, world champion once Piquet: best car twice, world champion 3 times Rosberg: never had best car, world champion once Prost: best car 6 times, world champion 4 times Senna: best car twice, world champion 3 times Mansell: best car 4 times, world champion once Schumacher: best car 4 times, world champion 7 times Hill: best car 4 times, world champion once Jacques Villeneuve: best car twice, world champion once Hakkinen: best car twice, world champion twice Alonso: best car once, world champion twice Raikonnen: best car 3 times, world champion once Hamilton: best car 7 times, world champion 7 times Button: best car once, world champion once Vettel: best car 4 times, world champion 4 times Rosberg: best car 3 times, world champion once Verstappen: best car twice, world champion three times (UPDATE)

[@11group62]

Fabulous chat. Please take over Formula 1 Frak, as in it's current form it's rubbish.

[@Alenyaa]

Gents, Please work on your esthetic views. 2009 cars onwards have been hideous to look at. X-D

[@1proplover]

He really didnt like Nigel Mansell did he, even calling him 'thick' - where were the 5 cars that Nigel had but only won the Championship once? If I recall the 91 Williams had a number of failures and one race win lost as a wheel fell off following the pit stop. He and Piquet consistently took points off each other in 86 and the tyre problems in the last race resulted in Prost sneaking in to win the WDC. 87 was another year of nip and tuck with again a practise crash taking Mansell out at the end. He seems to forget that Mansell was not supposed to be as quick as Piquet. So Mansell was up against a 2 time WDC, he states Mansell wasnt as quick as Piquet - it was pretty obvious to the rest of us he was and often quicker.

[@fernandosfjr]

For me, the 91 championship is one of the greatest monuments to human stupidity. And Mansell is responsible for it. Only stupidity at unusual levels can explain how the best car by far managed to lose the title. Mansell is one of the dumbest drivers in Formula 1 history. Thats for sure.

[@1proplover]

@@fernandosfjr Nice to see your avoidance of any facts of the Williams car in 1991 getting in the way of a personal dislike Mansell. Have a check on how many car failures there were and it wasnt always the best car at every circuit. A possible Championship lost yes but not entirely down to Mansell eg he didnt do the wheel change where the wheel then fell off in the pit road.

[@kekepiket9153]

@@1proplover Mansell wasnt without mistake in 1991. Lost Canada and crashed in Japan as far as I remember. Kept losing to Patrese in the beginning. He had to start playing dirty to win .

[@manuelpedrosd]

What about the race where Mansell had a 50 second advantage over Piquet and in the last round before finishing he started to wave the crowd and killed the engine giving Piquet an unexpected victory? Mansell was a stupid driver, but a very fast one undoubtely

[@motow3031]

Motorcycle engined kit car racers

[@Platesmasher]

“Do you think the introvert is geographically placed with drivers?”. This is such a stupid, ignorant and racist question. 5:41

[@mark4lev]

I dont think that’s where the question was meant to go. That’s why he mentioned Rossi, an unusual thing for Italians , a multiple world champion. There is a theory in motorsport that Italians are ‘weak in the head’ and don’t make world champions

[@edwardbyard6540]

Great interview, but Frank is wrong on one thing: electric vehicles for the road. They're simply better than hybrids - which are the worst of both worlds. Low electric range, and all the mechanical and efficiency issues of ICE. Batteries aren't going to get worse than they are now, and costs will drop dramatically. Add in the ease of home charging, the minimal maintenance and opportunities to do vehicle-to-grid and earn money from your car....and you can see why 60% of all new cars sold in Norway among others are fully electric. They're fax machines vs email. Nokia vs Apple. CRT vs LED. Simply put: they're just a better product.

[@daniels.2720]

"End Life Costs" > the life of the vehicle start to finish you may be wrong

[@leoa4c]

In addition, we will inevitably run out of fossil fuels, and we will never be able to produce enough biofuel to sustain 8 or 9 billion people. The answer is simple. As you stated, electricity and batteries. We have plentiful sources of energy to harvest electricity from. It's simply a question of building the infrastructure (which is happening as we type).

[@lameduck3630]

Always had a grudge against Mansell - the record doesn't show that Piquet was quicker.

[@johnhassall1782]

And still does by the sounds of it,,, no wonder Nigel felt like he favoured piquet,, he clearly did,,,, Patrick Heads interview is much more impartial and honest,,, and he ranks Nigel amongst the very best of F1 and rightly so!

[@michaelpashut1696]

Lame Schmuck the record clearly shows Piquet was quicker. Look at 86 other than Brands where did Mansell overtake Piquet? Piquet destroyed Mansell in 86 and was way superior. Ask Prost Lauda Dernie Eccelstone Murray anyone who counts and not one of them will rate Mansell higher.

[@kekepiket9153]

Frank Dernie always speaks highly about Mansells driving talent. It is Mansells character he doesnt like and most people agree with that assesment.

[@lameduck3630]

@@michaelpashut1696 You don't know what you're talking about - Mansell outqualified Piquet more times than piquet outqualified Mansell when they were teammates, and has more wins.

[@johnhassall1782]

Over two seasons 11 to 7 race wins in favour of Mansell and 17 to 12 in favour of Mansell in qualifying,, obviously piquet won the title in 87 mainly because mansell missed the last two races but in terms of who was quickest Mansell had the edge,,, stats don't lie 👌

[@AndyHack10]

God i love how Dernie uses EVERY opportunity to talk shit about Mansell and to claim Piquet was much better than him.

[@michaelpashut4763]

Why you think it's OK for you to make silly comments like you have are right... If you like Nigel so be it.. But dont talk rubbish about Frank or Nelson... Head Williams Dernie Prost Fiorio Andretti Nigel Roebuck all think Mansell is a chop.. Not one person who worked with Nelslon says the same.. That is a fact..

[@colinhallmitchell]

Frank may appeal to many but i don't find him remotely impartial. he gives little credit to those , be they drivers or engineers that he doesn't like. he says he was always impartial but the his good feelings for reutemann and piquet were obvious and his disdain for jones and mansell also obvious. i wouldn't want him engineering my car if he didn't like me. he also seems indifferent to that raw determination to win. the key thing and why jones beat reutemann and mansell beat piquet regularly. not really my kind of engineering hero.

[@peterlovett5841]

I can't recall that he said anything about Jones nor do I think he was asked about him. I did find it strange that he thought Reutemann should have won the WDC in '81 when I think Jones was by far the better driver and if hadn't been for fuel metering problems at Monaco and Hockenheim he would have been a dual WDC.

[@kekepiket9153]

He gives actually a lot of credit to Nigel, i dont know what you have been listening. And in every interview.

[@Onerideone]

Brilliant interview but Mansell was better in 86 /87 and 86 the team lost him the championship by not suggesting to change tyres mid race like in other hot races that year