Template talk:F1 driver results legend

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WikiProject Formula One This non-article page is part of WikiProject Formula One, an attempt to improve and standardize articles related to Formula One, including drivers, teams and constructors, events and history. Feel free to join the project and help with any of the tasks or consult the project page for further information.
NA This page is not an article and does not require a rating.
??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.

OK, I thought I could discuss things here as well as on the Project talk page. Firstly, I think it's useful to have "DNA" included as all the books and websites tend to use it, and it's useful.

"Did not participate" is meaningless. Alonso didn't participate in the 1956 season, Fangio didn't participate this year... etc. DNP tends to mean "Did not practice", used to describe drivers who were entered for a race and were present, but didn't take to the track - like Perry McCarthy on a few occasions, plus drivers who were stand-bys or who got ill etc. As (so far) agreed on the discussion page, we should leave boxes blank where a driver was not entered.

The "TD" designation for Friday test drivers - personally I think it's a good idea (not mine), but we'll wait to see if anyone else has any input on the project page before re-adding it. Bretonbanquet 18:08, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Hi Bretonbanquet
I'd like the drivers' standings table to be as "clean" and understandable as possible. As it is now, I can easily see who participated in a Grand Prix and who didn't. I cannot see, though, if Montoya is ill (maybe riding that motorcycle again ;-) or if he left F1 (as he did). The question is, is this information important in the drivers' standings table (I say no), or should that information be found on the drivers' own page (I say yes). A better example (from the top of my (Danish) head) may from 1995, where Jan Magnussen participated in a single Grand Prix. The information I'm looking for is "who did how well in which races", and the reason why Magnussen didn't participate in than one race, I won't expect to find here, but rather on the driver's page. Fangio won't be listed on this page, since he participated in zero races this year.
What I'm happy not to see (in the 2006 table) is that Robert Doornbos (maybe) has been driving/testing the friday of each Grand Prix. Friday testing doesn't get you any championship points, so that information is irrelevant for the drivers' table.
At the moment, I haven't really got any opinion on DNA (Did not arrive) and DNP (Did not practice). It just seems they will be used quite rarely, though that isn't be an argument in itself :-)
Fred Bradstadt 21:28, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Right - I understand you better now. I wasn't aware of the overall table on the 2006 season page, nor that it used the same template. I agree with you that test drivers aren't necessary on that page and that it would make things a bit messy. I was only concerning myself with drivers' individual articles, where the test info is more relevant. Is there a way we could have that info on the drivers' articles without fouling up the main table? I also now understand why you said the template was getting too big ;o)

Using Doornbos as an example - I'd like to see his test information on the Robert Doornbos page, but I agree that it has no place elsewhere. And yes, DNA and DNP will be fairly rare, but they do explain a few things when they are used. Bretonbanquet 22:04, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Ok, now I understand things better as well ;-) I think we agree to put as much information as possible on the drivers' articles, but to keep the season tables as "clean" as possible - more or less the way they are now.
The solution might be to create a template (Template:F1 driver results legend 2 ?) similar to this one, but with the extra info added? Fred Bradstadt 22:21, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Good idea - I've done that now, and I'll carry on doing results tables for driver articles using that template. Glad that's sorted out! :o) Bretonbanquet 19:50, 4 August 2006 (UTC)