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Godspeed Michael Schumacher !


f1anatic

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You fail to mention Senna's perceived advantage from his friendship with the Honda engineers during his stint at McLaren, espec. in 1988 and 1989 when he partnered Prost ? Isn't that often cited as a reason for Prost's departure from McLaren ?

 

 

I think the common wisdom on this point is that Senna was a Honda man, Prost was the McLaren man. Senna was good setting up a chassis, but Prost was about the best there has been in modern F1 (and yes f1anatic, that includes Michael, who is on a Senna level in this respect). Prost left McLaren because his contract was up, Senna's wasn't, and their rivalry had so poisoned the atmosphere on the team, Prost had to get out. Read Jo Ramirez's book; he was at McLaren a long time and good friends with both drivers and has an excellent perspective on this.

 

As for Massa getting to pit first while Michael waited...I nearly fainted! Perhaps Ferrari is afraid of falling afoul of the rulemakers. :lol: Nah!!!

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As for Massa getting to pit first while Michael waited...I nearly fainted! Perhaps Ferrari is afraid of falling afoul of the rulemakers. :lol: Nah!!!
Actually, I think the rulemakers are afraid of falling afoul of Ferrari, and have been for years. It doesn't hurt that Jean Todt is almost as close friends with Max Moseley as he is with Schumi. Can anyone think of a single controversial ruling since Jerez '97 that went against Ferrari? Let's see: (1) McLaren's beryllium-alloy engines were disallowed; (2) Ferrari's illegal bargeboards at Malaysia '99 were overlooked (3) the Michelin tires were suddenly declared illegal late in the '03 season after being used from the beginning of '02, and right when Montoya and Raikkonen were making runs towards the championship (total crap -- the tires were within the rules as written) (4) this year's mass-damper controversy has handicapped the Renault car, allowing Schumi back in the title chase (crap again -- the FIA claim the mass dampers are a "movable aerodynamic device"? :rolleyes: )

 

I seriously can't think of a single technical ruling that has gone against Ferrari. The only things I can think of were the Monaco disgrace this year, and the podium disgrace in Austria, 2002, which were rulings on unsporting behavior. In both cases, particularly the latter, the punishment was rather lenient.

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Read Jo Ramirez's book; he was at McLaren a long time and good friends with both drivers and has an excellent perspective on this.

I haven't read the book, but I had an opportunity to hear Jo Ramirez discuss Prost & Senna, in Montreal the night before the '01 Canadian GP. He said Senna could drive the wheels off any car, good or bad, but that Prost was only happy if the car was set-up perfectly. However, he said if the car was exactly the way Prost wanted it, Senna couldn't touch him.

 

I think there are some comparisons in modern F1: Ralf Schumacher was very quick at Williams if he got the car just right, but most of the time, when the car was less than perfect, Montoya showed him up. Then there are guys like Fisichella and Frentzen that always seemed to squeeze the most out of crappy cars, but got beat by their teammates when they were in race-winning cars.

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the trouble with F1 other than not being able to pass is the governing body itself, talk about politics. F1 should watch out so it does not kill itself people do get tried of the BS. bosco
Stay Stock Stay Happy
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RFD, I can't think of a technical issue where Ferrari has lost recently either. I was waiting for Renault to protest the Ferrari "brake ducts" on their rear wheels at Monza (perfect time, but not place, to protest when Alonso scored zero points) and I was surprised when they didn't. Monza. Shouldn't have been!

 

As for mass dampers as moveable aero devices, my argument is that if mass dampers are such, then motors are even more so. Heck, as the car goes faster, it gets more total downforce! What more evidence do you need to ban all engines in F1?

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I haven't read the book, but I had an opportunity to hear Jo Ramirez discuss Prost & Senna, in Montreal the night before the '01 Canadian GP. He said Senna could drive the wheels off any car, good or bad, but that Prost was only happy if the car was set-up perfectly. However, he said if the car was exactly the way Prost wanted it, Senna couldn't touch him.

 

I think there are some comparisons in modern F1: Ralf Schumacher was very quick at Williams if he got the car just right, but most of the time, when the car was less than perfect, Montoya showed him up. Then there are guys like Fisichella and Frentzen that always seemed to squeeze the most out of crappy cars, but got beat by their teammates when they were in race-winning cars.

 

Senna and Schumacher are alike in this respect: they adapt better than anyone else to a car's handling characteristics. I think Prost could have done the same but he wasn't as crazy as Senna or Michael (read, not crazy brave) and he was smarter regarding points. Know when to fight for the lead and when to drive for points. I think Senna and Michael are by their natures pure racers, unlike Prost. Don't get me wrong. I think Alain could race as hard as anybody when he wanted to; he just was more of a thinker when it came to maximizing points when it wasn't his day. Ayrtona and Michael HAVE to win (remember Barrichello whining about being passed by Michael at Monaco on the last lap last year? He just didn't get it.:lol:). It's what makes them so exciting to watch.

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I started a "Never-ending F1 thread" once, but it was mostly just me and Ada/////m that posted in it, so when he got his feelings hurt and left the site, I let it die.:(

 

I was wondering what happened to him when this thread started. I posted in that thread a few times, but I prefer to go out and read info on F1 than debate it. So were you the one that hurt his feelings?

ignore him, he'll go away.
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Well, I may have a few times:lol: , but no, I'm not the one who made him leave. He stopped posting right around the time he lost his mod status, so you do the math...

I'm really good at match. Area under the curve between points 0 and 2 tell me that the girl in your avatar is his sister.:lol:

ignore him, he'll go away.
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fweasel, with math skills like that you can be my engineer when I get to F1.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah, at what, about 6'5", you should fit into an F1 car just fine.:lol:

 

Edit: whoops I screwed up. It's fweasel that is 6'5" or so.:redface:

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Lol...are you now measuring each other's girths ?

 

A technical ruling that went against the Ferrari was the flexible wings they sported for a while in 1997. Ferrari came back with a flexible rear wing this year (the top element was flexing and closing the gap to the horizontal plate) and it was disallowed. Hmmm...other tech rulings that you guys mentioned such as magnesium-berrylium alloys ban also affected Ferrari.

 

The barge-boards in 1999 in Malayasia were a smoke screen for chemically treated tires to enhance grip. You guys recall how Michael was pulling like 7 seconds a lap for the first couple of laps on the entire field ?

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The barge-boards in 1999 in Malayasia were a smoke screen for chemically treated tires to enhance grip. You guys recall how Michael was pulling like 7 seconds a lap for the first couple of laps on the entire field ?

 

Have you seen the picture of the Bridgestone tire engineer/tech with a breathing mask on the autosport site? Michelin asked the FIA to look into why a tire tech would need such a device and Bridgestone said to protect him from rubber particles when the tire was cut apart to examine it. Michelin is apparently dubious and said a mask isn't necessry; they postulate the only reason one would need such a mask around tires is "soak" the tires with (illegal) chemicals to enhance 1st lap grip. And so it goes on...

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Michael Schumacher. Like Senna, a dick of a sportsman on the track sometimes but a helluva human being off of it. Autoweek reports the Big Schu gave $50 million to charity from 2001 to 2005. Not sure if this includes the $10 million he donated towards the Tsunami relief effort in Asia a few years back. Way to go Michael. Being a swell guy is better than 7 (or 8) World Championships by a longshot.
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