I think Jacques is objective and very direct both in compliment and when being critical. He does point out the good items for Stroll. We all should. They are evident. His traits of lack of awareness, and race craft are not resolved and have been 'apparent' in this years series. When someone like Ricci is openly critical it was not lost that this is something he feels over time. Lance has to improve further to gain peer confidence. Not easy to do now in 4th year. Max had an 'off' day but in general over the last 3 years he has matured. Lance less in my opinion. With Perez very close to him in the garage and seeing Perez on the track, lack of consistency is so obvious. Perez is a points machine = Skill, patience and well timed execution. Lance has to begin to develop this further.
Agreed on all. I mostly (not always) liked Jacques for his outspokenness. A bit like Lauda. And coming from a WDC you pay attention. You can't compare Lance to Max. Max is the new super star of F1. He is a WDC in the making. Lance might win a race one day but I don't see a WDC to his name. Comparing Lance to Perez does show the areas where Lance needs to improve. Then again Checko has three times as many GPs under his belt. Lance isn't the next Senna. Far from it. But he is also neither "utter rubbish" nor "useless".
Only if he lands in a top chassis with a reliable and powerful motor. One or the other is not good enough for WDC these days.
Total package required. Driver good enough to win, score points consistently, few errors and car that can win, reliable. He does not have all of that at RedBull. This year he lacks both fully sorted chassis, and reliable motor. RedBull weakest I remember in the last 3 years.
Remind me how Red Bull and the other Honda team has done this in the win column? I can't seem to remember . . . .
Andreas, you correctly have your finger on something here, but in writing 'passion, love, betrayal, fandom' you omitted one key word: 'family'! Ferrari tifosi feel themselves part of the Ferrari family. It's the Borgias against the Sforzas.
Ah the days of rivalry: Ferrari vs Renault (MS vs Alonso) and Ferrari vs McLaren (MS vs Hakkinen). These days it is Ferrari A team vs the B team. PS: Loved Jeremy Irons in The Borgias. Every second of it.
I don't think Stroll is disliked really...yes he has a big thread but it's more endless discussion if he deserves his seat or poking fun at him doing something stupid (and he's given us plenty of ammo for that). I don't think there's any real personal dislike to Stroll. He doesn't really say much to anyone or publicly. Hamilton's personality is disliked by many (and liked by many, too...just not here, lol)
"I don't think Stroll is disliked really..." I agree. Because of his vast wealth and his youth people have this almost "National Enquirer" celebrity curiosity about him. That's all.
I don’t worship any drivers. Stroll is not a celebrity to me. Ricci was quite clear on Stroll ability in Austria. His words were clear and that is a direct peer speaking.
Fair enough. Didn't see the explanation before. I think the MS reason is silly but i'll leave it at that.
Maybe that, unknown to everyone, Schumacher was already negotiating with Mercedes about making a come back with them. Who knows? If that's the case, it would have been rather undelicate to accept a drive at Ferrari. If I remember correctly, Schumacher was sort of "asked to leave" Ferrari after a couple of lacklustre seasons (by his standards) to make room for Raikkonen. So, maybe his statement that "he'd never drive for another team but Ferrari." wasn't valid anymore. Also, Schumacher's career was launched by Mercedes paying for a trial run at Jordan, and a couple of sportscars season too. So, possibly he felt some loyalty to them, and the need to repay a debt? That's the way I read it. I didn't like him, but for different reasons.
Lack luster seasons? 2004 WDC 2005 tyres where seriously bad, still 3rd in WDC, Rubens 8th 2006 was in the running for title, right until his engine failed in Japan from the lead (when he was level on points with Alonso). Any hope of winning title ended the next race in Brazil when Fisichella in the other Renault hit Schumacher in the first corner...
I know you like to hen-peck my posts, but here you missed the essential: (by his standards). Also you avoid discussing the rest of the explanation. You remind me so much of P.Singhof who used the same tactics.
I don't think the 2006 Ferrari was the best car. Schumacher made 2 mistakes in the season. Australia he crashed out but from memory, he wasn't in a high position, and Hungary, I can't recall if he was 8th or in a podium place when he dropped out from a collision with Heidfelt...Either way, he was in a championship battle with the reigning champion and in the end the car is what let him down. 2005, his car was so bad (due to the tyres, he couldn't have done anything really. So I don't think he had bad seasons because of his standards, but more that the car he had wasn't the best. To be level in points with 2 races to go in what is not the best car... The rest of your post I didn't disagree with, so no need to disect it. I still speak to Peter quite regularly.
If that was the case then why did he even bother to accept the test drive of the Ferrari in August? Schumacher was dragging his feet that year with making up his mind whether to continue driving for Ferrari or not. He had postponed the signing of the contract at least twice (IIRC) and at that point Montezuma had enough and we ended up with the dreadful scene at Monza. Ferrari doesn't like it when the drivers get bigger than their cars. Of course Merc's engine boss Haug was one of MS' biggest buddies. Haug was part of the Ferrari parties after a MS WDC win. So yes he definitely wanted to go back to his "home" team. Which makes the comment about only driving for Ferrari all the more bizarre.
To each his own. To me the double crossing that year really was gut wrenching: Leaving Ferrari out there in the cold AND then signing with the competition combined with fake excuse of the "miracle healing". Anyway, it's all water on the bridge now. His move to Merc didn't do him any good and Ferrari is still trying to put together a decent car. And to be totally honest: I don't feel like bashing the man much anymore after what happened to him. It is all very sad. He deserved better.
You sure? Some comments on here are flowing over with utter hate for the guy (not talking about you).
My recollection of this period is rather hazy, so I take your word for it. I know there was some hesitation about Schu staying or leaving.
Aha Andreas! I knew it! You love assassination and incest! SWMBO and I are watching The Borgias in its entirety, rationing ourselves to one episode per viewing to extend the pleasure. Spectacularly filmed and persuasively performed. just my 2c
My memory of that period of time was that Schumacher was given the choice of Massa or Him that would be leaving. This may have occurred during a time of contract negotiations where Schumacher was dragging his feet.
