I hear you Steve. I was initially of the same opinion. Now, I just don't know.... But, in addition to the "positives" noted above, we've gotta also remember he remains fast friends with the Evil Pygmy..... And that can't be a bad thing.... Cheers, Ian PS - What happened to him and QPR? - IIRC, there was talk of him being declared "persona non grata" by the Football League after crashgate? - Did that ever go anywhere?
Indeed.. AFAIK Flav stepped down as QPR chairman in Feb this year, I don't think him and Bernie were doing the club any good anyway, but not a big football fan so I may stand to be corrected on that. Ian, I sort of like Flav, but its like I wouldn't want anything to do him, sort of keep at arms length and watch the fireworks, he has got away with blue murder in F1 IMO, thats of course till he fell out with Porno Max, so he went up in my book because of that. However you can't throw stones if you live in glass house.. Might have known... chicken for dinner is it, thats foul..
Let us not forget that Renault under Briatore had the same info that McLaren had when it got a 100MM fine. Lets us not forget Ferrari's rear hinged floor and please let's not forget the extra money Ferrari gets just for showing up. Ferrari cannot compete 1:1 in F1 with ought extraordinary assistance from the FIA and by this virtue, Ferrari sullies F1 with its presence. Ferrari are a bunch of cheating Italian *******.
Convicted felons have no place on the pitwall. F1 want to project a classy front. Leaving Flavio on his yacht with whatever gold digging bimbo is a good start. Talented and savvy ...yes. Deserving of second chance in F1? No. Time to move on. Dont miss him and hope he goes to jail in the future. Bets on his bimbo visiting him there if he were to go to jail??
Flavio is coming to Ferrari! For sure. We can expect the same kicking, screaming, and disbelief from the anti-Ferrari crowd as when Fernando came. Tough! By the way, convicted felons have had a comfortable place on the F1 pitwall since 1950, F1 has never had an interest in projecting a classy front, and F1 cannot and does not exist without Ferrari.
F1 existed without Ferrari winning for 20 years. The argument that Ferrari ARE F1 is false. The world would slowly and painfully move on. Nothing is bigger than the sport. Thats a myth. Ask any other team that left. The sport continued on. Ask Kimi and MS the sport continued and it was MS who came back. If Ferrari would leave they would eventually come back, as I think, the sport would survive. F1 certainly doesnt need Flavio nor does Ferrari. Im an F1 fan first and a Ferrari fan 2nd. The sooner Flavio leaves the spotlight the better. He is not something the sport needs. I havent noticed any "we miss you flavio" banners at a race. If he comes to Ferrari Im a happy, "was a Ferrari fan" while he is there. No problemo
F1 without Ferrari would be a poor and pathetic little organization. Without Ferrari there would be much less money and much smaller crowds and TV audiences. Sure, we can keeo calling it F1, but the real attention would be elsewhere. I agree that Ferrari and F1 don't need Flavio; but it would be great if they got together, and I believe they will. I am a Ferrari fan first and a F1 fan second.
F1 is too sanitized as it is. Bring back the scoundrels BTW the list of former greats in F1 that wouldn't pass the smell test in today's sport is a long and illustrious one.
And that World exclusive is based on?. That's funny!, I seem to recall a certain Mr Schumacher and Mr Alonso, along with another couple of hundred people in the team, having more to do with those successes than Briatore on his own!. So, if Briatore's so great, what went wrong in the 2000~2004 seasons?. Five seasons without a Championship for a man so great?, shocking!!. There's no need for the racist comments, besides, you really should get your facts right (a common trait amongst people who make racist comments!), Ferrari are actually an incredibly multi-national team. They enjoyed their greatest success with a Frenchman in charge of the Team (Jean Todt), an Englishman making tactical decisions (Ross Brawn), a German driving the car (Michael Schumacher), a Brazilian in the second car (Rubens Barichello), An Australian in charge of their No.1 driver (Chris Dyer) etc., etc., so I say again, before spouting such disgraceful statements, GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT!. Part of your "evidence" against Ferrari is there (famous) flexi floor. I ask you this, at which point did this floor fail the relevant FIA tests?. At which point did the FIA declare that this floor was not legal?. Allow Me to tell you: never!. The floor at no time was deemed illegal by the FIA!, so again, GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT!. Ferrari get more money than anyone else for just showing up?, so what?, that simply highlights just how much the FIA feel they need Ferrari in their Championship. I find it quite bizarre how you can blame Ferrari for the fact that the organization that runs the sport feel they are worth more than any other team!.
You know I often appreciate and share your side of things, but I think this time you're missing the boat: Flav is one of the best F1 team managers and would certainly generate more triumphs than Domincali, who really isn't the sharpest pencil in the box. Briatore formed the championship winning Benetton team. Not Schumacher (he was too young/unexperienced then), not Brawn, not Todt. It was Flav. And why did it take him 4 years at Renault? Because it took about the same time for Todt to get Ferrari straightened out. Renault was always a desaster and Flav finally turned them around by hiring the right people, including Alonso. People don't like Alonso and Flav, but they would deliver the bacon at Ferrari. Scandals, warts and all, so what!
Every member has his job. To say that any one individual "won" a championship is meaningless. The question is who is the best available for a given position. IMO Flav is the best available at what he does.
True. It is a team effort. Of course MS won the WDCs, not Flav. But Flav made it all happen. Just as Todt did at Ferrari. Ferrari already has the WDC winning driver. What they lack is a super brainiac of a team manager and a better designer. Agreed.
Yes, The best at sporting a G string ... I have a picture somewhere.... The guys got balls I give him that.
The point I'm making is that those Championships were not just down to Briatore on his own as seems to be being implied by some, it was a big team effort. If Briatore is such a great team boss and so good at getting the right people in the team, how did he fail to stop Schumacher from jumping ship to Ferrari and why did he grab the two ex-Ferrari drivers for '96 when they hadn't been anywhere near to being in the WDC hunt during their time at Ferrari?. (The first thing Schumacher said when he drove the '95 Ferrari for the first time was: "How did you not manage to win the World Championships with this car?, it is so much better than My Benetton was!"). It has to be said also that his replacements for Berger and Alesi weren't exactly awe inspiring either at the time. Also, lets be honest, as with all things Briatore is involved with, there was also an awful lot of controversy involved with some of those Championships: illegally modified fuel rig ring a bell for example?, or how about launch control systems still being in the engine software after they had been banned? (Benettons only saving grace was that the FIA could not prove the systems had been used in races but many of the other teams had serious doubts about their innocence). As I see it, once Schumacher was gone, the Benetton team pretty much fell apart and Briatore failed to fix it. Things get far too tainted whenever Briatore is involved and Ferrari really don't need that kind of influence IMO, they have enough aggravation without the likes of him adding to it.
So what you're saying then is, that it is better for Ferrari to loose honestly with a nucklehead as a team manager than winning the title with a caniving shark amongst a pool of piranhas? That honest and naive trout Domenicali did a fine job at using team orders in Germany. Ouch.
If Alonso and the Dom take titles this year keep him as team manager. If not bring in the best man. Who would be Flav. Celestial orbs and all
I really think that you are over-exagerating Ferrari's importance, and being over simplistic in your enthusiam for the Scuderia. Grand Prix existed BEFORE Ferrari , try the pre-war era. Endurance racing and Le Mans in particular survived Ferrari's withdrawal for the category. Indianapolis flourished in the past without Ferrari ever attempting to compete there, etc... etc ... Alfa-Romeo and Maserati, that started before Ferrari, left GP and the sport didn't collapse. Sure, if a team with such tradition as Ferrari was to whithdraw from GP, it would be a huge blow, I admit that, but after the initial shock, the sport would carry on. No team is bigger than the sport itself. We lost Lotus too, and Brabham, etc...
I think Flavio is the consummate blend of F1 Boss/Team Manager/Wheeler-Dealer. Formula 1 is an ugly business wrapped in a pretty veneer, and nobody has played both sides better than Flavio. I think he could be an excellent addition to Ferrari, but my only question would be how much he has left in the tank? He's not a young man, and time away can dull one's drive--just like with drivers that step away from the sport and return, but at a percentage of their former selves. With a never-ending supply of super models to ravage, how much does he want to dive back into F1?
