I made no such comment, feel free to quote me (my name is Chris, not Roger) but please read the post and quote directly from it. I stated Moss never has a kind word regarding Ferrari (the company, not Enzo) and has always been critical of Schumacher. Enzo might have had a kind word for Moss but Moss has done a fine job of pissing on Enzo's grave at every opportunity.
Not looking for Ferrari only rah rah, just a little respect. People go too far when they start with the racist bigoted comments. Nothing wrong with spirited debate, but when it turns ugly I will speak my mind, sorry.
100 percent agree, thanks. I just won't sit back and let some borderline senile old driver say that Schumachers only achievement was bringing British people to Ferrari and Britain is responsable for their success ! Like I said, I agree with his initial interview, the second one that I posted is totally off base with Moss looking like a bitter old man.
I find your little comments amusing, although it makes you look rather shallow and petty. FYI, I'm as American as apple pie, born and raised in SoCal, although I do have family in Rome.
I'm getting worried. You and I agreeing on something. Again! What has this world come to! Therein seems to be the downside of Schumacher's (so far bodged) comeback: Every man and his dog has a comment. Of course that's true for FChat (no, I don't have a dog) where it matters little, but it is also true for "the real world" where racing legends come out and start making comments and questions like this. I can't say whether such comments matter to MS personally, but I'm pretty sure they don't help in selling more "MS collection" stuff. Which at least leaves Weber pissed.
Agree, the v16 BRM's were overly passionate and a massive failure ... as was British Leyland (minus any passion). Most New Zealanders, which I am one as you obviously know, can indeed take a ribbing. In fact we've been ribbed about our relationships with ewes since time began. At least our ewes are better looking than Aussie ones First thing, as we all get older we do become less tactful. Moss will be no different to anybody else. They've been there and done that so no longer care enough about what others think. But I've always thought MS's greatest achievements in F1 was the building of "one" very strong team at Ferrari. I believe the catalist to enabling this was a non-Italian team manager in JT, and probably a non-Italian technical director in RB. While Italians are very clever people they have shown over the years of motorsport not to be able to remove their emotions enough to be able to make sober decisions (note I'm talking motorsport team management here only). If one reads back over the history of pasticularly Ferrari (but Maserati, Alfa Romeo and probably FIAT undoubtably suffered from the same issues) they should have won so many more times. The resources Ferrari Spa had compared to other teams ... they should never have lost. Compare Ferrari Spa to Brabham for example. Heck early F1 Brabhams were made in a small tin shed using a modified production engine. The profit from a few Ferrari road car sales would have been more than it costs to run the entire Brabham season ... Then look at the 80's when they actually won the WCC, but infighting stopped drivers reaching the pinnacle. Its all wonderful drama and I'm glad for it but before the MS/JT/RB time Ferrari were that close to loosing their "most successful team in F1" status ... and we have to remember the second most successful, McLaren, has been a team in F1 for 15 years less (166 races, 12 WDCs and 8 WCCs) [Williams: 113 races, 9 WDC and 7 WCC and only since 1977!]. Pete
For those not around then and for those whose memories may need help, I recommend the 60 Yrs. of F1 recap in the May issue of Motorsport.
"... I wouldn't want to share a race track with him. Pete" LOL! Nothing personal Pete, but I'll bet Mikey would say the same of you.....;-) Tritone (or me, for that matter.......;-)
Yep, but don´t forget that McLaren and Williams from the 80´s till now used to have big corporations (Mercedes-Benz, Renault, BMW) behind them, or in the worst of the situations, free engines, so they are no longer humble "garagistes", but teams with equal if not better resources than Ferrari. And regarding Brabham and the real garagistes, where are they now? As Enzo Ferrari himself said, the real success is not winning, but surviving many years. Everybody had its share of wins and fails.
And precisely that happened again, this time it is three times WDC Jackie Stewart: http://www.planet-f1.com/news/18227/6130690/Stewart-Schumi-only-running-on-60-watts "Whether it's age, whether it's wealth, whether it's privilege, there's no doubt in my mind that Michael is not the man he was. You don't step out for three years and come back the same man with the same wattage. He's probably running a 60W versus a 100W." SRT Mike: Didn't you have a signature saying something like "The lightbulb shining twice as bright is running on 220 Volts."? Maybe you could change that to something like "The champion shining half as much is running on 60 Watts".
So, I should cut you some slack because you're really old ? At least you use words like "probably", and phrases like "I've always thought" . Let's not leave out the Italian running the entire show, and the Italian engine design team who built every one of Schumachers V-10's, and don't forget the South African chassis designer. Theres so much wrong with this paragraph, you clearly have some gigantic misconceptions about Ferrari and Italians in general. Compare Ferrari to Brabham, why, for a laugh ? I never saw ol Jack winning LeMans, or at The old Ring, or Sebring, or the Mille Miglia and on and on and on... Compare the 2, really, pretty one sided, lots of Italians in charge as well.
Very funny. Nope I'm only 42. Obviously I'm talking about Stirling. You really need to read some history books. If you think Ferrari have been utterly successful in F1 then you have rose tinted glasses on. There were many years when they only won when there was no opposition (almost at all), ie. 52 and 53. Also Surtees win was aided by the fact that the rest of the grid did not have a competitive engine yet. They were the last to move to rear engined cars, they were the last to move to disk brakes, they were the last to move to a monocoque chassis (heck G. Villeneuve died in a car that did not have a true monocoque chassis), they were the last to move to the best compromise of a v10 engine (less cooling requirements, uses slightly less fuel, etc.) Have a look at how many years Ferrari have been in F1 and compare that to how many years Brabham were. I think you will find Brabham did quite well. Pretty sure Jack Brabham won at the old Ring and Sebring (didn't they run F1 races there in the early 60's). Oh and please tell me the big time races that Enzo Ferrari won ... answer none . 1 to Jack (and Bruce McLaren), 0 to Enzo. Oh and Bruce won Le Mans as a driver also. Also if you like have a look at the very LOW number of Italian drivers that have been involved and successful with F1 over the years. Have a look also how few have won WDC, it is not many even if you include Mario Andretti, just Farina and Ascari!!. The same as Australian WDC. Compare that to England with now 11 WDCs. And again go and look at the results of the A1GP like I asked you to ... the Italian team sncked big time. I really liked the A1GP wish it would have continued ... oh well. The home of motorsport moved from Italy to England in the 60's thanks to Lola, Lotus, Cooper, Brabham and McLaren. BTW: To give Ferrari a hard time go and compare the number of wins in ALL forms of motorsport to Alfa Romeo ... you will probably be surprised because you think Ferrari is everything. Alfa Romeo had at one stage won more races than any other car manufacturer. And yes they raced everywhere . This concept of Ferrari being all dominant and successful is only since the MS era. Yes in sportscar racing they did well (thanks to the fact that Alfa Romeo had moved to the smaller classes), but when real opposition finally came from Porsche they pulled out because they couldn't compete. Before then they won when the could but also lost important races like Le Mans through unbelievably stupid mistakes, ie. and yes this is a real and true example. In 1959 when Aston Martin won Le Mans, the Ferrari team all retired or their performance suffered due to overheating. This was caused because all the teams cars had the wrong differential ratio installed and the team could not be bothered to change them. Instead they believed their wonderfully strong motors could handle over revving for 24 hours. Now this over revving might not have been much, but it was enough to cause overheating ... yeah brilliant team management But I do love how the country of Italy appears to embrace motorsport, and I particularly like how so many things on my Alfa Romeo are influenced by motor racing . Pete
Brabham was put out to pasture while Ferrari built a dynasty, the difference between above average and extraordinary. When you say you're "pretty sure" I can count on you being wrong. When did he win Sebring ? And of course I was referring to the endurance race at the old ring, ol Jack couldn't build a motor that would finish either Sebring or the 1000K old ring, the difference from the men and the boys as it were. Keep in mind, Brabham won his 2 Championships at a time when Ferrari was more concerned with endurance racing. Clearly Enzo felt his prototype cars were more important, and the F1 team suffered somewhat in the mid/late 60's. Honestly, you can't seriously compare Brabham to Ferrari. [/QUOTE]
And now Briatore chimes in as well: http://www.motorsport-aktuell.com/automobil/briatore-schumi-in-noeten-1847738.html "Ich habe schon immer gesagt, dass es Michael schwer haben wird gegen Rosberg", gibt Briatore vor dem Europaauftakt zu Protokoll. "Diese Saison wird überaus knifflig für ihn, denn es gab noch niemals so viele gute Fahrer, die um Grands-Prix-Siege gekämpft haben." Translation: I've always said, that Michael will have a hard time against Rosberg. This season will be very difficult for him because we never had so many good drivers fighting for GP wins. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Of course, happy to accept that, bearing in mind that Jack was a far better driver, but yes the team has failed. The point I am trying to make is that Italian teams or car manufacturers (even my beloved Alfa Romeo, hmmm not sure including Alfa Romeo is fair to be honest because they do usually win and then retire once the point has been made, but yes their modern efforts in F1 have been half baked) are not as good and successful at motorracing as most people believe. Before MS's time Ferraris record in F1 was disappointing for a company that had been involved since the start of the modern concept called F1. MS/JT/RB/RBryne fixed that so that the legend of Ferrari now matches its actual achievements ... just. Don't get me wrong, it is still impressive what Enzo built up from nothing, but the predominatently English teams have shown how to win at motorsport. I though again enjoy the romance of Ferrari. Pete
The BBC had an interview with Sir Stirling Moss before the Monaco qualifying session and he said that whilst you can't knock the advances made in safety in F1, he was glad he drove back when there was still a good chance of dying in a race. He said that the thrill of going through a corner that you knew could kill you and coming out the other side was one of the most exciting things on the planet and that it really made you feel alive.
