http://planetf1.com/driver/18227/7991445/Rubens-I-would-ve-been-an-asset Big comments for someone 17th in IndyCar points!
I think he makes some good points. Seems to me the car is pretty good, but they're all at sea with it. Two (almost) rookie drivers simply can't provide the feedback of someone like him. He may not be the fastest, but I'd be willing to bet he'd be in front of whichever was his teammate. And they'd be developing the car a lot faster than they can with these guys. Good old Rubens - always did wear his heart on his sleeve. Cheers, Ian
Besides his constant complaining, he would have been a helluva asset for Williams this season. It's true the car has improvised, but they have 2 useless drivers, IMO.
Useless? Pretty harsh to describe a guy that won a GP this year for a team that under Ruben's grand tutelage accomplished nothing the last 2 seasons (and had their worst season in the history of the team under him last year). IMO, Rubens would have never come close to winning a race like Pastor has. That was an impressive win. His "ME ME ME" attitude in this article is kinda irritating, but he can dream I suppose.
At sea with it? Last year they were at sea, clearly Rubens development skills were, uh, lacking to say the least so I have no idea how you claim they would be developing the car quicker. Just curious, where do you think they'd be in the WCC standings with Rubens instead of Senna?
He's doing a great job of keeping his name out there and relevant to F1. I don't think he's coming back though :/
In time Rubens would have been an asset to that team. But in today's economy, teams need to please sponsors, and Rubens was not adapting fast enough. Not meant to be a negative on Rubens, but few drivers have been able to adapt from F1 to IndyCar quickly. Mansell and Fittipaldi come to mind. Rubens is getting older, but he has so much knowledge that would be useful.
Who knows what Rubens would have done in the 2012 chassis. I would guess that much of the 2012 chassis development input came from Rubens.
Last years car was maybe the worst POS Williams have ever done. *Zero* points [EDIT, my bad, 5 points!]! Not even Fred could have pedaled it round in a decent time. And we know he can get a POS to perform a little at least. Sebby-V & McHam appear to need their cars "just so", so there's no way they'd have done anything with it either. They gave up on the season pretty early on - Very little development, so not a lot of driver input needed. This year, OTOH, they've got a car that shows flashes of, if not brilliance, then at least solid pace. As with many of them, if it's working, it's pretty good. So, the question becomes, how do you go from "pretty good" to "really good"? My 02c is you need an experienced driver - He's not the quickest, but he's certainly experienced. You don't get to stay in F1 as long as he did if you're not damn good - Both in pace and giving feedback. Unfortunately for him, Sir Frank decided to go with the Rev's *big* bag of gold and make hay for his company rather than pay Rubens. Ahead of where they are right now, for sure! (IMESHO ) Outside of his win, the Rev has scored just 4 points in one other race. Bruno has scored in 5 races. I firmly believe Rubens remains ahead of both, and doesn't wad it up like the Rev. My WAG if he was there rather than Bruno (24 points) he'd have about double that haul. Which would move them a lot closer to Sauber at least. Cheers, Ian
I would guess that much of the 2011 chassis input came from him too, resulting in the worst car in the team's history.
Fair enough. +1 Who do you believe, of the three, would have scored the most points to date? *Personally*, I'm gonna say Rubens. IMO, he's at least as quick as the Rev, but doesn't crash. Ergo, many points. Yes, it's just idle speculation, but there's nothing else going on...... Cheers, Ian
No sir. Unless things have changed a *lot* since my day, the jockey's have very little (generally zero) input on the design of next years car. Their expertise (or lack thereof) matters when it hits the track at the first test - That's when experience counts IMO. Cheers, Ian
I was just responding to RP's theory, I don't believe they have all that much influence on the next year's chassis either and I've said that in the past.
Awesome bunch of responses from those who are not even admitted Rubens' fans. I don't think he would be winning a bunch of races, but I am confident he would be doing better than Senna, who IMHO is not much of a driver, and I don't even think you would argue that. In any case, we'll see how he does next year in Indy when he gets a better ride, and the fact that he isn't lighting up the scoreboard in a new fomula is not surprising as neither Mansell nor Fittipaldi did either and they were in better rides than RB is in Indycar...
Uhhh, what? Fittipaldi won 22 IndyCar races, a title, and 2 Indy 500s. Mansell won 5 races and the title in his debut year. I'll agree that the fact he's not lighting up scoreboards isn't surprising (although for different reasons) but I thought he would at least be in the top 5 in points. 17th? Ouch, kinda embarrassing for RB at this stage...
I agree. If I was Sir Frank, I would have lined up Barrichello alongside Maldonado - for a steadying driver and development feedback. Bruno Senna might grab a few points when the car is good enough, but I don't see him with the potential to be a race winner in Formula 1 and, really, only brings a famous name to the team. All the best, Andrew.
I agree and I think Bruno is an improvement over Rubens. Rubens only wins were because he was in a car that was the class of the field. Now don't get me wrong I like Rubens and always have and always will and I think his change to IndyCar was a good move and I think he needed a fresh start.
I agree he's doing OK(ish). I don't think he'll ever be a champion, but he's earned the ride. However, I don't think he brings much (if any?) money with him - The Rev is funding 'em right now, not Bruno is my understanding. We know the Rev paid ~$45MM for this season, and I don't believe Bruno bought anywhere near that...... Cheers, Ian
No but I think it's pretty well known that Bruno brings some sponsors (Embratel for one), I'm not sure if he actually brought cold hard cash but it wouldn't surprise me.
