Trulli: "...Todt offered me a seat at Ferrari..."

It's called "face saving"

Or is it "rewriting history"?

I can't decide.

 

If true, I would like to send my congratulations to Trulli for being an idiot.

 

Not sure that at the time that would have been the expectation. Toyota came to Formula 1 with big budgets (rumors of as big or bigger than Ferrari or McLaren) and an entire year of testing before running their first race. They created everything like it was going to be a world beater capable of taking on the established hierarchy. Toyota was expected to be fully committed and build what was necessary to achieve their goal.

It just didn't turn out that way in spite of all the money thrown at it. Would Trulli or Ralf or any of the others have reasonably thought that Toyota, with all of their resources, would not be able to perservere to the the promised land? Now if the offer was made after it became apparent that Toyota's trajectory to the top was doomed then Trulli did miss his brass ring opportunity.

Jeff

 

I'd send my congrats to Trulli for honoring his Toyota contract instead of breaking it, even though the temptation of a Ferrari drive would have been overwhelming.

Integrity is an increasingly rare commodity these days, it's nice to see that it still existed in F1 recently.

 

After Massa got hurt I assume.
At that time the Scuderia's "short list" eventually put Badoer in the car.
Had Trulli done it, his career would have ended back in 2009 (ala Fisichella).

 

By the time that Toyota offered Trulli a contract they had already been in F1 for awhile with minimal success. I suspect that Ferrari offered him a contract when Rubens left (prior to 06). Too bad, he could have gone on to win many races and maybe even a title.

As for Ralf...I think he just wanted a big paycheck.

 

Nice guys finish last, especially in F1.

 

+1

It's either bullsh*tting, or if it's true, i agree with you.

 

That's great Trulli. Yeah, something nice happened to me a long time ago too. So what.

 

I reckon the only integrity in F1 is money, especially for a driver who is managed by professional manager.

Leaving Toyota to Ferrari might also cut short his F1 career if he ends up like Giancarlo Fisichella

 

Nope, Todt was not there at that time.

If he was offered the seat in 2005, Ferrari was not doing so nicely then and he would have to play second fiddle to Schumacher, so maybe staying at Toyota was not a bad idea.

 

Ferrari had the best season in F1 history in 2004, and everyone knew the 2005 tire rules stifled their performance. If Trulli was smart he would have jumped ship to Ferrari for '06. Plus he is Italian and the team would have probably loved him.

Then again, had he not fallen asleep at Magny Cours in 2004 he probably would have been driving a Renault for 2005 and 2006 and bagged wins.

 

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