I love this kid! But, really, how tense was the interviewer? He looked like a guy strapped into a car driven by a 17 year old who was intent upon scaring the stuffing out of him!
F1 driver or not, any dad is gonna be nervous with his 17-year old son behind the wheel, and he riding shotgun. I recently had my first Porsche driver's education, and my instructor said to relax, as I couldn't scare him any more than teaching his teenage daughter how to drive...T
Max en Jos doen Spa in Renault R.S. 01 video » Autojunk.nl (142741) Another one, this time in something with a bit more pace. Jos again passenger. Max is so bloody relaxed.
+1 Even Jos didn't seem quite as terrified this time!...... I guess seeing the armco an inch or so away round Monaco will get anyone's attention. Also noticed how little he blinks - I don't know if they can "train" themselves to do that, but I've noticed it a few times now - The onboard of Seb in Bahrain (? Abu Dhabi?) in the dark was another. The other thing is it just proves the old adage that "where the eyes look, the car follows". A little "confidence lift" going thru Eau Rouge too. Nice find, thanks for posting. Cheers, Ian
Not sure what it is with the non blinking...could well be pure concentration. Best is when you see a nightrace, when they have clear visors you can make out 2 big white eyeballs in all the helmets. As Martin Brundle puts it ''their eyes are on stalks''. Yeah he was. plonked into a good car with too little experience and then bounced from team to team...He was an amazing starter, too. I remember him starting 16-19th or something and before the first corner be in the top 8. No flukes, either....he always started brilliantly. Little known fact was when in 1999 Honda was working on their own car they had Jos in as well. The car was very fast, just behind the top teams and they where very well funded. Because of Harvey's (postlewaith) death the project was postponed . If is F1 spelled backwards...
*Could* be!..... He's certainly young enough! He blotted his copybook a little with that shunt last week, but they've all made mistakes on occasion. He just needs to be careful to not get a reputation as a "crasher" - Few of those last long in F1. Cheers, Ian
+1 on the last bit. I don't think the crash last week was a huge deal to be honest...It's his first mistake he made all season, plus he made up for it with other supreme moves earlier in the race (the one on Maldonado was perfect). Like Brundle said ''he'll make mistakes, they all do!''
+1 He's definitely impressed many knowledgeable observers thus far. He certainly appears to have the right combination of smarts, aggressiveness and indeed ability to make a good go of it. "This is why we watch" Cheers, Ian
Yes indeed. "there but for the grace of God" etc etc...... Dear old Harvey brings back some memories! Even his name seemed like something from central casting - Harvey Postlethwaite (sp?) just "fit" so well at Hesketh! We were testing at Brands and a good buddy knew Harvey well - A giant of a man, he should have been designing F1 cars but he had, lets say, an "attitude" that didn't allow him to work well with others. We went into the Hesketh garage(*) and their new car was on the ground, without it's nose on. Ken (my buddy) literally jumped on the nose mount and bounced the thing up & down.... Roaring with laughter (as only giant guys can), and much to the dismay of the mechanics, he loudly proclaimed "Harvey, you dumb ****, it'll *never*, ever work!" And it didn't..... IIRC, the front end was suspended on inboard "rubber" springs. Even James gave up on it pretty quickly. Cheers, Ian (*) - Can you imagine even getting into the paddock for testing these days!? Back then, we just be-bopped right along!
He certainly was! He was teammate to Schumacher at Benetton in 1994 - considered a young driver with real potential, but as with every teammate of Schumacher at Benetton, he never got a fair shot at testing and equipment. Jos is most famous for the pit fire at Hockenheim in July 1994, when Benetton had illegally modified their refueling rigs and he had a horrible-looking pit fire, which actually did little damage: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6pNb5kAoXw[/ame] Image Unavailable, Please Login
In the pit's we'd be "nodding acquaintances" at best TBH. But, just before I got into it, we were camping in the field (mud, as general!) at Silverstone. You never tried to leave Silverstone on Sunday evening, so were hanging at the tent afterwards, and got Bs'ing with the guys next to us. Was getting dark IIRC, and someone said "here comes James". Indeed it was. Turns out these guys worked for him in his F3 days and he came & found 'em to, well, drink, smoke & BS [He *still* owes me half a pack of Marlboro! ] Funny, and *very* gracious signing for anyone who noticed him. At least until he could no longer remember his name! Great guy! Cheers, Ian
