Why no Schumi?

yes I was surprised not to see him anywhere as well .. and i havent heard of any issues btwn him & the team.

 

Because he don´t attend all the races and never one so far of Europe. Well after a 2:15 pit stop a drive throuth and the need to repeat the 1st pit stop I think he lost the desire.

Did I mention a street circuit?

 

Because he is retired and not required to attend every single race.

IMO, his presence would have little impact on the race as he is neither a driver or a member of the pit-crew. I would rather have Schumacher spending his time with Todt and trying to figure out how to lure Ross Brawn back to Ferrari and how to sign Vettel on as a driver.

 

He doesn't like Asians.

He only admire Americans.

 

"So, Michael. You planning on joining us on the trip all the way to Singapore for the night race?"

"Nein, Danke."

 

I assume that is why he stepped up and donated $10 million USD to the victims of the tsunami that affected Thailand some years ago. Thailand is still part of Asia, is it not?

Wait, this was a joke post, right?

 

As I understand it, the car could not be refueled again, he was on a circuit that is near impossible to pass, so all he could do is just finish. Frankly, I know of some drivers that would have just pulled it into the garage and quit the event.

As for Shumacher, he only attends the races he wants to attend. I doubt if his presence any longer affects the way Felipe drives, its the team that does that.

We need to get over the thought that Todt and Brawn would come back to Ferrari.

 

Really? Who?

I've never seen any driver or team pull a car in that was still capable of running just because they had no chance to score any points.

Let us know what drivers you know of that would have just pulled it into the pits.

 

Wasn't it Honda that did just that when the multiple-race engine rule went into effect? They couldn't finish in the points, so they pulled off in the last lap.

Also, I -know- I've seen DC do that, but would have to do some research to find the races.

 

And how do you know this to not be true Michael? No team officially states the reason for withdrawing from a race is because the driver is unhappy, or they were trying save the equipment for the next race. Like one time it was admitted last year that Rubens stopped to save the car.

I understand Senna did that twice under the guise of a mechaical issue. Later it was divulged that he just got pissed. And I would imagine if we thought really hard, we would find a few instances in the last two seasons where a car out of the points, at the end of the parade, with an engine only on the first round, was really pulled for purposes of preservation.

One of the reasons that NASCAR gives points to virtually the entire field was to overcome these early withdrawls that started to dwindle the field the latter half of superspeedway races. I believe F1 compenstaes with additional TV $$ for finishing an entire race.

 

Oh, maybe that is why he has some Asian letters on the Helmet, an Asian dragon, and...

 

So, the driver you are talking about is Senna, the dead guy?

When you were criticizing people who said Massa didn't do anything, and your response was "I know some drivers who would have just pulled into the garage", I thought you were talking about, you know, guys who were alive and stuff.

Ronald, I think you make some of this stuff up as you go along to deflect criticism. Someone flames Massa for not doing more, and your response is "Massa did better than SOME drivers, who would have just pulled into the pits and quit". Except you don't know that - you just made it up. Realistically, no driver is going to say "well, that's the end of our race - may as well give up" and pull into the pits. I believe it was one of the Ferraris last year that coasted to a stop just before the finish line with a mysterious "mechanical failure", was it not?

So I find your claim that Massa should not be criticized because he did what other drivers wouldn't do, to be silly and something you just made up.

Let me know who those other drivers are who pull into the pits and quit rather than continuing are... other than guys who've been dead for quite a few years, of course.

 

Honda were also penalized for that, IIRC, or at least the rules were changed and they got off with a stiff warning.

It's just not something that happens - that drivers just give up and pull into the pits. TV money would be lost as would advertising exposure... which is why it just doesn't happen.

 

He probably just had other stuff going on. He wants to add balance to his life and now he can. Missing a race here and there probably ensures that he's moving on with things and spending more time with the family etc. That way he can blame all the idiots on pit row cuz he wasn't there

 

You failed to include Vettel. So there is a chance of signing Vettel then?

 

Well Dieter M has said that he will not sell Vettel for the foreseeable future, so who knows. Maybe 2011? Don't count out McLaren buying Vettel's contract as they tried to get Schumacher for the longest time.

 

Todt was in Singapore with a headset on. The ITV feed showed a shot of him during qualy and then again on Sunday. No comment was made in what capacity though.

 

Yeah it was nice to see him there. I don't think he was working though, probably there as his girlfriend is from Malaysia not to far away.

 

Although he is no longer the CEO he is still a board member of Ferrari Spa, so I guess he can pretty much do & go where he wants. He also unvieled the California at it's Asian launch in Singapore last week. I have a foto of him with Mrs K.

 

+100

 

He probably spends a lot of his time in Singapore, since Michelle Yeoh is from there.

 

What is the purpose of this discussion? Its like you are looking for some avenue to prove yourself correct and me wrong. I didn't make anything up. I leave that up to you and your buddies here on this forum and you all do an excellent job of making things up, sort of like the "clued-in F1 world" BS. I did mention guys that were alive, at least I thought Rubens was alive. I admittedly forgot about Coultard. And so what if I also mentioned a "dead guy"? Was that against some rules I did not read? I simply responded to your question as to which drivers had knowingly pulled into the pits before the race end. You did not tell me that I could not mention a "dead guy". So...so what??

And if you haven't noticed, I really do not care about criticism, so why bother to deflect it?

Why are you making things up? You never used to do that until lately. You were guilty of that in your posts trying to defend Hamilton with your "clued-in F1 world" crap.

A comment was made in this thread that Massa appeared to give up after his pit fiasco, all I said was: "As I understand it, the car could not be refueled again, he was on a circuit that is near impossible to pass, so all he could do is just finish. Frankly, I know of some drivers that would have just pulled it into the garage and quit the event."

Which is true. Not at all silly as you suggest.

So how did you get this: "Massa did better than SOME drivers, who would have just pulled into the pits and quit."??? Who said that? I did not. If you are going to quote someone, do it accurately, word for word. Do not make up things in an attempt to prove your own weak point. Or in attempt to create an issue where none exists. Who was criticizing Massa? I did not see any crticism of Massa concerning Singapore, only positive comments. Where did I defend him in this specific situation? Honestly, after being screwed by your own team AGAIN, I would not blame Massa if he had just lost desire for the balance of the race.

You attempt to take a simple comment and make it into some sort of debate. There is nothing to debate. If I were Massa's chief engineer, I would have called him in to save the chassis, assuming I was not breaking any F1 rules. Although, continuing on track could also provide some useful data for next year.

Give it up, please?

 

Actually Mike, don't the rules encourage a team to withdraw if they don't appear to be finishing where they would like? I am under the impression that at least last year's rules package allowed an engine change if the car didn't finish the race.

And yes, I thought this was a joke thread to begin with.