Incredible that he blamed Sato ...
MS was blaming Sato for the early incident that cost him his wing.
My (admittedly biased) eyes saw MS try to press an overtaking move that
he clearly didn't have.
RS must have pis$ed off one of the racing gods after Magny Cours, he had
nothing but sh!t for luck after that race.
Oh well, there's always next season.
D<br><br><hr><br><A HREF = "http://stl_don.home.att.net"><img src = "http://members.roadfly.com/stl_don/kitten_sig.jpg"></A>
<br><small>pretty cool eyes</small>
MS continues to prove himself as the Dale Earnhart
of F1: always has been a "dirty" driver always will be a "dirty" driver. He may be 6 times world champion but no one will ever list him among the great SPORTSMEN who ever drove F1 cars. His tactics belong at your local 3/8 mile "bullring" not in the supposedly "premier" auto racing series. And the FIA (aka Ferrari Idolotry Association) lacks the guts to penalize him for his dangerous tactics. JPM brushes RB at Indy 2 weeks ago and gets a drive-through: IN Japan, Spoonface made at least 3 moves that merited either a drive-through(if not outright disqualification for dangerous driving) and the FIA proves again to be a bunch of feckless clowns.<br>RichardM///3
Delaware USA
02'M36 Speed, 1/02 Build
Alpine White/Imola Red Leather
"Life is too short not to drive an ///M"
Re: MS continues to prove himself as the Dale Earnhart
Agree 100%, although Earnhardt was never shown the blatant favoritism by NASCAR that the FIA shows for MS. If JPM (or any other driver for that matter) had done any of the moves you mention he would have been penalized by the FIA stewards. No question in my mind. MS is/was a great driver no question, but the FIA clearly doesn't have the guts to be fair..Just follow the money I guess (lots o merchandise sold for Ferrari and MS in particular).
tlan
'98 M3
'01 540-6
Sorry but that move was ok...more
Hate to burst you bubble but the move on the straight was legal!
A driver…any driver, not just SM, can make one defensive move to protect his position. It’s not considered blocking until he makes the second move during the same event, ie, protecting his position twice at the same corner on the same lap (did you not think it strange that the commentators made no mention of it being a problem; they didn’t because he was allowed to do it). I’m not saying it was a very sportsman like thing to do, but we’re dealing with millions of dollars here and sportsmanship goes out the window
I agree that MS gets special treatment but I’m not sure it’s from the FIA as there are different officials at each and every race. Unlike NASCAR, which has the same officials travel to every race who can apply the same standards at every race, the organizers of each F1 race provide the officials or stewards for that race. This allows different standards to come into play and allows people to treat him like a god of some kind and be afraid to impose a penalty – like at the US GP where MS clearly passed under a waved yellow flag! Of course the FIA carries the bigger responsibility to ensure the rules are enforced fairly across the board but they can’t do so without paying a ‘head official’ to go to each race and that would take money out of Max and Bernie’s pocket and we can’t have that!
JPM is calling for traveling stewards for F1 and I wish him luck.
no i know it was legal i was just pissed off that
he did it. it was a real [Oops!] thing to do. he basically drove into the wall to block him. i'm sure there will be some "fun" brotherly actions after that move. granted if he gave up that spot and rubino had his unluckiness happen to him again. there goes the 6th championship, but i still hated that move. heidfeld could have done the same thing schumi but he let him pass. obviously ralf was faster than ralf. just reminds me of senna vs. irvine when irvine started out. irvine did not move over for senna and actually blocked him. i don't remember the race or what year but i remember hearing the senna let irvine know how he felt after the race. although in the senna case, senna was leading and irvine was a backmarker.<br>
it's a demo. so guess what the details are.
20% Tint
<img src="http://members.roadfly.com/arig/new%20new%20version%20sig%20copy.jpg">
Re: no i know it was legal i was just pissed off that
MS has done moves like that before to Ralph over the years. Ralphy never seems to return the favor. Big brother beating up little brother thing I guess. That cold nastiness is also why MS has won 6 championships and Ralph zero.
tlan
Ralf must be German for \"wuss\"- he allows his
to beat him around like the proverbial "government mule." 30 plus years ago when the earth was still cooling, when I was playing around with jallopie-level dirt track racing, some of the "vets" would tap the rookies in the front or rear of the car while cornering to spin them out. You had to lean to lock your brakes at that point and kind of "steer into" the guy spinning you out usually made for a bigger impact when you finally stopped & more damage, but it would assure the guy that spun you out was included in the incident & spread the message you were not to be taken advantage of...Ralf needs to learn this lesson!<br>RichardM///3
Delaware USA
02'M36 Speed, 1/02 Build
Alpine White/Imola Red Leather
"Life is too short not to drive an ///M"
Re: Ralf must be German for
Well put, and Ralph has been driving F1 (top level of motorsport!) for what 6-7 years now. How long does he get to learn what dirt track drivers already know..
tlan
simple racing incidents-nothing more....relax
that fact that you think Dirt track tactics can >
be utilized in F1 is absolutely rediculous.
when you're sliding a stupid buggy around a circle on dirt, all you need is a little push to upset the balance of the slide.
when you're pulling over 3Gs around a turn at 180mph setting up for braking at over 4Gs, you aren't thinking about how you could just nudge someone from behind. At those load levels, you have very little breathing room before becoming a passenger.
MS has always been a focused driver. He will win at all costs.
Some other drivers, Ralf included, seem to have a slightly less ruthless way of trying to win.
Perhaps in this level of Motorsport, MS's way is more successful.
<br>
<img src="http://www.roadfly.org/bmw/gallery/photos/photos-01-2003/10-9989092.jpg"HEIGHT=200 WIDTH=266>
97 M3, Bilsteins/RDsways, ECIS CAI, UUC TME
X-brace, Euro Floaters/Super blue, Mintex Reds
if Ralf had gone to the inside, he may have>>
gotten away with it, but he had to react to MS's late brake, so he definately was overoptimistic with that move.
he was obviously frustrated and that was his 3rd lack of good judgement during the race.
<br>
<img src="http://www.roadfly.org/bmw/gallery/photos/photos-01-2003/10-9989092.jpg"HEIGHT=200 WIDTH=266>
97 M3, Bilsteins/RDsways, ECIS CAI, UUC TME
X-brace, Euro Floaters/Super blue, Mintex Reds
Perhaps you miss my point or I was unclear...(m)
What I saw Sunday was Michael again swerving into Ralf's path to block a pass, short braking him (for whatever the reason) and in general intimidating the hell out of his little brother. My point, such that it was, is that Ralf must make a hard and (possibly) dangerous decision: continue to put up with the continual motor-sport "slap down" from his big brother (and continue to finish 2nd best or worse) or take some actions that let Michael know there IS a PRICE to be paid for the continual intimidation routine.
It's a lousy choice to decide to rear end your brother (or any driver) who continually early brakes you or to knowingly allow your nose cone to cut his rear tires at 150 MPH when he swerves in front of you. Just as I mention from the dinosaur days of my brief, limited, and ineffective dirt-track experience: you come to the understanding you HAVE TO FORCE YOURSELF to make those who'd take advantage of you PAY A PRICE or you will be walked on FOREVER. Bad example? Maybe. Lousy situation? Sure. But Michale does what he does to Ralf knowing full well Ralf will A- back down and B- Never return the favor should he get the chance and that he, Michael, C- will face no reprimand from his toadies at the FIA. Michael would likely not try the same crap on JPM or Kimi because he knows he'd pay a price- a broken car with a chance of broken bones. In theory, NO 2 CARS DRIVEN BY MEN OF THIS SKILL LEVEL SHOULD EVER TOUCH. But it's a man's sport and Ralfie apparently lacks the stones to compete with his brother...If he won't do it on the track, maybe he ought to punch Michael's lights out off the track-if he can. Ralf has talent- it's sad to see his repetivative "thank you sir, may I have another?" routine when competing vs. his brother.<br>RichardM///3
Delaware USA
02'M36 Speed, 1/02 Build
Alpine White/Imola Red Leather
"Life is too short not to drive an ///M"
I think he wasn\'t as careful as he needed to be
He's incredibly lucky to have gotten a point out of that drive.
The incredibly botched overtaking attempt on Sato and nearly wrecking his car trying to overtake Da Matta (why? he already had the point he needed) both seem pretty stupid to me.
He needed to be driving with a little more caution.
Why didn't he get penalized? Because Sato wasn't taken out of the race (as Rubino was at Indy), and the incident with Ralf was not intentional, it was just cars stacking up under braking.
I don't know about blocking Ralf earlier. It was a little more than a single move, but less than two. CART would have called it blocking since he didn't just move over a lane, he kept on trucking slowly to the inside, presenting a moving target. To be clean, he should have made one, swift move to the inside.
<br>02 LeMansBlue/Silverstone M5
98 EstorilBlue/Grey M3
I agree, MS wouldn't do that to JPM and did it and