Thread: foot in mouth for ralf

I think this post should be the in Touring Car forum, as if he really wants to race next year I think DTM is his best bet!!

Originally Posted by tamburello

Ralf sacked his manager three days ago (saw it on CNN).

Well why keep him at this stage....

Anyway, I am on sabbatical and it is much tougher than driving. I plan on remaining there until I get my phone call from Ferrari. I would already be back, but they accidentally lost my phone number and panicked, signing Kimi instead--a mistake they said will not happen again, but they will have to come up with another ten million more than before.

I think Ralfie made heaps out of F1, while doing not all that much in the last few years except just making up the numbers at midfield.

With the rise of quite a few younger drivers, Ralfie is, at best, a midfield driver and that is being kind.

Time to call it a day with F1.

Ralf will go down as being an "OK" driver - won a few races in a great car, but not much other than that to brag about. It seems that lately he's been getting good at taking other cars off the track!

Originally Posted by wmcot

Ralf will go down as being an "OK" driver - won a few races in a great car, but not much other than that to brag about. It seems that lately he's been getting good at taking other cars off the track!

As I have said before, on a good day, Ralf was unbeatable. It just seemed that Ralf's good days never coincided with a Grands Prix weekend lately....

Originally Posted by tamburello

Ralf sacked his manager three days ago (saw it on CNN).

lol. I guess he can save money by doing so but I hope like hell he didn't sack him cause he couldn't get him a ride for this year!

It's Overpaids fault!

Ralf is a superior driver to many drivers, who seemingly will have a seat for next season, like Sato, davidson etc.

Originally Posted by Garry Walker

Ralf is a superior driver to many drivers, who seemingly will have a seat for next season, like Sato, davidson etc.

Thanks for that post, just spat coffee all over the screen. He'll have a seat alright, just not necessarily in an F1 car.......

Originally Posted by SGWilko

Thanks for that post, just spat coffee all over the screen. He'll have a seat alright, just not necessarily in an F1 car.......

Do you think guys like sato and davidson are better than Ralf?

Originally Posted by Garry Walker

Do you think guys like sato and davidson are better than Ralf?

Davidson, yes, most certainly I THINK is better. Ralf HAS been in race winning cars and only on occasion was he winning races (Williams). Sato is a little wild at best, but he certainly is no slouch. Give them the same opportunity Ralf had, and I expect them to achieve more than Ralf could muster....

Originally Posted by SGWilko

Davidson, yes, most certainly I THINK is better. Ralf HAS been in race winning cars and only on occasion was he winning races (Williams). Sato is a little wild at best, but he certainly is no slouch. Give them the same opportunity Ralf had, and I expect them to achieve more than Ralf could muster....

Davidson and Sato are both hopeless and never have or will be top 10 drivers. Ralf at his best was easily a top 3 driver and even after the injuries he had, he was able to show great pace at times. Too often Toyota failed him though.
When Ralf had the best car, his rival was someone called Michael Schumacher, the best driver ever, not exactly an easy man to beat.
But Sato has so far been destroyed by Fisi and Button, didnt look impressive against Montagny and only showed well up against Davidson.

Originally Posted by Garry Walker

Ralf at his best was easily a top 3 driver and even after the injuries he had, he was able to show great pace at times. Too often Toyota failed him though.
When Ralf had the best car, his rival was someone called Michael Schumacher, the best driver ever, not exactly an easy man to beat.

Oh, I quite agree, when Ralf was on it, he was unbeatable. He just was on it so very infrequently.

His teammates JPM & Fisi beat him an awful lot.

Schumi, beaten by Hakkinen, Hill, Coulthard, Alonso, Massa, Raikkonen etc.

If Ralf was/is as good as you suggest, he should be in either a McLaren or a Ferrari......

Hard to compare team mate vs team mate when the cars are set up so poor.

More like saying who is the best driver when it comes to driving cars that are not set up or competitive---and that is a whole different question, than running at the front with a very competitive car

BTW, at Mac, JPM did have a habit of beating the Kimster as well, until he clearly had his falling out with RD, so Ralf beating JPM says he could go with the best.

But there did seem to be a lack of hungry ambition that drives some to excell, and makes them miserable if they are not at the very top. For example, FA, MS, Senna, and others-and Ralfie seemed to not have it as much, maybe even less of it than JPM

and living in the shadow of a brother called MS may have meant that acccepting second place behind him came a little too easy or maybe was just unavoidable

Originally Posted by markabilly

Hard to compare team mate vs team mate when the cars are set up so poor.

Whose job is it to set the car up?

Originally Posted by Markabilly

More like saying who is the best driver when it comes to driving cars that are not set up or competitive

If they are teammates in the same car, would they not be in the 'same boat' so to speak?

Originally Posted by Markabilly

BTW, at Mac, JPM did have a habit of beating the Kimster as well, until he clearly had his falling out with RD, so Ralf beating JPM says he could go with the best.

Did RS make it a habit to beat JPM?

Originally Posted by Markabilly

But there did seem to be a lack of hungry ambition that drives some to excell, and makes them miserable if they are not at the very top. For example, FA, MS, Senna, and others-and Ralfie seemed to not have it as much, maybe even less of it than JPM

He sure looked to have that hungry ambition in the Toyota. With that hungry ambition, he should have got out quick, but I think the money was the real issue here.....

Originally Posted by markabilly

and living in the shadow of a brother called MS may have meant that acccepting second place behind him came a little too easy or maybe was just unavoidable

If he was concerned about that, he should have tried a different career perhaps.....

Originally Posted by SGWilko

Whose job is it to set the car up?

If they are teammates in the same car, would they not be in the 'same boat' so to speak?

Did RS make it a habit to beat JPM?

He sure looked to have that hungry ambition in the Toyota. With that hungry ambition, he should have got out quick, but I think the money was the real issue here.....

If he was concerned about that, he should have tried a different career perhaps.....

Whose job is it to set the car up? Common public perception is driver, and that was true sometime ago, especially before data acquisition, but now reality is more the engineering team based on data and understanding the driver's style fitting the car to him, rather than feedback and suggestions from the typical race driver.

After all much-if not most-testing is now being done by rookies who have never actually raced the car, only tested it over and over again


That is why I thought it was such a joke with the stuff about FA was not going to help set up LH's car. Poor LH will be helpless!! And now what are they going to do without FA at all!!!

That would only be true if there was no data acqusition from the car and all the engineers/designers suddenly forgot everything they knew about the subject and how the car was suppose to work. In Toyota's case, they had data acquisition, but seemed to have "forgot everything they knew about the subject...."

So drivers are not so responsible anymore, and getting an uncompetitve car surrounded by people clueless, only means the driver will get most of the blame that really belongs elsewhere

If they are teammates in the same car, would they not be in the 'same boat' so to speak? Some drivers can drive snow mobiles better than others, and some drivers can get more from a car that is set up wrong than others--Just because someone is faster driving a pig, does not mean he will be faster driving a true racehorse, so who can really say--the skill that gets the best from the right set up, may cause the pig to go slower than someone else--much like those two drivers (can not remeber their names off the top of my head-Alesi?) who proceeded to drive the MS's Benetton at the very last track raced by MS when he won the WDC, using the same set up as MS, and yet they were both seconds slower than the times set by MS, and complained about the "difficult" to drive set up of the car

Did RS make it a habit to beat JPM? Err no.....

He sure looked to have that hungry ambition in the Toyota. With that hungry ambition, he should have got out quick, but I think the money was the real issue here.....errr, yes, if he truly wanted to be WDC come hell or high water..... but where else was he going to get paid 20 million per year for being someone else's brother

(Actually this reminds me of Damon Hill, who when choosing between Mac with pay based on victories rather than a high upfront salary or Jordan with pay being a high salary, he choose Jordan)

If he was concerned about that, he should have tried a different career perhaps.....err, yes, but where else was he going to get paid 20 million per year for being someone's brother


Bottom line, talent he clearly had, but it is hard for some folks to get and remain hungry, when they are being paid 20 million a year for being someone's brother

Ralf was an idiot when he first started in F1 but he matured to become one of the best and indeed if he had had a top level drive he could have become champ. He was at least as good as JV. But now he has stagnated and lost his edge so it is all over.

Ralf had potential, but I think most of that potential is now gone. At times he could set a good race pace, but when it came to crunch time he never had the right moves to get it done very often.

His chances flew out the windown when he lost the Williams drive if you ask me. He had a good seat and blew it, but for some reason thinks he can command a team and salary more in line with his brothers abilities.

I'll show you some foot in mouth for Ralf: a few exchange of lines from the official DTM forum. They all hope that RS won't be joining the DTM field in 2008.

Die Frau von Audi wird Ralf Schumacher

Ich denk die wollen keine notorische Hinterherfahrerin mehr...

Man wie lustig,
Ralf wird sicher kein Cockpit in der DTM bekommen, da sei dir sicher.

Das hoffen wir doch alle

Originally Posted by Mark

Ralf was an idiot when he first started in F1 but he matured to become one of the best and indeed if he had had a top level drive he could have become champ. He was at least as good as JV. But now he has stagnated and lost his edge so it is all over.

He and JPM did have it with Williams one year...perhaps more tire advantage than mechanical ability of the car, but as the season went on, he just semed to lose the edge and then HE not JPM, who seemed to be the one with fire, got the big bucks to drive for Toyota--Indeed while JPM was making maybe 25% of Ralf, JPM seemed to be by far the better investment in terms of results and going toe to toe with MS.

Then JPM goes to Nascar via Mac---and before anyone starts turning up their noses, think about this: My bet is when all the pocket change is counted up, maybe FA and Ralfie made more than JPM this year or maybe not, but it was not by much and LH certainly did not.

But of course, it is not about the money...this is F1, where the subject of money is unworthy any consideration in comparsions to the pure ideals of pure competition based on ability and speed. Indeed the mere mention of money in formula one is met with disgust from the most elite of snobs from the finest gentlemen and ladies in motorsports.