Originally Posted by Parabolica
Maybe you are correct about Warwick. I don't recall him being as fast as Villenueve. Nor do I recall him doing anything as reckless. I know that, for some, Zandvoort 1979 was fantastic. Personally, I thought it was idiotic.
It was his never-give-up approach, of course. But a Grand Prix champion has to look at the bigger picture. A fantastic racer, no doubt. But well short of having a Champions focus.
I also never bought into the Pironi-as-a-pantomime-villain myth, as pedalled by Nigel Roebuck. In deed, I always suspected that the likes of Roebuck had already found Pironi guilty of being French long before the Imola incident and was more than happy to crucify him on a one-sided, uncorroborated, statement from Villenueve.
There was no Divine actions on the Saturday at Hockenheim in 1982. Just a man in agonising pain. Sadly.