Quote Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
In answer to the first question - Yes
As for the opinions of Derek Warwick, maybe he never had that good a handle on what makes a winning Grand Prix driver? Maybe I'm being unnecessarily provocative. Maybe
GV had psychological weaknesses but to quote Marx he wasn't a 'ferret-faced chiseller' (Groucho)
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.