Pirelli defend tyres after Schumacher blast

Oh come on F1boat. Stop with this haters rubbish, it's something I expext from ioan. If you disagree with me then discuss it but without pointless rhetoric.

You may not consider him a seriel cheat but many of us do. From the illegal Electronics in the Bennetton and Ferrari to punting Hill and Jacques off the track to win championships. (Well, he did win one that way so cheating paid off)

Then we have years of people denying that the FIA favoured Ferrari only for Ferrari to foolishly confirm it a couple of years ago.

This has been documented many times along with quite a few others and that doesn't even touch on the many suspected instances which can't be proved.

Nobody denies he wasn't a brilliant driver. I used to be a fan and believe he could have become the undisputed best of all time but he resorted to cheating. He was past his prime and should have retired at least a year before he did the first time around. Now he's moaning that he has the same equipment as everyone else and just needs to free up that seat so it's not wasted. Hell, he's even making Rosberg look good.

Knock-On,

I agree on everything apart from retirement.
I want more :devil:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Knock-on

2009 scored 1/2 of the points of his team mate.
2010 scored 5/6ths of the points of his team mate.
2011 so far has scored 1/16th of the points of his team mate.

Now he's moaning about a set of tyres that the rest of the field has to work with and feels it's unfair. He's probably right. In the past he's had illegal electronics, illegal cars, preferential treatment from Bridgestone, a rear gunner to give him points and cover his ass and FIAssistance. No wonder he's not happy now that he's on a level plain wth everyone else.

There's always going to be excuses for Schumacher and his fans but he should just STFU. It's about time this serial cheat retires for good.

---

When Schumi had inferior tyres he did indeed STFU.

Neither did he complain when Bridgestone had the inferior tyres in 2005, nor the first half of 2006 when Ferrari initially struggled to optimize their car for B'stone's stiffer tyre construction - which they eventually sorted with front suspension modifications.

When Goodyear used to supply tyres to Ferrari in the tyre war with B'stone they were at worst terrible and could blister easily. Ferrari was hard on its tyres in 1997 which was why JV could overtake Schumi at the last race.

Shumi has raced when Goodyear and B'stone were sole tyre suppliers. He didn't do too badly did he?

Schumi was very diplomatic, I must say, as he doesn't exactly have the demeanor of wanting to throw toys out of his pram:

[youtube]FTJnd7XX5Pc [/youtube]

I do sympathise. The style of racing we have now is like walking on tip toes. It's like giving the teams a fixed amount of fuel. It's still racing but not racing per se in that it takes out the purity of driving close to the limit when one needs when managing tyres over a stint.

I seem to recall NASCAR used softer compounds about a decade ago and seem to remember the drivers saying that it wasn't racing, more like trying to survive. Perhaps F1 does need a rethink.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wedge

I do sympathise. The style of racing we have now is like walking on tip toes. It's like giving the teams a fixed amount of fuel. It's still racing but not racing per se in that it takes out the purity of driving close to the limit when one needs when managing tyres over a stint.

---

Very well put. I agree completely.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Knock-on

You may not consider him a seriel cheat but many of us do. From the illegal Electronics in the Bennetton and Ferrari to punting Hill and Jacques off the track to win championships. (Well, he did win one that way so cheating paid off)

Then we have years of people denying that the FIA favoured Ferrari only for Ferrari to foolishly confirm it a couple of years ago.

---

Dear Knock-on. I don't see, what do Benetton, Ferrari and FIA issues have to do with Schumacher's cheating. As you claim this makes him a "serial cheater". Applying this logic Pérez and Kobayashi were cheaters in Australia '11, because they had an illegal car. Button was a cheater in 2005 and was subsequently banned for a few races. Brundle and Bellof were serial cheaters in 1984 and both were DQ'd from the season. We are going to absurd if the decisions of team principals and designers are blamed on the driver.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wedge

It's like giving the teams a fixed amount of fuel.

---

Interesting that in the 80's we actually had such fuel rule, which meant that all teams needed to conserve fuel throughout the race and even then many cars ran out of fuel in the final laps!

All in all. I am realizing that the arguments of drivers not having any option to push at all, are a reason for thought. And claims that they should at least have an option for going flat-out, even if at the expense of making more pitstops.

But then again, can it be achieved without taking away the excitement of F1? Because personally I don't want to lose it either. Besides all - even though everyone needs to conserve a lot, still we are seeing varieties in strategies and some people have managed to make the tyres work for a longer period of time. There are drivers, who have made 2-stoppers work. Pérez has made even a 1-stopper work.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jens

Dear Knock-on. I don't see, what do Benetton, Ferrari and FIA issues have to do with Schumacher's cheating. As you claim this makes him a "serial cheater". Applying this logic Pérez and Kobayashi were cheaters in Australia '11, because they had an illegal car. Button was a cheater in 2005 and was subsequently banned for a few races. Brundle and Bellof were serial cheaters in 1984 and both were DQ'd from the season. We are going to absurd if the decisions of team principals and designers are blamed on the driver.

---

Exactly, jens.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Knock-on

2009 scored 1/2 of the points of his team mate.
2010 scored 5/6ths of the points of his team mate.
2011 so far has scored 1/16th of the points of his team mate.

Now he's moaning about a set of tyres that the rest of the field has to work with and feels it's unfair. He's probably right. In the past he's had illegal electronics, illegal cars, preferential treatment from Bridgestone, a rear gunner to give him points and cover his ass and FIAssistance. No wonder he's not happy now that he's on a level plain wth everyone else.

There's always going to be excuses for Schumacher and his fans but he should just STFU. It's about time this serial cheat retires for good.

---

I must remember not upset you when you've got a cobb on!

Guys, can I just say.. great debate!. So many valid points coming from all sides of the fence and you are all mature with it, thats why I keep coming back here, great stuff!

On one hand I can apreciate that looking after the tyres is part of racing but should it be such a large part of F1? Isn't it a more apropriate feature of endurance racing? Personally I think I want to see the quickest drivers being rewarded more than those who can look after their tyres the best... I think it has gone too far in the wrong direction and find myself agreeing with MS. Whether I rate him, like him or hate him is irelevant to me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Knock-on

2009 scored 1/2 of the points of his team mate.
2010 scored 5/6ths of the points of his team mate.
2011 so far has scored 1/16th of the points of his team mate.

---

I think it is pretty apparent why he has scored 1/16th of Rosberg's points, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out if you were watching the races.

Quote:

---

Now he's moaning about a set of tyres that the rest of the field has to work with and feels it's unfair. He's probably right. In the past he's had illegal electronics, illegal cars, preferential treatment from Bridgestone, a rear gunner to give him points and cover his ass and FIAssistance. No wonder he's not happy now that he's on a level plain wth everyone else.

---

Funny, I don't recall him throwing the toys out of the pram when he didn't have the best car or tyres on the grid. It is clearly just a successful driver giving his opinion on what he thinks formula one tyres should be. It was a level playing field the last two years and he didn't object then, so why now?

I think you are frankly still unhappy about all the years Schumacher was the best driver on the grid by a clear margin.

Quote:

---

There's always going to be excuses for Schumacher and his fans but he should just STFU. It's about time this serial cheat retires for good.

---

His comments don't display any level of hypocrisy like you are suggesting, nor does it have anything to do with his career. I think the only excuses we are seeing at the moment are from people who want to denigrate his past achievements.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by theugsquirrel

I think you are frankly still unhappy about all the years Schumacher was the best driver on the grid by a clear margin.

---

Tyres played a big role in that as they do today. The difference is that then they worked for one team all the time to the detriment of the other teams.

Today we have tyres that work for different teams at different times depending on car setup and conditions. Mercedes got it spot on in China and we didn't hear any complaints from Michael then.

Bottom line is that the teams are being supplied with the same tyres and it's up to them to make them work for their car.