Briatore on Brawn drivers & credibility *merged*

All this proves what we all know: that there is very little that separates a "good" driver from a "very good" driver, and that if the engineering is there, you only need a "good" driver. This has been true for years. Look at Damon Hill: can't race for beans, but had a talent for development, and managed to get hired by Williams.

I don't begrudge Jenson (or Rubens) for the boatload of points they will haul in this year--they are both good drivers. Neither are as talented as a Kimi or a Lewis (IMO), but both are former winners (Rubens in 2 different teams), and Jenson proved his worth in 2004 (IIRC), when he amassed 70+ points. To me, he very much deserves this break. If he had been in a Ferrari, Renault, or McLaren these past few years, he'd have as many wins as DC and RB, which ain't too shabby. Instead, he's as talented, if not more, than both, and only had one win until this season.

I think the reason Flav is so upset is that he knows he has the best driver on the grid (to me, FA is the only "great" driver in F1 right now) and he has very little chance to even be in the first 3-4 rows, and has no shot at winning.

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Originally Posted by ioan

:rotflmao:

Good joke!

:rotflmao:

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Yep. I don't think Button is as complete as Alonso, at all.

It looks like during the year we are going to get a lot of debates about whether Button is a worthy championship leader or just lucky cruiser. :p :

About "new pecking order". Let's see...
During winter tests several people were saying that former midfielders were showboating and teams like Ferrari/McLaren will inevitably end at the top.

Season has started and a similar feeling seems to be among fans that the success of former midfielders is just an anomaly and former greats will sooner or later establish themselves at the front.

What makes me ask here is that... is it realllly so difficult to understand that 'other teams' are very professional and actually can match or even beat the previous winners? What has created a theory that Ferrari/McLaren are inevitably the best teams in F1, status quo will stay until the end of World and the only way for others to beat them is by cheating (diffuser-gate)? I'd call that lack of flexibility by F1 followers.

F1 is in constant change, so are the teams. For example I see nothing in current Ferrari - greatest legend of all - that suggests they must be a top team. I'd say that for example Brawn GP is already a more professional team than them and would keep on doing better if only they could find enough funding... And Renault - sorry, but I really don't think they are quite the same any more as in 05-06... McLaren, I think, has great potential of rising back to the top though, if only they could stop shooting themselves in the feet with off-track actions...

Flavio a bad loser? - well, not a surprise to me!

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Originally Posted by ioan

I pretty much agree with him.

Given that he had Button in his team, he's much better positioned to judge him than any of us will ever be.

PS: I see you are starting to get to the lower level words in order to express an opinion, I wonder why?!

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Originally Posted by planetf1

After the 'slow' Button put finishing Practice Two in China as the quickest driver, the Englishman hit back at the Renault boss - and revealed that Briatore had sought to hire him in the winter, presumably as a replacement for the hapless Nelson Piquet jir.

http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,1895...199773,00.html

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OWNED


PS, sorry I'm a bit late, but couldn't resist.

AFCA from autosport forums has translated this Q&A with Briatore. Absolutely brilliant answers by him. I love it when people say whats on their mind and dont pussyfoot around.

Q: The verdict is there: Ross Brawn was right.
Briatore: ''What was he right about ? The diffuser issue ? Imagine if someone would leave the earth for a year and comes back to find out that Reggina, Lecce, Bologna and Torino are at the top of the Serie A table while Milan, Juventus and Inter are fighting against relegation. In this same way a Formula 1 fan finds out that the championship can be won by someone that was (already) retired (Barrichello - AFCA), one that is as slow as a milepost (Button), Rosberg, Click, or perhaps Clock (Glock - AFCA), Naca...Naca...what's he called ? I don't even know...

Q: ...Nakajima. But your ungenerous towards Button.
Briatore: ''He's a good guy for heaven's sake. He's not someone that causes trouble, he's not 'dirty'.''

Q: Are you still prepared to help Brawn GP financially ?
Briatore: ''I'm not. Actually, at the next FOTA meeting I will propose that each team will keep the money that it intended to give Brawn GP. The FIA has proven Brawn GP right and we, for once will say the FIA is right: Brawn GP is a new team. It will have to do the same as us when we entered (F1). Brawn is richer than I am, than all of us.''

Q: Do you mean that Brawn GP has more money than the big teams ?
Briatore: ''He bought the team for € 1 and on top of that he has received € 130 million from Honda as if it were a newlywed getting money from her parents. € 100 million in cash, € 30 was the famous bonus we (the teams) were willing to pass on to them. Fortunately we haven't yet done so ! I will propose to keep that money: I have to spend a lot of it in order for Renault not to remain one second adrift of Brawn GP. The difference now is that I know where to get the money from !''

Q: Apart from coming up with a double-decker diffuser, what has Brawn done that makes you so angry ?
Briatore: ''He hasn't been transparent as the technical head of the FOTA, he knew (about the diffusers) but didn't say it. Ah, I will propose others to have that role, I no longer feel represented by him. In fact, it's better to put the first Chinese bloke that comes round the corner in that position. Also, Brawn has behaved in a very bad way, attacking everyone one-on-one in front of the Court of Appeal, and in a rude way towards Byrne. Without Byrne, Brawn('s career) wouldn't even exist, I know this very well because both of them worked at Benetton. Byrne is a loyal and honest person, Brawn shamelessly attacked him, and he's done the same thing towards the others. So, he's a genius and all the others are idiots ?''

Q: So could this ruin the unity with the FOTA ?
Briatore: ''Why ? The FOTA approve (on matters) with a majority of 70% of the votes, thank god we don't always have to agree all ten of us. There are some bandits in the sport, it's no longer possible to be monolithic on every issue.''

Q: Parr has accused Ferrari and McLaren of having won titles with illegal cars.
Briatore: ''And for these words someone, the FIA itself, could charge him. Parr is an idiot.''

Q: He's got a role within the FOTA.
Briatore: ''Yes, it's being a pain in the arse.''

Q: Getting back to the verdict: was it really a technical one, or was it political ?
Briatore: ''One of the judges (De Marco from Malta) has fallen to sleep, or he's simply no good, or he knew on forehand what the outcome was going to be. The others were ready to fly out at the airport: after an eight-hour hearing they came up with the verdict in one hour. I don't want to think that there has been the intention to manipulate the result of the championship. If it were like that then that would be very grave, but I repeat: I don't even want to think about it.''

Q: Is the FIA to blame ?
Briatore: ''Very much so, because this entire row should have been dealt with earlier. There are technical people which homework it is to prevent problems.''

Q: Would it be necessary to put someone alongside Charlie Whiting ?
Briatore: ''The FOTA has put forward Brawn as his technical counterpart: look at what a great technical package he came up with.''

Q: Do you step out of this chaos with at least one certainty ?
Briatore: ''Yes, if you fall down a manhole then it's not a 'hole' but an 'opening'.''

Excellent!

I especially like how he called Bunsen as slow as a post.

sum-up of article; :bigcry:

:p :

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Q: He's got a role within the FOTA.
Briatore: ''Yes, it's being a pain in the arse.''

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Awesome

I certainly hope that the F1 teams cheat less that the Serie A teams... although highly offensive. And while the insults to Jenson and Rubens and Glock are simply a matter of bad taste, this Naka thing is horrible, almost racist. It is funny, but shows that Flav is very poor stuff.

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Originally Posted by Garry Walker

Q: Is the FIA to blame ?
Briatore: ''Very much so, because this entire row should have been dealt with earlier. There are technical people which homework it is to prevent problems.''

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I think that sums it up for me. Complain all you want but it's ultimately the FIA's cock up that he has to deal with, no use going on about the other teams. They should have clarified it earlier.