"Ricardo Zonta. Discuss." - Page 2

BSchneiderFan · 13 Jul 2005, 19:23 (Ref:1354899)

Ironic, though, because HHF's performances at Williams were pretty disappointing too.

zontafan · 14 Jul 2005, 16:49 (Ref:1355560)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snrub

Most would argue that this year's CC field is the strongest in a long time, but I understand the point you're getting at. A while back there were rumours of Zonta going to CC...

I don't know what to make of Zonta. Everyone made much of "JV's mind games," but did that really happen? Recall that HHF came out in JV's defense when the "JV mind games" hysteria was in full swing.

of course the jv mind games happened

ricardo is proving himself to be fast and is still young enough to get a race seat imo

Louis B. · 14 Jul 2005, 17:53 (Ref:1355592)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redlake27

Several times he outqualified Villeneuve

Sigh!!!!! In 1999 and 2000, JV outqualified Zonta 27-3!!! And we are talking of real qualifying with everyone with almost empty fuel tanks in those days.

zontafan · 14 Jul 2005, 21:46 (Ref:1355794)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Louis B.

Sigh!!!!! In 1999 and 2000, JV outqualified Zonta 27-3!!! And we are talking of real qualifying with everyone with almost empty fuel tanks in those days.

yep but i bet he would not do it now the old has been

BootsOntheSide · 15 Jul 2005, 10:35 (Ref:1356108)

Better to be a has-been than a never-was though. And for all his chances in F1, Ricardo has acheived vitrtually nothing. He nearly fluked into 4th at Spa last year, having qualified dead last after replacing a perfectly good driver for political reasons, but otherwise failed to impress at Toyota. He won't go to ChampCar while he's under contract to Toyota, as they run in the IRL. Maybe JV did destroy him mentally, but he's had enough time to get over that.

BSchneiderFan · 15 Jul 2005, 11:49 (Ref:1356156)

Maybe he should go back to sportscars where he shone in 1998. Still can't help but think that, given a full season and a bit of TLC from the team, he'd do a better job for Toyota than Ralf Schumacher's currently doing.

zontafan · 15 Jul 2005, 13:06 (Ref:1356216)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

Maybe he should go back to sportscars where he shone in 1998. Still can't help but think that, given a full season and a bit of TLC from the team, he'd do a better job for Toyota than Ralf Schumacher's currently doing.

AGREED

BootsOntheSide · 15 Jul 2005, 16:21 (Ref:1356364)

I think Ricardo could proabbly match what Ralf is doing, but for a much smaller salary. On the other hand, the commercial benefit of having a German (and a Schumacher) in the team probably outweighs the loss from paying Ralf a higher salary, especially as Germany is where the team is based, and a much bigger market for them from South America. It's not really fair, but that's nothing unusual - the only people who profited from the London bombs were the hoteliers who doubled their prices that night knowing that some people would ahve to use them as they couldn't get home. Life is brilliant.

Tf105 · 15 Jul 2005, 22:09 (Ref:1356560)

To me Zonta is impressive.. I now nothing bout him from previous years.. I'm comparing what I see now in what he does on fridays... He shud stick with Toyota

N I Tram · 16 Jul 2005, 11:40 (Ref:1356765)

Friday laptimes mean very little. When Zonta was Friday tester last year, he was consistantly their fastest driver; when he was racing and Briscoe testing, Ryan was fastest and Ricardo usually slowest. The Friday guys don't have to preserve the engine or tyres, so they can go for it more than the racers.

Ricardo's had his chances and done very little with any of them. I can't believe anyone would put him forward for a race drive. He'd be cheaper than Ralf but no better.

zontafan · 16 Jul 2005, 12:53 (Ref:1356792)

Quote:

Originally Posted by N I Tram

Friday laptimes mean very little. When Zonta was Friday tester last year, he was consistantly their fastest driver; when he was racing and Briscoe testing, Ryan was fastest and Ricardo usually slowest. The Friday guys don't have to preserve the engine or tyres, so they can go for it more than the racers.

Ricardo's had his chances and done very little with any of them. I can't believe anyone would put him forward for a race drive. He'd be cheaper than Ralf but no better.

i disagree i think ricardo has matured alot since his days at bar and given the chance now he would prove that all the testing experience he has gained would hold him in good sted!!

zontafan · 16 Jul 2005, 12:59 (Ref:1356796)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tf105

To me Zonta is impressive.. I now nothing bout him from previous years.. I'm comparing what I see now in what he does on fridays... He shud stick with Toyota

zontas cv

1987 : Karting debut

1988 : Curitiba Karting Championship: 2nd

1991 : Curitiba Karting Championship: 1st

1992 : Sao Paolo Karting Championship: 4th

1993 : Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship: 6th

1994 : Brazilian Formula 3: 5th

1995
: Brazilian Formula 3: 1st
South American Formula 3: 1st

1996 : European Formula 3000: 4th (2 wins)

1997 : Formula 3000: 1st (3 wins)
F1 - Tests for Jordan Grand Prix

1998 : FIA GT Championship – AMG Mercedes Benz: 1st
F1 - McLaren-Mercedes Test Driver

1999 : F1 - BAR

2000 : F1 - BAR-Honda: 13th

2001 : F1 - Jordan – Third Driver (2 races)

2002 : Telefonica World Series by Nissan – Gabord Competicion: 1st

2003 : F1 - Panasonic Toyota Racing: Third Driver

2004 : F1 - Panasonic Toyota Racing: Third Driver / Race Driver

2005 : F1 - Panasonic Toyota Racing: Test Driver

BootsOntheSide · 16 Jul 2005, 15:44 (Ref:1356855)

However well he's done outside F1, it doesn't change the fact that he's made no impression in Formula 1, and has been passed over for several drives by teams who had inside information about how fast he was.

Knowlesy · 16 Jul 2005, 20:31 (Ref:1356978)

CV's are utterly meaningless at this point in his career.

Kicking-back · 16 Jul 2005, 20:53 (Ref:1356987)

He has been in driving roles in F1, where he has been paid, for 7 of the past 8 years.

He must be doing something right.

Knowlesy · 16 Jul 2005, 21:08 (Ref:1356995)

Yes. I mean he is a respected tester. Toyota value him highly.

What I mean is, his CV alone will not move him forward now. And it won't will it?

zontafan · 17 Jul 2005, 05:11 (Ref:1357079)

who knows what next year may bring for Ricardo.............a race seat i hope

Knowlesy · 17 Jul 2005, 11:05 (Ref:1357170)

It'd be nice, but a lot of drivers would have to be overlooked before Ricardo got a seat sadly.

Still, I'd be happy if he got back in.

karimbo · 17 Jul 2005, 13:23 (Ref:1357213)

When Ricardo was at BAR he was not ALLOWED to be faster than Jacques !! Craig Pollock as the BAR team manager was being paid $800 000.00 per year, but as JV's manager he was paid 1.6Millions per year. He naturally favored Jacques over Ricardo. Zonta has been fast all his life except when he was at BAR. And when he started trying to overtake Jacques, they fired him.

I still have the newspaper with Pollock's interview saying that Panis was a good guy who would "know his role without wanting to take anyone's place in the team" ...

Remus · 18 Jul 2005, 19:03 (Ref:1357970)

For what its worth, I've always been a bit of a fan, although my racing mates don't really see it. Smooth and quick, and obviously good with feedback. Never a budding legend, but good enough to be there. I think he may not have the mental resolve to crack F1 at the highest level, but on the flip side he seemed a really nice bloke during the very briefest of meetings I had with him. I honestly think he could do a better job than Ralf if he felt the team was 100% behind him.

zontafan · 28 Jul 2005, 08:04 (Ref:1365318)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Remus

For what its worth, I've always been a bit of a fan, although my racing mates don't really see it. Smooth and quick, and obviously good with feedback. Never a budding legend, but good enough to be there. I think he may not have the mental resolve to crack F1 at the highest level, but on the flip side he seemed a really nice bloke during the very briefest of meetings I had with him. I honestly think he could do a better job than Ralf if he felt the team was 100% behind him.

i agree that ricardo could do a better job than ralf, he has had plenty of time to get over the way he was treated at pollock/villeneuve INC, and i think he is more switched on now than he has ever been, he has matured and is posting some really good times in practice.......and yes he is a very nice bloke!!!

BootsOntheSide · 28 Jul 2005, 10:32 (Ref:1365405)

I can't help but think that a comparison of his speed against Ralf is largely irrelevent. Ralf is clearly trong on the set-up side, as witnessed by Williams' loss of pace when he was out last year, and from a marketing perspective a German called Schumacher is perfect for a German-based team. My personal feeling is that Ralf is a bit better, not by enough to 'justify' his extra salary as such, but by enough to jsutify it as a percentage of what Toyota spend in a year, especially considering the intangible marketing benefits. it's a shame Formula 1 works like that, but it's a microcosm of life.

zontafan · 29 Jul 2005, 18:55 (Ref:1366807)

imo i think ricardo is faster than ralf.....yes i know he can hammer his engine but i still think given race conditions ricardo would whoop ralf ralf is there cause he is german pure and simple!! and toyota want to break into german market thats what i think!!

Marbot · 29 Jul 2005, 19:31 (Ref:1366830)

Quote of the week from Ralf today: "So we will be targeting a decent points finish again-somewhere between fourth and sixth".

So that would be fifth then Ralf.

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