Best of the test

[Tristan]

All this "LUCA IS GOD" stuff has been buzzing around for a while now.

So.... quite simply, who is the best test driver?? Are there any test drivers better than their team-mates who race?? Who would you like to see race??

[Minardi fan]

Luca Badoer is the stand-out name from the test drivers, along with the extremely talented Marc Gene, of course.

[Wrex]

Originally posted by Tristan
Are there any test drivers better than their team-mates who race?? Who would you like to see race??

Almost all of them!!!!!!

I think we have the most experienced testers in history this year.

Gene should be racing, but he's not good enough to replace a williams driver. Same for Wurz at Mac.

Mazza-pace-car should be replaced by anyone, I'm suprised the professor himself has'nt jumped in the car mid-race in disgust.

Zonta should get a drive, in a more friendly invironment than BAR (Jordan is perfect, but already has two excellent drivers).

Webber could step in on either Fisi or Button-nose and raw passion & enthusiasm would put him ahead of these two "whats the point?" drivers.

Herbert / Bernoldi, DeLaRosa / Burti (& Irvine for that matter) go without saying, Walkinshaw & Rahal must be going crazy knowing they have a more talented driver testing than driving.

As far as Luca goes, don't know much about him, but Ferrari has stepped over him a few times so far and I can't see that changing.

Barrachello on the other hand, although very fast, lacks the intelligence to race at the front. Should go back to a mid-field team and leave the winning to the real drivers. You just don't have it Rubino, I thought (hoped) you might, but face it son, you just are'nt Senna or Schumi.

[EERO]

Originally posted by Wrex

...DeLaRosa / Burti (& Irvine for that matter) go without saying, Walkinshaw & Rahal must be going crazy knowing they have a more talented driver testing than driving.

Wrex, look at it this way, everyone at Jaguar knows the car is a pig and it just might prompt Irvine to stomp off in disgust. PDLR gets to mould the team around himself, doesn't race and thus doesn't tarnish his reputation. The team can concentrate on putting together a decent car for 2002 and De La Rosa steps into a leadership role. (It works for me)

[Liz]

I would guess Rico wishes he'd taken that Sauber drive now....but he will get Trulli's seat when Flav calls him home....now if only he can resist the siren song of Prost.

Wurz will have the Gerhardt Berger role one day - he knows a heck of a lot about engines and he's a personable guy besides.

[badoer fan]

Luca Badoer obviously is the best driver in the entire world, so he's obviously better than his teammates.
Gene is nearly as good as Badoer, as shown in '99, so he should be racing too.
Mark Webber is pretty handy.
Zonta is very underrated, and gave Villeneuve a run for his money last year.
Wurz, I don't know.
I think Sarrazin is also pretty quick ('99 F3000 and Brazil '99)
I don't rate Herbert very highly at all and if he really "isn't really interested in racing" as he says, then he should get out of the car and let someone who IS interested have a go.
I don't know ANYTHING about Lemarie, does he race at all? Sato is obv very quick, and deserved to win F3 last year.
De la Rosa is quite good, but I don't rate Tomas Scheckter at all.
And finally, i believe that Andrea Piccini is someone to look out for in the future

[Minardi fan]

I agree that Sarrazin should have a race seat - but that poor season in F3000 at West really didn't help his cause .

There is no doubt at all that Badoer should be racing.

As for Lemarie, he raced in Europe last year, don't know what he's doing now - but he's a very nice chap as I met him at testing at Silverstone last year. And I would love to see Darren Manning get an F1 drive.

[RussianFriend]

Originally posted by Minardi fan


And I would love to see Darren Manning get an F1 drive.

So do I, this guy is driving for Russian F3000 team Lukoil Ardenn. Somebody give him a drive! I dream about Jacques leving the team and Darren taking his seat.