TGF making too many mistakes

[R]

From where I was sitting TGF made too many mistakes today. He was lucky (competent?) not to stall it when he slid sideways on the track, and after that he was in the gravel.

Compare that to David Coulthard, who drove a perfect race. What's happened to the old rain-master TGF? Today DC was clearly better under these conditions. Is TGF feeling to much pressure, is that what's pushing him to make these mistakes?

[Jeanburrasca81]

They were both explaining it in the interviews. Easy explanation. DC was driving a car set up for semi-wet conditions. TGF for dry conditions. With a car set up for a dry race nothing helps on the wet track.

[Tristan]

But still that's no excuse, Schumi. Although I'm not the biggest DC fan in the world (!) the better man won today (even if it transpires he was a little lucky with the weather)

[Valve Bounce]

Go to Atls, and read the thread by Shabby "The real MS story" It expains everything - it as on German digital TV, and ......... just check it out for yourself.

[Valve Bounce]

"The car was ****!", that's what TGF told Mika in the tunnel on the way up to the podium. It was all on digital TV.

[Wrex]

I think we have to remember these drivers are just that, drivers - not GODS. Everone can make mistakes, very easy with 800+ Hp and a wet road. I don't think shumi should be written off just yet, but congrats to DC - great drive

[kuchi]

I think TGF made no mistakes, or at least not very big ones. The car was not set up for raining conditions, and that is not an excuse. Plus I think there was something wrong with the tyre selection in ferrari, does anyone knows which compound were they using, and McLaren?. At the end it turned out well for him, because he went two times off-track, and he controlle the car and avoided the engine to stall. TGF, no matter how much I hate you, it wasn't your fault.

[Marshal]

Micheal has always made too many mistakes, he's just exceptional at getting away with them......

[Gt_R]

Well, sure he does, many mistakes indeed?!!? NOT!
830bhp, wet conditions, intermediates on very wet road, plus a dry set up... In case you did not watch carefully, MS is not the only driver to spin...in fact, many cars which are on full wets spun too.
And well, DC had a semi-wet setup with equal tires. Setup do count for alot... And he made the right setup choice.

[RussianFriend]

Thank God, he is doing. Just imaginate how interesting the racing would be if he was perfect!!!!

[Dino IV]

Marshal is right. TGF seldom makes no mistakes.

[Marshal]

Now, please, I don't want to get into a slanging match here. All I'm saying, is when you compare Micheal to the other all time greats (because he is, undoubtedly, an all time great) he seems to make more mistakes than the others (Senna, Prost, Stewart, Clark, Moss, Fangio). But having made a mistake, he almost always handles the resulting incident brilliantly, minimising the negative consequences to himself.

GT_R, I agree entirely that plenty of others made mistakes too, but then, they aren't as good as Micheal are they?

The other point, about DC being on compromise settings, is well made, but we should all be praising DC for a fantastic drive in the first half of the race to stay in close touch with the two in front of him, when they had ideal dry settings on their cars.

[Dino IV]

I don't either, Marshall. I just felt the same, so I kept it brief.

[ttc]

Originally posted by Marshal
Now, please, I don't want to get into a slanging match here. All I'm saying, is when you compare Micheal to the other all time greats (because he is, undoubtedly, an all time great) he seems to make more mistakes than the others (Senna, Prost, Stewart, Clark, Moss, Fangio). But having made a mistake, he almost always handles the resulting incident brilliantly, minimising the negative consequences to himself.

GT_R, I agree entirely that plenty of others made mistakes too, but then, they aren't as good as Micheal are they?

The other point, about DC being on compromise settings, is well made, but we should all be praising DC for a fantastic drive in the first half of the race to stay in close touch with the two in front of him, when they had ideal dry settings on their cars.

Right. As much as it was true that MS made quite a few mistakes, it should not overshadow the fact that DC did drive a MAGNIFICANT drive in keeping up with the Ferrari and BMWWilliams in the first half of the race. That's definitely one of his better race.

[Liz]

Well speaking from the Montoya Is God booth, I will also add that perhaps TGF was feeling the hot breath of the future down his backbone as a guy in his third race, who had no awe or worship for him and said so to anyone who would listen, made him look like Aunt Polly on her way home from Sunday Service...and it seemed to me that he never recovered from that shock.

I'm hoping to see lots more of the same!

And I also would paraphrase Norbert Haug, who observed , "Whenever Michael has a bad race, he's always got an excuse. But the fact is that David drove a good race today."

[R]

Liz, you do crack me up!! Aunt Polly! lol!

I think Marshal summed it up perfectly. TGF makes mistakes, but he's also the master of correcting it when he's got it wrong. Especially that sideways slide. How many of the other drivers wouldn't just have stalled it on such an occasion?

[Valve Bounce]

Originally posted by shabby
Hi,

some thoughts on the MS discussions. On DF1, german digital TV, they always make race analysis with Ross Brawn on the TV in the Ferrari Box as guest. Ross said that Michael complained about bad handling and vibrations in the car and he was about 1 second slower than in warmup and could barely keep up with Montoya. MS and Ross talked about this during the race and decided that perhaps this is down to the tyres and they decided to do an early pit-stop to swap tyres and get rid of the problems. MS would have been able to run in clean air with his old speed.

However the pit-stop did not change things and during the rain the car got totally undriveable, Ross that something that it could be down to the differential.

A funny part was when the DF1 cameraman followed the drivers up to the podium (yes, they follow them into the tunnels from the cars to the podium) and Mika was asking Michael what was up and why he was so slow (yes, you could understand all of it). MS replied that the car in te rain was "like a piece of $hit". The DF1 commentators found that rather funny

Anyway, all of this should not weaken Coulthards strong performance, I think both the car and MS himself had not a good day.

Ah, yes, one more thing, Ross actually did not say it directly but he said something to the effect that MS was already having this problems with the car on the warm up lap, when he really had them, i guess he wanted to switch to the T-Car and was pi$$ed off that RB had occupied it!! Could be.

Ok, my first post moking:

[Jay]

He had a bad race. This would not be the first one.

[EERO]

Frankly, I've had the same thought about Schumacher's mistakes and had thought of posting something to that effect for awhile. This is the perfect opportunity.

Of course he makes mistakes-what astonishes me are his remarkable recoveries from them. He is NOT infallible, he is both very lucky and very skillful at mimimizing the damage from his errors.
Yesterdays slide in the wet could have been much worse, instead, he pirouetted to a graceful stop, kept the engine running and kept going. How about in Malaysia as both he and Barrichello spun off on Panis' oil-he kept the thing going and then sat in the pits behind Barrichello as the Brazilian's car was being serviced. He lost a minute and a half, and yet kept himself off the race track during the worst of the Monsoon. Maybe he should not have pitted when he did, but tit proved to be a fortuitous error.

His spin in the late stages at Indy last year was a carless mistake with no ramifications. In Argentina in '98, after punting DC off the track, he went off in the wet and after takinbg the long way around the escape road, rejoined in the lead. Now with Montoya, he faces some one who can really exploit his mistakes. Schuey does err under pressure.

DC drove a flawless race and set up the car perfectly for the race.

[Valve Bounce]

Actually DC's race had me on edge, especially his driving in the rain. He was right on the ragged edge, and totally in control. I was most impressed. When he is good, he is really good. (PLease do not add the obvious refrain to that).

[Liz]

Yes, TGF does recover beautifully from a lot of his mistakes. As I've said before, although I did not have any particular affection for Senna, frequently his car control left me bug-eyed, and I had to admit I was impressed. The huge slide in malaysia and that sideways move in Brazil were bug eyed moments for sure, and good for TGF that he could correct them so well.

But there is luck involved there too - in both cases no one was able to get close enough to him to cause him any trouble. Think of Verstappen barreling around the turn with his eyes closed, or changing the radio station, or whatever he does when he forgets where he is ...

It will be fun to see how he and Montoya push each other, as Eero says, Montoya can exploit TGF's mistakes, and the pressure to make no mistakes may lead to ... mistakes that Montoya can exploit.

Isn't it great to know that once again we have a chance to see the men separated from the boys on the track?

I love it.

[Valve Bounce]

Don't write off the MacLaren duo yet! It wasn't by chance that DC won, and it was really bad strategy for Mika to have such an early pit stop!! Spain will see a different contest between the top three makes.

[Valve Bounce]

OK. Here is the interview I was telling you about.

http://www.glorious.de/stuff/pos_big.mpg

Hope you guys enjoy it.

[downforce]

Whoa!
Looks like Ive been backing the wrong 'Schu-beaters' this year!
Amazing DC!Even more amazing Juan!!

"It will be fun to see how he and Montoya push each other, as Eero says, Montoya can exploit TGF's mistakes, and the pressure to make no mistakes may lead to ... mistakes that Montoya can exploit.

Isn't it great to know that once again we have a chance to see the men separated from the boys on the track?"

Yeah!!...I really am DAMN impressed with Montoya's cool calm presence, for a rookie he doesnt chin-wag too much.
Itll be very interesting to see Schuey handle him for the rest of this season...cool.[however i hope that move isnt the same as Wurz in Monaco98!!]

"Yes, TGF does recover beautifully from a lot of his mistakes. As I've said before, although I did not have any particular affection for Senna, frequently his car control left me bug-eyed, and I had to admit I was impressed. The huge slide in malaysia and that sideways move in Brazil were bug eyed moments for sure, and good for TGF that he could correct them so well."

When i saw Michael hold that Brazilian slide i thought to myself "if it was Hakka he would have 'walled' it!!"

2001 will be AWESOME if Jacques+Mika+Juan+Ralf+Olivier attack the Schu!...btw hes taking the title come what may!

ps: for those who are interested Deep Purple was awesome lastnite, rite here LIVE in Bangalore!!!!

[Raoul Duke]

Originally posted by downforce

2001 will be AWESOME if Jacques+Mika+Juan+Ralf+Olivier attack the Schu!.

I couldn't agree more. But I think Bar might have a bit of work to do, to catch up. But Williams really seem up there with the "big boys".

Since 1997, I dreamed of the day where Ralf would be a contender for race wins. And now it seems as though that time has finally arrived.

GO RALF!!!!!