Irvine can go to...

[slicktoast]

MINARDI.! Is there anything to the rumors about Irvine being dropped at Jaguar and then moving to Minardi? Is that what Stoddart was really hinting at when he said experienced and a surprise? Yikes!

[Maximum F1]

I doubt it, we all know what Irvine is like about money and toys and yaughts. I don't think he'd have a lot of these things at minardi!
--------------------------------
Maximum F1

[Ralf's Girl]

Irvine isn't good enough for Minardi.

[EERO]

He's a good enough driver, but as he's getting a little long in the tooth, I cannot imagine he has many years left in F1.
I do wonder about his motivation though. He seems to clearly love the glamour of the lifestyle, but I wonder whether he really loves driving.

[Valve Bounce]

I did post on another thread that some drivers who fancy themselves as possible WDC's could actually lose their seats at the end of the year, and Eddie was one that I had in mind. There are some very talented youngsters waiting in the wings, some with sponsorship to pay for their ride, and all teams can do with more inflowof cash and less outgoings. A place has to be made for PDLR next year, and he brings cash to the team. The there is Ricardo Zonta, Junqueira, and so on. My opinion is that the team will offer to retain Eddie with a huge pay cut and when he declines, they will just let him go.

[fudge]

Irvine has promised much and delivered little, maybe he has had little chance to do better with team orders and an unreliable car, I don't think there will be a long future for him in F1 as a driver.

[Liz]

'Bye Eddie. Don't let the door hit you at the other end from where Senna hit you.

Pompous twit. And let him be a lesson to Bunsen to pipe down until he's delivered some results.

[Valve Bounce]

Liz - this is a very interesting point about the Bunsen. There is some likelihood that Benneton may not perform well this year with the Renault engine not fully sorted out. IF, and I say if, this is the case, the performance of both Fisi and the Bunsen will be mediocre, and this in turn could seriously affect the prospect of one of these drivers for next year.

[Airhead]

Hi Valve,

If the car is poor (say like last years Prost) then both drivers should also perform poorly. It does somewhat get back to the situation for all drivers where person you must first beat is your team mate.

Fisi and Jenson will be judged foremost on the performance of each other. This has been the problem for Eddie and the current problem for Rubens. Being TGW's team mate is surely the kiss of death to a career. Ruben's believes it is OK for him because he will out last TGW, but I bet Eddie thought the same.

Eddie seems to have the talent, but not the application. If he can blame the car then it's alright to be mediocre. When the car can't be blamed? It's time for someone with nothing to loose, hence they go for the talented child, Kimmi, Jenson, who will be next?

[Valve Bounce]

Somebody much younger, has much greater future potential, and costs a helluva lot less. Somebody with a big opinion of himself, and a high salary really has very few options if his team decides to let him go. I do feel sorry for Fisi because I think that if the Renault was sorted out, Bebeton could be a much better team than they are now. Jenson is young, is relatively cheap to feed, and did show great potential last year.

[Liz]

I'm not saying Bunsen has no talent on the track - my opinions of him have never been grounded in disrespect for his driving ability, which I recognize is good - however, with young Alonso appararently at least as competent as either Fisi or Bunsen, and also a modest and well-mannered boy who is concentrating on his driving and not on his personal line of merchandise and auditioning for a new girl friend... and with Sir Frank having two very good pilots already in the Williams seats ... if I were Mr. Bunsen I'd spend the year trying to wring the best I could out of that car and preserving my options, lest I end up like Eddie, the guy left standing when the music stops. (Perhaps Burti is no Prost and Lauda doesn't even recognise him when he sees him, but he is a lot cheaper and less contentious than Eddie, and doesn't diss the team in public.)

If Eddie starts talking about going to Champ Cars, somebody point him toward the IRL. That is his destiny, to race with Eddie Cheever on the "All Hat and No Cattle" team.

[EERO]

The other issue to bear in mind about Bunsen and Fisi is that is the Benetton is a dog, Jenson will be be forgiven one mediocre year and Fisi will find himself in Italian Touring Cars.

Irvine has to be to thinking that the end is near anyway, better to go out ****ing everyone off than to go out graciously so that you are welcomed back as a guest in your geriatric years.

[Neil C]

Originally posted by EERO
better to go out ****ing everyone off than to go out graciously so that you are welcomed back as a guest in your geriatric years.

hee hee...I have visions of Eddie as the A.J. Foyt of F1. Except A.J. actually won once in a while.

[Tristan]

I actually think EI is one of the most underrated dirvers on the F1 grid and puts in far more effort than most people give him credit. He is one of the best in the business at reading and interpreting telemetry and statistics to his driving and is a guy with great talent and, amazingly, cosistency. Far from the wild child image he has built up around him. Next year he REALLY must answer his critics or else he may well find himself dumped from the Jag. That's if he hasn't jumped already......

[Liz]

He's already been told to shut up by everyone on the team. I wonder if he'll eventually undestand the meaning of "Shut Up"?

Naaah.

True, Lauda never learned that either. But Lauda won championships.

That gives a man some slack.

At least in the first race of the season, Nick has shown that he hasn't suffered much from a year in a diecast. Even Alesi is saying now that he didn't REALLY hate his teammate.... You can survive a year in a bad car if you follow it with a good year in your next car.

[Holly]

Originally posted by Liz
'Bye Eddie. Don't let the door hit you at the other end from where Senna hit you.

Pompous twit. And let him be a lesson to Bunsen to pipe down until he's delivered some results.

Couldn't have put it better myself! In both cases!

[Mania]

Eddie Irvine promised to get even with Jacques Villeneuve on Saturday after the Canadian held him up on a fast lap in qualifying for the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix.

"He drove down the back straight with me right behind him, turned in the last corner like normal, held me up and then went into the pits," said the Jaguar driver.

"His eyes seem to work for him going ahead, I'm sure they work when you're behind as well."

Villeneuve qualified his British American Racing (BAR) in seventh place on the grid for Sunday's race while Irvine was two rows behind him in 12th.

The Canadian acknowledged after the race that he had held up Irvine and offered his apologies.

But the Northern Irishman, who declared that a man of Villeneuve's experience should know better, was in no mood to accept a conciliatory handshake.

"He came down but I didn't see him, there's no point," he said. "There's no apology for that.

"The only thing that works for that is revenge."

Irvine suggested that Villeneuve, who started the season with an accident in the Australian Grand Prix that killed a race marshal, should watch out later in the season.



Courtesy AtlasF1 -

Oh well - here goes Eddie
..I should add....AGAIN!

[neutral]

I also beleive that JV needs some on track disciplining. Nothing harmful, but being a mobie chicane when being lapped by JV would be adequate.

[Jay]

And they say that Jacques has a big mouth....

Eddie is just blowing more steam out of his arse the way he has in the past.

He'll be quite after his car quits, or he crashes halfway through tomorrows race.

[Schumacher]

Irvine and Villunerve have a lot in common. They both have big mouths. In this case though, I think Eddie is right. The best way to pay back a driver is on the track, it happens all the time in CART. Besides Villunerve seems to be getting away with a lot these days. Anyway, I like reading what Eddie has to say, it's always good for a laugh.

[Jay]

Besides Villunerve seems to be getting away with a lot these days.

Care to explain?

I find it strange how you consider "I'll get you back" better than "I'm sorry".

[Schumacher]

Originally posted by Jay


Care to explain?

I find it strange how you consider "I'll get you back" better than "I'm sorry".

Certainly. I think Villernerve has always complained and lashed out at other drivers who held him up during qualifying or during the race itself. He's never considered whether they had made an honest mistake or whether they were blocking him on purpose. He's pretty much always believed the worst and run his mouth. Now the shoe is on the other foot. The next time, Eddie or any anyone else holds him up, it'll hopefully teach him a lesson.

Point being, a "sorry" doesent really mean much does it? I mean, your run is ruined, and perhaps even your qualifying and therefore possibly your race. So, a simple "sorry" would'nt cut it for me. After all this is F1, not a school playground.

[Jay]

Eddie and his team admitted that Jacques probably had not affect on their final qualifying position. Every year almost every pilot will be held up in qualifying at one time or another. It is not a big deal.

Jacques, like every other pilot has complained at various points throughout his career that he had been held up. In fact, I can't remember another driver ever apologizing for holding someone up. So why is Eddie lashing out for revenge?

My guess is that he is just looking for any excuse for Jaguar's poor performance, other than the car sucks.

[Liz]

Zonta apologized (under compulsion) in WRITING for something Jacques objected to, which was in fact an honest if optimistic overtaking attempt not unlike those his teammate had and has attempted on many occasions. Jacques' response was to call him an idiot in a public press conference.

Frenzy and Trulli have both apologized for getting in the way of other pilots, and I have Jean Alesi on tape in 1993 n incoherent apology for running someone off the track.

Usually it's an honest mistake and if you don't make a habit of it, sorry should be the proper answer.

[Jay]

I forgot about the Villeneuve-Zonta thing. Which to me looked like a simple honest mistake. JV can be a bit of a hypocrite sometimes...