If everyone drove a Minardi...

[Wrex]

I've read alot of posts that suggest TGF, Mika & co only win races (& championships) because of the car they are in.

Hypothetically speaking, if Minardi were the only team on the grid last year (all 22 cars) with all the 2000 drivers, how would the top ten in the championship have looked. Would TGF have still come out on top or would Gene, Button or JV have been champ.

Considerations should include:

1. Ability to get the most out of the car
2. Consistancy
3. Ability to qualify or pass during races

(Assuming no team orders are ever given)

Would love to hear your thoughts..............

[Splatz]

Thank God, someone with a sensible view on this issue, and you've captured it so well with this hypathetical question.

You are sure to cause fireworks with the answers. So to set the first ones off, here are my thoughts.

1 TGF
2 JV
3 Mika
4 Coulthard
5 Ralf
6 Panis
7 Barrichello
8 Bunsen
9 Gene
10 Irvine

I am proud to announce I consulted no records of the 2000 season, just my gut feelings.

[Valve Bounce]

To be realistic, Minardi would be pushing to get three cars on the grid, so Minardi would qualify for the front row, and in the event that two of the cars make it to the finish, which is quite likely as Minardi were not really unreliable, then two Minardis would be on the podium.

[Minardi fan]

1. Alesi
2. Mika H
3. TGF
4. Jacques
5. Frentzen
6. Ralf
7. Button
8. Gene
9. Salo
10. De La Rosa

[Ralf's Girl]

1. TGF
2. Mika
3. Villeneuve
4. Ralf
5. Coulthard
6. Button
7. Frentzen
8. Barrichello
9. Fisichella
10. de la Rosa

[EERO]

Yet another "Who's the Best" variation.

Ralf's girl, i pretty much agree with your list, though I question Fisi and wonder about the absence of Alesi.

M-Fan, Why do you persist in championing that Blow-hard Salo? I admit that he has his good days-but the bad ones come more frequently. Despite his near-win at Hockenheim in 1999 (Followinf Hakkinen's DNF), he did little else during his stint at Ferrari.

[Airhead]

Excellent topic isn't it.

If everyone drove a Minardi (at the present rate) we would all watch nothing next year.

Ralf's Girl - come on baby, Ralf at 4rth place???? Over rated, over paid and thankfully over there. Will he win a GP, let alone a WDC?

EERO,

Salo is regretably very regretable. Win one GP in a Ferarri and you get the booby prize on a year with some Swiss Team.

[EERO]

Originally posted by AMoffat
Excellent topic isn't it.


EERO,

Salo is regretably very regretable. Win one GP in a Ferarri and you get the booby prize on a year with some Swiss Team.

'ceptin' he didn't win a race. Given his consistency in some pretty mediocre cars, his Deal for Toyota looks like a good bet. I always thought Lehto was a lot better and deserved the chances Salo got.

[Dino IV]

Easy ...

Results Minardi WDC 2000:
1. Trulli
2. Fisichella
3. Alesi

After that the sub-top:
Hakkinen, Schumacher, Zonta, Villeneuve

Followed by some plain good drivers:
Herbert, Button, Heidfeld, de la Rosa

Then the midfield dudes:
Coulthard, Wurz, Frentzen, Barrichello, Salo, Verstappen, Gene

Finally trailed by the backmarkers:
Diniz, Ralf, Mazzacane

Questions like this makes you wonder how some teams are being run ...

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally posted by AMoffat
Ralf's Girl - come on baby, Ralf at 4rth place???? Over rated, over paid and thankfully over there. Will he win a GP, let alone a WDC?

And you base that on what, precisely? Because you're sure not basing it on the facts.

[ireshad]

More likely along the lines of

Race abandonded

1. Trulli 20 laps DNF
2. Fisichella 19 laps DNF
3. Alesi 16 laps DNF
4. Hakkinen, 12 laps DNF
5. Schumacher, 11 laps DNF....

you get the idea.

[Orange]

Hold on, was the question if everything were technically equal, and results were based merely on setup skill and driving ability, or if literally everyone raced with a 2000 spec Minardi?? the two are different things, and it might be a good idea to differentiate. If everyone simply drove a Minardi, an average of 20-some laps would give us a winner due to the amount of DNFs. If however, F1 became a faster, more powerfull F3000, and everyone drove with the same chassis and motor, I think TGF, JV, Mika, and Button would rule the roost.

[Minardi fan]

Excuuuuuse me, Minardi didn't have THAT many dnf's in 2000. The engine started letting them down towards the end of the season though.

[Orange]

Thanks for the unbiased fact check, courtesy of
Renault Jr, er, Minardi Fan

[Minardi fan]

[Bononi]

Minardi huhn ? Why not a Prost ? That would be much harder to find out who's above the rest... I think FIA should level all the cars the same. Would it be F1 ??

[Liz]

If everyone drove the 2000 Minardi with a reliable engine - thus winning and finishing solely on driving ability, team savvy and no help from Max'n'Bernie regarding hazy interpretation of impossible rules ---

1. Alesi
2. Jacques
3. TGF
4. Jos
5. Rubens
6. Trulli
7. Frenzy
8. Cranky Mika
9. DC
10. de la Rosa

There are no more exciting guys to watch wring the neck of a car, than Jacques and Jean. In fact I'd love to see them teammates - but not with Craig Pollock in charge. Teammates on a level playing field. Heck, why not teammates in a Panoz at Le Mans? They'd have lapped the whole field by dinner time and laugh all the way home.

[stubert]

1. M Schumacher

2. Hakkinen

3. Villeneuve

4. Alesi

5. Trulli

6. Barrichello

7. Frentzen

8. R Schumacher

9. Coulthard

10. Button



The first 3 I feel good about the rest hard to say. Could put the last 7 in about any order. Button has a chance to be a very good driver but only time will tell. Alesi is very agressive and fun to watch but his ars haven't given him much of a chance. He always gets on a team at the wrong time. I'm ready for the new seson to start.

[senna12]

1. Jacques
2. TGF
3. Trulli
4. Mika
5. Frentzen
6. Fisi
7. Button
8. Panis
9. Rubens
10. Ralf

[Don K]

1. Michael
2. Fisichella
3. Ralf
4. Rubens
5. Verstappen
6. Gene
7. Salo
8. Trulli
9. De la Rosa
10. Frentzen

[robert2000]

Surely the Minardi drivers would come out near the top because they would be accustomed to the car and would know the limits whereas other drivers would have to get to know the car and find the limits.

[Jay]

If everyone drove a Minardi, almost noone would finish the race! But then again...

1. M. Schumacher
2. Villeneuve
3. Hakkinen
4. Coulthard
5. R. Schumacher
6. Fissichella
7. Trulli
8. Button (but moving up)


and I can't go any further than that.

[Bononi]

Here we go again :

1. Michael Schumacher
2. Mika Hakkinen
3. David Coulthard
4. Rubens Barrichello
5. Ralf Schumacher
6. Giancarlo Fisichella
7. Jacques Villeneuve
8. Jenson Button
9. Heinz-Harald Frentzen
10. Jarno Trulli
11. Mika Salo
12. Jos Verstappen
13. Eddie Irvine
14. Ricardo Zonta
15. Alexander Wurz
16. Pedro de la Rosa

Believe me, this is what would happen.

[Dino IV]

Originally posted by Ralf's Girl

And you base that on what, precisely? Because you're sure not basing it on the facts.

I already explained the same in another thread, Ralf's Girl. All you could reply with was 'rubbish'. Maybe you could find some more vital arguments this time to explain me (and AMoffat probably as well) why you think Ralf is as good as you think he is ...

[EERO]

Dino, I'll take a stab at it as I agree with Ralf's Girl. I have explained this before, but I sincerely believe to be one of the more talented drivers on the grid, whoselack of wins in F1 is attributable to the fact that he hasn't driven a front rank-car.
In '97, as Fisichella's teammate at Jordan, he seemesd far too impetuous and there were times I really didn't believe he would survive-his move on Herbert at Monza was the most egregious event of an incident prone season.
However, paired with Hill, whose career was already in decline the following season, he acquited himself well and in contrast to his brother's tempermental outburst at Spa, drove a measured race, followed team orders and brought his car home ahead of "Regenmeister" Alesi in dreadful conditions to give Jordan a One/two.
The following year at Wiliams, he far outshone Zanardi, about whom I remain convinced is not so awful as his efforts seemed. Saddled with the uncompetitive Superdreck engines, his performance at Williams in 1999 far surpassed the performances of JV and HHF from the previous year. Ralfie was robbed of a skilled win in a difficult GP of Europe following a blown tire, before DC and Fisi threw their opportunities away, eventually cedng the win to a deserving Herbert.
As I have stated on several occaissions, both Atlas and F1 Racing, recognising the withering domination of McLaren and Ferrari this past season, point out that in their hypothetical absence, Ralf would have been WDC by a wide margin. Not having had the advantage of driving for either of the two teams which so dominated the results of this past season, he was denied an opportunity to show his true worth to those who look no deeper than the first three places in the Results. I am convinced his time will come and that he will be the driver to bring BMW-Williams their first win.

What impresses me the most is his ability to grow and learn-The arrogant "accident-looking-for-a-place-to-happen" of 1997 has matured into a carefull, thinking yet still quick driver.