Why is Trulli still at Renault ?

[bacon sandwich]

Or in F1 at all come to that ?
Ok he did very well in qualifying for the British GP but then had yet another lacklustre race that IMO meant he finished much lower than should've been expected.
Even Martin commemted that he was having another poor race.
Having read the Fisi thread running at the mo - it struck me that yes Fisi was dumped by Renault when he is far better than Trulli ?
Is Briatore so concerned about having the whole team under his control i.e managing both Trulli and Alonso as well as the team - that he is not prepared to put TWO drivers in his cars.
Trulli has had his moments but should he still be there ?

[Mr V]

Simple. his manager is a high ranking member of the Renault team who also takes a cut of Jarno (and Fernando's) wages!

[BootsOntheSide]

I really don't know what went wrong in the second half of the race for Trulli, it was a real caser of deja vu. His raceday performances hav eofften been really sluggsh this year, and it's not good enough, no matter how well you qualify. The guy has only ever scored one podium, and that was a fluke, despite his team-mates scoring 5 in the same spell.

I used to think he was pretty good, but its now clear that he's a gutless driver who lacks the commitment to go 100%. The same applies to Ralf, but at least he's fast when the situations are right

[RWC]

Flabio dropped fisifella because of a pre-arranged contractual situation.They would have had to give him mega dollars to stay and thought it better to take a chance on cheaper drivers.
Actually if fisi had thought about it properly he should have stayed for less millions....but i guess it was difficult to predict that jordan was going to go THAT badly.
Mind you-he(fisi) should have realized the DEEP do-do he was in when it was proved that eddie lied about the ford works engine just to get his signature!!
Anyway back to jarno...he's done OK sometimes but hasn't really cut it in f1 has he.He's not the COMPLETE driver.

[Ralf's Girl]

I certainly don't think he should be at Renault - he's only there now because of Briatore, and I'm sure any other team boss would have replaced him by now. He shows flashes of being quick, and occasionally races well, but I don't rate him. If he was as good as people suggest, he would have been taken on by one of the top 3 teams and would have achieved something by now - he's been in F1 since 1997 and barely has a podium finish to his name.

[Bononi]

Uhn... the italians rate Trulli as the best italian driver in F1 for ages...

[Inigo Montoya]

I'm staying out of this....

[ralf fan]

Trulli can be brilliant over a single lap but he is just not consistent enough over 60 to 70 laps of a race . Alonso has scored 90% of the points at Renault so I think they could be better off without Jarno.

[Bononi]

Originally posted by Inigo Montoya
I'm staying out of this....

I know I would caught your attention I was hoping you or climb to confirm this...

[Mr V]

Originally posted by Bononi
Uhn... the italians rate Trulli as the best italian driver in F1 for ages...

Originally posted by Inigo Montoya
I'm staying out of this....

Inigo, i admire your restraint my friend

[Hugh Jarce]

Even so, I wonder how things would have panned out last Sunday if it had not been for 'David's' car falling to bits and the Nutty Irishman.

He seemed to be building a bit of a lead during the first stint while the other key players were being held up in the pack.

I honestly think a podium could have been possible for Trulli, were it not for the above 'sillies'.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by Hugh Jarce
Even so, I wonder how things would have panned out last Sunday if it had not been for 'David's' car falling to bits and the Nutty Irishman.

I honestly believe that he wouldn't have got on the podium. Lets not forget that David was also involved in his car falling apart (obviously), which called for a long stop, but still managed to get himself back upto 5th position. (although it would have been 6th had Alonso's car not given up the ghost).

[Hugh Jarce]

Hi Matie! Trust all is well!

True, but he was pulling away - which is a rare thing, so if he could have got more of a 'buffer'!

Anyway! I guess its all a bit immaterial!

I still think he will survive! I was not so sure when FA was getting so far ahead earlier in the season, but it does not seem such a stark contrast now.

[Inigo Montoya]

Originally posted by Bononi
I know I would caught your attention I was hoping you or climb to confirm this...

Too many years in Canada - I am out of touch... Climb would surely know the general feeling towards Trulli in Italy . My opinion - he is not in the same league as Fisico...

Sorry V-man, couldn't resist the plug for my man Giancarlo...

[Hugh Jarce]

I agree Inigo.

A Fisi-Alonso partnership would have been great and IMO would have been more productive in points for RenO!

[DriverT]

I think Trulli is good over one lap, but over a race distance just doesn't cut it. It's as if he gets bored, thinking of how he'll spend the millions of dollars he is paid...

[cos]

Originally posted by DriverT
I think Trulli is good over one lap, but over a race distance just doesn't cut it.

Ah, one of those clichés that never goes away, no matter whether they are true or not. Like "Michelins work well in warm conditions." Trulli's driven some great races; a couple of tiems from the back of the grid to finish in the points, and don't forget Europe '99.

[DriverT]

Yes, OK, that's THREE races. Doesn't exactly disprove my "Cliche" does it?

[cos]

Trulli's 2003 season:

Australia: from 12th to 5th
Malaysia: 2nd to 5th after 1st corner incident
Brazil: 5th to 8th after he dropped back early in the race due to an incident with Ralf
San Marino: 16th to 13th after having to use the T-car which was not set up for him
Spain: qualified 4th, hit by DC at start, DNF
Austria: 6th to 8th
Monaco: 4th to 6th
Canada: qualified 8th, hit by Alonso and TC failed in race
Europe: qualified 6th, DNF in race whilst in points, fuel pressure problem
France: qualified 6th, retired (engine) whilst in points
Britain: qualified 2nd, finsihed 6th after all the safety cars.

So really he's not that bad, apart from perhaps Austria and Monaco he's done his best to make up places in the race where others haven't "interfered."

[BootsOntheSide]

I think you'll find Trulli started 5th in Australia. I think msot people saw the Sapin incident as being Jarno's fault. Also, he was 'in the points' in Germnay and France, but wasn't on for any kind of strong result. And he'd already dropped back in Brazil befor ethe incident with Ralf.

[LindaC]

Originally posted by bacon sandwich
Or in F1 at all come to that ?
Ok he did very well in qualifying for the British GP but then had yet another lacklustre race that IMO meant he finished much lower than should've been expected.
Even Martin commemted that he was having another poor race.
Having read the Fisi thread running at the mo - it struck me that yes Fisi was dumped by Renault when he is far better than Trulli ?
Is Briatore so concerned about having the whole team under his control i.e managing both Trulli and Alonso as well as the team - that he is not prepared to put TWO drivers in his cars.
Trulli has had his moments but should he still be there ?

Martin always comments he is having a poor race......he doesn't like him for some reason.

Funny how Martin makes allowances for other drivers......the tyres, the balance of the car etc., but never gives Jarno this beneficence.

At Silverstone Jarno's car was perfect when he was leading the race, and pulling away from the McLaren. His race was stuffed by first DC chucking his headrest out of the car, and then the idiot going for a jog down Hangar Straight. After his first stop, the car became unbalanced and......don't forget.....Jarno was on the softest tyre compound. His lap times were still on a par with Fernando's.

If you look at the previous 2 races, Jarno was quicker than Fernando most of the time and if you check the lap times in all the races, you will find that their times are comparable. Fernando has had the better breaks, that's the main difference when it comes to results.

Renault F1 rate Jarno very highly, in terms of speed (Allan McNish says "blindingly quick"), technical feedback, commitment, and general contribution to the team.That's why he's there and will be there in 2004.

Jarno is much more of a team player than Fisichella, who has spent the season slagging off his team. When Jarno was at Jordan in 2001, driving the pig of an EJ11, in a similar situation with no development on the car, not once did he publicly berate the team, while doing his best to stay positive and motivate from behind the scenes.

If I was choosing a driver, I know who I'd prefer.......

[LindaC]

Originally posted by Ralf's Girl
I certainly don't think he should be at Renault - he's only there now because of Briatore, and I'm sure any other team boss would have replaced him by now. He shows flashes of being quick, and occasionally races well, but I don't rate him. If he was as good as people suggest, he would have been taken on by one of the top 3 teams and would have achieved something by now - he's been in F1 since 1997 and barely has a podium finish to his name.

What......like Fisichella?????

[BootsOntheSide]

Trulli has one podium, from 4 years in strong teams.

Fisichella has one (fluke) win as well as many podiums - Belgium 1997 and 2001 come to mind as his best drives. His qualfiying record isn't shabby either, especially when compared ot team-mates.

[LindaC]

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
I really don't know what went wrong in the second half of the race for Trulli, it was a real caser of deja vu. His raceday performances hav eofften been really sluggsh this year, and it's not good enough, no matter how well you qualify. The guy has only ever scored one podium, and that was a fluke, despite his team-mates scoring 5 in the same spell.

Most podiums are a fluke when you are outside a top 3 team.

You can't get flukier than Alonso's podium in Brazil......how DID he keep that result?

And Fisichella's win in the same race is another good example of a flukey result.

Apart from this year's results, where Jarno has probably lost 2 podiums due to other drivers driving into him (MS in Malaysia and DC in Spain....50/50 at worst that one as JT didn't actually change direction), and maybe even a third at Silverstone when incidents ruined his race.. in Brazil 2000, HHF was 3rd and Jarno 4th, and in Indianapolis 2000, Jarno was first hit by Button and then retired with a gearbox problem, so that was hardly a level playing field!

[LindaC]

Originally posted by mr v
I honestly believe that he wouldn't have got on the podium. Lets not forget that David was also involved in his car falling apart (obviously), which called for a long stop, but still managed to get himself back upto 5th position. (although it would have been 6th had Alonso's car not given up the ghost).

DC was very lucky to get such a good result after his awful qualifying, mainly as a result of the second safety car. And his car didn't just "fall apart"....that headrest should have been checked by the team, surely? Maybe they should have penalised for that.....