rec.autos.simulators

He didn't, but the people at Williams have got computers. Says so on the
side of their cars, if you hadn't noticed.

Read my reply again, I never suggested he had. It would have been very
difficult if not impossible to pass RB on the track, so they made the most
of what they had: consistent tyres over 20 laps. JPM knows whether he's
using up his stuff to hang on and, likewise, how much of his stuff RB is
using.

Perhaps they weren't prepared to max out the engine mapping this early in
the race. A DNF at this race because of an engine failure would have been
bad press at this venue. Perhaps *he* had a bad set of tyres or a flat spot
from the lock-up in qualifying. But, honestly, I don't know. Does Montoya
need to justify not passing a competitor to us?

Obviously he could go around 110% lap after lap, but there's no way either
the tyres, the car or Montoya himself can keep that up for an entire race.
He has to pick his moments and, together with the team, I think he picked
them well.

Indeed... no need to disturb the airflow over the front wing and kill those
front tyres he'll be needing to push passed RB.

So? -His teammate (a German) is leading the GP (in Germany) and he is secure
in 2nd place. BMW will not appreciate racing between the teammates here,
especially if it leads to an accident or even just mechanical problems for
either car. JPM is thinking job security at this point.

Not necessarily. Depends how much lateral tyre capacity is called for in the
turn leading up to the straight. F1 cars, like all cars, corner and stop
better than they accellerate. A tyre that no longer has the capacity to
deliver what is required to do the former, might still allow maximum
accelleration. You'll notice JPM ran up at the exit of a fast bend and
carried his speed advantage through the kink leading up to the Dunlop turn.

Wind people who don't like rabid RS fans up, I guess? <g>

Hehehe... I take it you didn't see the video of the paddock incident with
the cameraman?

The poor decision maker in the incident with MS was MS. JPM didn't give MS
and inch, true, but then MS is the kind of guy you don't give an inch to.
Because you can bet your life on him taking it (and the next foot if he sees
the opportunity).

Can't make omelet without breaking eggs. This is what F1 drivers do...
breaking someone else's car slowly in order to win a race.

F1's are too fragile for the "CART" JPM and he's not caught on fast enough.
Perhaps he won't before the Williams stops being a competitive car or he's
fired. Perhaps he never will. We'll have to wait and see.

To answer your second question: no, RS is, IMO, less of a natural than his
older brother and JPM.

Jan.
=---

Glenn

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Eldred
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- Ralf started 3rd.
- He passed MS to move into 2nd because he was on the good side of the grid
(almost everybody on the left made places on the start).
- Kimi retired, moving Ralf into 1st.

Compare that to passing the best driver in a series which is notorious for
its overtaking problems.

By the way, once again, well done to David Coulthard for yet another excuse
for getting the sack from McLaren.

- He started 9th
- He gained 4 places due to 2 spins and 2 retirements
- ITV (aka the DC fan club) praise his 'excellent' drive to 5th place
- He came up behind a wounded car, knew that not being able to pass it would
be a very bad reflection on him as a driver, so he had a go and screwed up.
- Crashed out, giving his teammates' championship rival another valuable
point

Wow, looking at the first 2, that could almost be a 'Ralf Schumacher'
performance.

Nick (actually a Ralf fan, but can't resist winding you up <g>)

Seriously, I'd wait until the end of the season before you get your stats
out. I noticed how your qualifying stats start just after JPMs 7 poles last
year. If you want to compare *proper* stats, I can dig out all the practice
(4 sessions per event) and warmup times, qualifying times, plus best splits,
fastest race laps, top speed trap figures, plus chassis numbers used, air
and track temperatures, and all sorts of other data which gives a much
fairer reflection on the drivers' relative performance than you give
yourself. I'd offer to do it for one 2002 race of your choice, but you'd
pick one where Ralf was better anyway, so it wouldn't make much difference,
and I'm definitely not doing it for all 17 events. I don't have the time,
nor inclination.

KR was on 6 laps lighter fuel load to start the race. RS cut his lead in
half in just a handful of laps before KR retired.

I read yesterday that MS was 2 seconds slower than JPM due to his bad tires
on the lap JPM passed him. Nothing to admire there.

That's what I was trying to do to some people here, but not enough took the
bait. :-)

Here's their total stats as teammates (taken from Brian Lawrence at rasf1)

Wins:   Ralf    5  JPM    2
Points: Ralf  134  JPM  120
Qual:   Ralf   26  JPM   17

10 out of the last 15 for RS. 5 out of the last 6. 6-3 for the season. RS
also has the fastest overall race lap times for 2001 and 2002. Don't know
about 2003. RS also has the second most wins in F1 over these past three
seasons.

David G Fisher

Ok, so RS has better results, but I'll be honest and say that I just like JPM
better.  I also think that JPM has a lot of unrealized potential...

Eldred
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The truth is, I don't really dislike JPM at all. Seems like an ok guy. RS
has a very, very nice life and certainly doesn't need me defending him. :-)
I (and many other F1 fans) are simply giving it back to some JPM fans who
ripped RS apart (and us for defending him) from the moment JPM joined
Williams. The predictions they made (including MS's being dethroned) haven't
come close to coming true, and now they need to be spanked. :-)

David G Fisher

Yes, but Ralf has been in F1 since 1997 (2 years with Jordan, before 4 years
with Williams), and JPM has been in F1 since 2001 (just the 2 full seasons).
So for the points to be 134-120, despite Ralf having 4 full years more
experience in F1, means that they are pretty damn close. Also, not only was
JPM learning F1 in 2001, he was also driving a chassis which had a natural
balance he just didn't get on with at all. By contrast, Ralf likes that
balance (that's the reason the FW23 was made in that way - Ralf was sticking
in the team, while Button was moving on). The 2002 and 2003 chassis have
been more of a compromise between the two driving styles, which is much
fairer to both drivers (not to mention a lot easier to change setups on the
T-car).

Just one more thing, JPM beat RS on fastest race lap in 2002.

Hehe, that's enough of that for the time being <g>

It's a shame that a lot of people assumed JPM was going to blow everybody
away when he came to F1 (mostly Americans with minimal F1 knowledge, it has
to be said). Okay so he was CART champion, but so was Alessandro Zanardi,
who raced in F1, went to CART and won the title (and became known as Alex),
then came back to F1 with high expectations and blew out. Admittedly he was
driving an developmental chassis with a rebadged Renault (Mecachrome)
engine, but he was consistently worse than his team mate and the rest of the
field.

I remember watching JPM in F3000 at Monte-Carlo, waaaay back in... jeez I
can't remember the year. It was hilarious. He hit the wall about three
times, and while limping home with a damaged car in 2nd place, his teammate
tried to pass him coming out of what was then known as Loewe's Hairpin, and
JPM calmly moved over and put him in the wall! He's come a long way since
then, averaging one pass on MS every 3.6 races for one seasons worth of F1,
but I still think Ralf is the better driver, and finally he is beginning to
show it with some excellent drives.

:)

-Larry

It's "de rigeur" when discussing F1 and it saves on typing.

Jan.
=---

It's our way of getting you back, along with the 'roundabout' thing. <g>

DGF