What Formula One Statements Actually Mean
Many drivers, team principals, team owners and engineers get to make a lot of public statements in Formula One. Most of them are misunderstood. Bettor.com takes a look at some of the quotes after the German Grand Prix and tries to explain what they actually mean.
“At last in Germany, for once we had a normal race on a weekend when we had no problems whatsoever and the results were there for all to see. The win does not change my approach to the rest of the season.”
After the German Grand Prix, Ferrari was fined $100,000 and referred to World Motor Sport Council for exhibiting team orders but Alonso believes it was all normal and disciplinary action was not a problem. No matter what everyone has to say, Alonso is adamant that there is nothing wrong if your teammate gifts you the victory. The win changes nothing for Alonso, which means we will see more team orders exercised as long as Alonso’s hopes of securing the title are alive.
“My first meeting when I arrive at the Hungaroring circuit will be with all the marshals and medical staff who did such a very good job of carefully getting me out of the cockpit.”
Felipe Massa was given a helping hand last year after his accident but Massa doesn’t actually want to thank those marshals. He wants to build rapport so that when Ferrari exercise team orders again in Hungary, marshals go easy on them.
“The races there are always very tough because there is no big gap between the corners. You need a good braking stability and good traction on the car.”
Sakon Yamamoto, who will be driving for HRT instead of Karun Chandhok in the next race, prepares his defense before another anticipated failure in Hungary. This might just allow Yamamoto to retain his seat for the rest of the season since Chandhok has had many retirements of his own.
“By now the people have understood that Red Bull is not only a drink but also a successful Formula One team.”
Sebastian Vettel being at the heart of the Red Bull team for the second season still believes that the brand is bigger in drinks than in auto racing.
“The team is doing a good job operationally but we need to find more pace from the car and we continue to work very hard to achieve this.”
How can Michael Schumacher say that the team is doing a good job when he knows that Mercedes simply doesn’t have the pace to compete? Schumacher is apparently wary of the media repeatedly asking them about his underperformance and if he has tried to put things in place. He’s got it completely wrong though.
“That is frustrating. But I think in general, I see it as more of a challenge than a frustration”.
McLaren Engineering Director Paddy Lowe hates the fact that the teams are not allowed to test during the season and revealed that he is frustrated. But on the same breath he realizes that his comments will not be too famous either with McLaren management or the FIA. He suddenly resorts to a more diplomatic way of saying things.
“We are not fully satisfied, but we are still very proud of what we have achieved.”
It seems like Renault Technical Director Rob White is learning public speaking from Schumacher. Simply put what White said means that the Renault team can be extremely proud of things that don’t satisfy them.
“We had revised diffusers on both cars this weekend. They worked well and demonstrably improved both drivers’ lap times.”
If both diffusers are working and making improvements, then Williams Technical Director Sam Michael should be criticizing his drivers instead of praising the diffusers. His drivers started the German Grand Prix at P8 and P10 and both finished out of points dropping 7 places.
“The most important thing for me was to finish ahead of the McLarens, even though I think that as a team they took more points than us.”
Sebastian Vettel needs lessons on the new points system or at least he needs to review the race result to at least know where the competitors stand. Contrary to Vettel’s belief McLaren scored 22 points while Red Bull scored 23 – 1 more than their English rivals.
“The rule that bans team orders is not realistic anymore. If one has the chance to take the title while the other one doesn't, we want both of them to act in the interest of the team without throwing away that opportunity.”
Ross Brawn has already written off Massa as the championship contender believing that it’s only Alonso who has the chance to win the title. Such a sweeping statement was made in a desperate attempt to justify team orders. In fact Ferrari gained a lot from exercising team orders a few years ago when Ross Brawn was himself at the helm of the affairs.
“I think there are a couple of teams who really shouldn't be there. All we ever want is 10 teams. Lotus is a good name. I wouldn't want to lose them.”
If Bernie Ecclestone wanted to associate himself with more controversies, he couldn’t come up with a better statement. But if he really thinks Lotus is better than Virgin and HRT, both of them would want to look at the research that makes Lotus better than them. Ecclestone also makes everyone wonder how the name Lotus is better than Virgin or Hispania.
“These things have happened since the days of Nuvolari. Therefore enough of this hypocrisy, even if I can well believe some people might well have liked to see our two drivers eliminate one another.”
Ferrari President Luca Montezemolo is perhaps not aware that team orders were banned in 2002 right after his team abused them in Austria, so whatever happened in that regard between 1930 and 2002 is irrelevant today. Furthermore, he believes that it’s alright if two Red Bulls fight and crash, but he would not let anyone dare to think that it should happen to Ferrari.
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