Schumacher fastest!

[Munter]

stuttgartmetal said:

Just doin a Ferrari shakedown, before he takes Buttons seat at Honda.
hth

Nah electrical tests. So no worrys about fuel load of legal weight affecting the results of the test. More does it take 0.00001 sec to register the change gear signal or 0.00002sec. Oh look also by chance we set fastest time... how odd

[Teppic]

10 Pence Short said:

Means absolutely nothing!

Exactly. To put it in perspective, BADoer (deliberate capitals) was second quickest.

Off-season testing times mean two things: jack and shit.

[EDLT]

Teppic said:

10 Pence Short said:

Means absolutely nothing!

Exactly. To put it in perspective, BADoer (deliberate capitals) was second quickest.

Off-season testing times mean two things: jack and shit.

Definatly, I remember last year everyone was saying how fast Honda were during winter testing.

[sleep envy]

megy said:

So after a year of lounging around doing whatever a 7 times champion does when he hangs up his helmet, Michael comes back for what some people are saying is publicity stunt for Ferrari/Malboro and goes fastest, although a lot of the top names are not there today.

1 M. Schumacher Ferrari Bridgestone 01:21.922 64
2 L. Badoer Ferrari Bridgestone 01:22.129 76
3 P. de la Rosa McLaren Bridgestone 01:22.687 63
4 H. Kovalainen Renault Bridgestone 01:22.802 81
5 R. Kubica BMW Bridgestone 01:22.883 56
6 G. Paffett McLaren Bridgestone 01:23.008 46
7 K. Nakajima Williams Bridgestone 01:23.187 66
8 D. Coulthard Red Bull Bridgestone 01:23.332 55
9 J. Trulli Toyota Bridgestone 01:23.624 46
10 N. Heidfeld BMW Bridgestone 01:23.671 75
11 N. Rosberg Williams Bridgestone 01:23.847 58
12 F. Montagny Toyota Bridgestone 01:23.861 61
13 S. Vettel STR Bridgestone 01:24.048 77
14 A. Zuber Honda Bridgestone 01:24.065 77
15 S. Bourdais STR Bridgestone 01:24.193 51
16 A. Davidson Super Aguri Bridgestone 01:24.246 70
17 J. Rossiter Super Aguri Bridgestone 01:24.480 69
18 K. Chandhok Red Bull Bridgestone 01:24.896 39
19 G. van der Garde Force India F1 Bridgestone 01:25.317 84
20 Roldan Rodriguez Force India F1 Bridgestone 01:26.973 87

bet he had a massive shit before he got in the car

power/weight is everything

[130R]

GarrettMacD said:

megy said:

19 G. van der Garde Force India F1 Bridgestone 01:25.317 84
20 Roldan Rodriguez Force India F1 Bridgestone 01:26.973 87

Who are these guys???

Never heard of them before. Are they genuine race seat contenders or just doing testing to appease their sponsors???

"Force India" is the new name for Spyker and van der Garde and Roldan Rodriguez are the ex Spyker test drivers. Not sure who their actual drivers will be next year, but it won't be these guys, it will probably be between Sutil, Karthikeyan and Ralf Schumacher.

[uriel]

aeropilot said:

Like him or loath him.......the guy is a class act, look at Valencia last week, 50 odd laps on the factory Ducati MotoGp bike and he was only 1 SECOND off the pace of the Ducati factory test rider and only 3 odd secs off Marco Malandi's lap and within 5 secs of Casey Stoner....

I believe he was also running the old iron brakes rather than the current carbon ceramic jobbies...hats off indeed.

[npope]

I would love to see him back in a car again, I think honda should move RB on and then MS can team up with Ross again to help bring the car on next year.

[Vesuvius 996]

I have it on good authority that the Honda deal is already done.

Brawn to Honda, with MSchu. Honda have bankrolled it.

[SuperKartRacer]

Vesuvius 996 said:

I have it on good authority that the Honda deal is already done.

Brawn to Honda, with MSchu. Honda have bankrolled it.

Do you think? :-)

Lads.... that MS time is stunning and it means he's still very fast will be interesting to watch the next few days

[kevin ritson]

Why return at the age of 39 (which he will be in January), in a team that will be aiming at the head of the midfield? Even if he stayed for another year, a 40 year old Schumacher will have no chance against a 24 year old Hamilton, let alone Alonso or Raikkonen. Or Rosberg, Kubica, Kovalinen etc if they fulfill some of their promise and get the drives to match. Why would a team build itself round a driver that won't be there for long? It would be an incredibly short-term strategy and would more than likely disrupt their relationship with JB unless the latter has done a deal with Ron.

If he's going to Honda, it won't be as a race driver.

Edited by kevin ritson on Wednesday 14th November 11:27

[SuperKartRacer]

kevin ritson said:

Why return at the age of 39 (which he will be in January), in a team that will be aiming at the head of the midfield? Even if he stayed for another year, a 40 year old Schumacher will have no chance against a 24 year old Hamilton, let alone Alonso or Raikkonen. Or Rosberg, Kubica, Kovalinen etc if they fulfill some of their promise and get the drives to match. Why would a team build itself round a driver that won't be there for long? It would be an incredibly short-term strategy and would more than likely disrupt their relationship with JB unless the latter has done a deal with Ron.

If he's going to Honda, it won't be as a race driver.

Edited by kevin ritson on Wednesday 14th November 11:27

What is it about age these days? so he's 38??? * but with a fitness age of 25* BUT he's prob the best racing driver that has ever lived, 7 times world champ and I'd imagine still quite good.

He won't come back but it would be great if he did.

[rubystone]

Vesuvius 996 said:

I have it on good authority that the Honda deal is already done.

Brawn to Honda, with MSchu. Honda have bankrolled it.

But the problem with the team is the car, not the driver. They need to spend the money on development, not a driver. For that reason, I have to say I would be amazed if this really did happen. I could believe it if Toyota were the name in the frame, but Honda?....I just can't see it....but stranger things have happened!...

...and you can bet that if it were true, Schumacher would not have been driving that Ferrari yesterday. The Paddock rumour mill is miles ahead of us lowly PH guys!

[Vesuvius 996]

rubystone said:

Vesuvius 996 said:

I have it on good authority that the Honda deal is already done.

Brawn to Honda, with MSchu. Honda have bankrolled it.

But the problem with the team is the car, not the driver. They need to spend the money on development, not a driver. For that reason, I have to say I would be amazed if this really did happen. I could believe it if Toyota were the name in the frame, but Honda?....I just can't see it....but stranger things have happened!...

...and you can bet that if it were true, Schumacher would not have been driving that Ferrari yesterday. The Paddock rumour mill is miles ahead of us lowly PH guys!

The point is thought that Schumi can develop a good car.

[kevin ritson]

SuperKartRacer said:

kevin ritson said:

Why return at the age of 39 (which he will be in January), in a team that will be aiming at the head of the midfield? Even if he stayed for another year, a 40 year old Schumacher will have no chance against a 24 year old Hamilton, let alone Alonso or Raikkonen. Or Rosberg, Kubica, Kovalinen etc if they fulfill some of their promise and get the drives to match. Why would a team build itself round a driver that won't be there for long? It would be an incredibly short-term strategy and would more than likely disrupt their relationship with JB unless the latter has done a deal with Ron.

If he's going to Honda, it won't be as a race driver.

Edited by kevin ritson on Wednesday 14th November 11:27

What is it about age these days? so he's 38??? * but with a fitness age of 25* BUT he's prob the best racing driver that has ever lived, 7 times world champ and I'd imagine still quite good.

He won't come back but it would be great if he did.

His age won't help him - you simply can't hold back time, no matter how much you train for it. Imagine he jumps in the Honda, does the 2008 season and ends up with 40 points. People are just going to say "why's he doing that, he's got nothing to prove has he? Just picking up another fat cheque".

And we're not just talking physical age. The older a driver gets, no matter how little imagination they have, eventually thoughts of what happens if something falls off the car start to creep in. It's happened with a lot of drivers - as they get older they have to work harder and dig deeper, right at the point when you have less to give.

Yes, Mansell won the title at 39 but that was 15 years ago and right now Honda are hardly where Williams were in '91 are they, so I don't seem them producing the 2008 equivalent of the FW14B? And who was the last man to race in F1 over the age of 40?

Edited by kevin ritson on Wednesday 14th November 11:51

[tank slapper]

Vesuvius 996 said:

The point is thought that Schumi can develop a good car.

Yes, and he also has nothing to prove by coming back, so getting into a car that wouldn't necessarily be at the front of the grid may not bother him too much. Honda would gain massively from his experience though.

[TonyHetherington]

tank slapper said:

Vesuvius 996 said:

The point is thought that Schumi can develop a good car.

Yes, and he also has nothing to prove by coming back, so getting into a car that wouldn't necessarily be at the front of the grid may not bother him too much. Honda would gain massively from his experience though.

Spot on. He is a racer, yes, but more key to Honda (who have notorisouly been plagued with "bad" chassis these past couple of years) is his input into the set up and design of the car.

I can't see him back in a race seat (though would love to, I think the guy's great), but certainly a development seat.

[Vesuvius 996]

TonyHetherington said:

tank slapper said:

Vesuvius 996 said:

The point is thought that Schumi can develop a good car.

Yes, and he also has nothing to prove by coming back, so getting into a car that wouldn't necessarily be at the front of the grid may not bother him too much. Honda would gain massively from his experience though.

Spot on. He is a racer, yes, but more key to Honda (who have notorisouly been plagued with "bad" chassis these past couple of years) is his input into the set up and design of the car.

I can't see him back in a race seat (though would love to, I think the guy's great), but certainly a development seat.

One think Schumi is looking for is a challenge. A buzz.

Starting with a p1ss poor car and bringing it to the front of the grid would be a godd challenge and give the chinn-ed one something to rub in the faces of the other drivers. He's still not seen as the greatest ever by most - he wants to be. What better way that taking a crap team, sorting out the mess and leading it to wins.

[TonyHetherington]

Although they weren't crap, it's often forgoteen that Ferrari were far from the top when Schumi joined them.

As a spectator, it would be amazing to see Schumi trying to get a middle-of-the-road team up to the top. Really, truly amazing. But somehow I just don't think we're that lucky!

If he did it though, you'd really see the driving skills coming through perhaps even more so than when he was at the top.

[sosidge]

I just don't see what Ferrari or Schumacher have to gain by him going out in testing.

If he is slower than the existing tester Badoer then his legend will be damaged.

If he is faster than Badoer then you question why Badoer is employed and whether Schumacher could still compete with Massa and Raikonnen.

And if he actually does return to F1 with another team next year then Ferrari will have egg on their face for giving him some practice and up to date development feedback.

[s3200h]

rubystone said:

Vesuvius 996 said:

I have it on good authority that the Honda deal is already done.

Brawn to Honda, with MSchu. Honda have bankrolled it.

But the problem with the team is the car, not the driver. They need to spend the money on development, not a driver. For that reason, I have to say I would be amazed if this really did happen. I could believe it if Toyota were the name in the frame, but Honda?....I just can't see it....but stranger things have happened!...quote]


lets be fair, Ferrari were just a middle of the road team when MS went there, the results he got out of the Ferrari were truly amazing, he always finished the car way above where it should have, if he had gone to Mclaren i think he would have been a 9/10 times world champ. He was a big part in getting Ferrari to where they are and i Have no doubt if he wanted to, he could do it again with a Honda. Honda are not shy on the spending front, they just need the right people to tell them where to spend and to drive the team. i like JB as a driver but i don't get the impression that JB can motivate a team

Edited by s3200h on Wednesday 14th November 13:31