Blew The Championship Despite The Best Car?
Discussion
Nigel Mansell in 1986 in Australia - literally blew that Championship away & Lewis Hamilton in 2007 when he threw it away in China.
Mansell cannot be blamed for the tyre blow out as he wasnt to know of the problems however Hamilton should take some of the blame for 2007 as he did know of the tyre problems so he should have been more careful when he headed for the pit lane on that infamous lap.
Those are the two that instantly spring to mind. I guess you could also argue that Mansell should have won the title in 1987 however he was too wrapped up with that beating that t
t Piquet to concentrate on taking the title.
Mansell cannot be blamed for the tyre blow out as he wasnt to know of the problems however Hamilton should take some of the blame for 2007 as he did know of the tyre problems so he should have been more careful when he headed for the pit lane on that infamous lap.
Those are the two that instantly spring to mind. I guess you could also argue that Mansell should have won the title in 1987 however he was too wrapped up with that beating that t
t Piquet to concentrate on taking the title.The 'team' were not truly behind Irvine that year - had they been behind him he would have won the championship easily however i dont think that Ferrari wanted a champion named anything other than Schumacher M.
Can you imagine what would have been said had Irvine taken the title?
There would have been hell to pay at Maranello simply because the whole Ferrari machine was geared up around Schumacher being the Messiah.
Much as i loved the attitude shown by Irvine i dont think that anyone, honestly, could call him the Messiah!!!
That said, he would have made a great F1 World Champion wouldnt he? The James Hunt of his era.
Can you imagine what would have been said had Irvine taken the title?
There would have been hell to pay at Maranello simply because the whole Ferrari machine was geared up around Schumacher being the Messiah.
Much as i loved the attitude shown by Irvine i dont think that anyone, honestly, could call him the Messiah!!!
That said, he would have made a great F1 World Champion wouldnt he? The James Hunt of his era.
team underdog said:
Damon Hill in 1995 is the obvious one to me.
Really?Peter Collins 1956
Colin Chapman 1962, 1967, 1973&1979
Carlos Reuteman 1981
Alain Prost 1990
Hamilton 2007
Alonso 2007
Vettel 2009
Webber 2010
I won't include Alonso 2010 as he was gifted a couple of points in Germany in the same way that Irvine was 11 years before.
fatboy69 said:
The 'team' were not truly behind Irvine that year - had they been behind him he would have won the championship easily however i dont think that Ferrari wanted a champion named anything other than Schumacher M.
Can you imagine what would have been said had Irvine taken the title?
There would have been hell to pay at Maranello simply because the whole Ferrari machine was geared up around Schumacher being the Messiah.
Much as i loved the attitude shown by Irvine i dont think that anyone, honestly, could call him the Messiah!!!
That said, he would have made a great F1 World Champion wouldnt he? The James Hunt of his era.
Thats one way off looking at it. The other might be that the team were struggling to keep up developemnt of the car with out Schumacher there (it can back on form again when he returned). Either way he was ahead by 4 points in the last race, all he had to do was keep in front of Mikka (or at least keep up so Miacheal could help him past, as he did earlier when Irvine needed to pass his brother Rong SchumacherCan you imagine what would have been said had Irvine taken the title?
There would have been hell to pay at Maranello simply because the whole Ferrari machine was geared up around Schumacher being the Messiah.
Much as i loved the attitude shown by Irvine i dont think that anyone, honestly, could call him the Messiah!!!
That said, he would have made a great F1 World Champion wouldnt he? The James Hunt of his era.
), and it would have been his, but he couldnt keep up and finished a distant 3rd. to far off the pace for Schumacher to do anything about Mikka to help him.As for the pitstop cock up, I dont think Ferrari were the only ones to screw up that day, (didnt the McLarens make loads of mistakes that day as well?)
Either way he had his chance and failed.
freedman said:
The Lotus wasnt even close to being the best car in 79
In 73, it was to do with having 2 good drivers and not putting everything behind Fittipaldi or Ronnie
Exactly my point.In 73, it was to do with having 2 good drivers and not putting everything behind Fittipaldi or Ronnie
In '73 they should have backed one driver after a points advantage was established.
In 1979, Chapman was dicking about with the 80 when he should have stiffened the tub of the 79 and wiped the floor with everyone...which is exactly what Head did with the FW07 which got Williams the 1980 WDC with an ok driver. Imagine Andretti in that car in 1979.
Its arguable that Loeb blew the 2003 championship by letting Solberg grab it at the post, but then he was instructed to slow down by the team, and I'd say he's more than made up for it since then..lol
Again, McRae in '01? Think he won 3 rallies that year to Burns' 1 yet threw it away on the opening day in Wales..
Sorry if this was meant to be an F1 only topic :S
Again, McRae in '01? Think he won 3 rallies that year to Burns' 1 yet threw it away on the opening day in Wales..
Sorry if this was meant to be an F1 only topic :S
thegreenhell said:
How much was the team really behind Irvine though? It was very much Schumacher's team, even in those early days, and they didn't seem too focused without him there. What about that pitstop at the Nurburgring? Was that Irvine's fault.
Salo and Schumi gifted wins to Irvine at Hockenheim and Sepang respectively. Irvine just wasn't good enough. That's why they hired Rubens.Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff