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What others are saying:
2 points to Reuben
will not make any difference, but to Schuey and Ferrari, could be
critical in the face of David's challenge. Remember Sepang 1999
- Schuey dropped back for Eddie (not for 2nd place, but for the 1st to
enable Eddie to go tor the championship, and in Suzuka, Eddie would
have won if he had the 2 points advantage. Come on, Reuben, it
is a team effort - Joseph W - Singapore
Rubens is a
fantastic driver and has the ability to go as fast as most other
drivers out there. But realistically, Barrichello is not in the hunt
for the Drivers Championship (which is a shame because I love the
guy). To Ferrari, he WILL always be the 'other driver', but in his own
right he IS one of the top 5 drivers out there at the moment, and
maybe he should be able to drive and be as important as Michael. But
unfortunately, Ferrari will never let that happen - Bree W -
Australia
No its not right
to let Michael to takes 2nd place because Reuben gave all his best to
take the place and I think Ferrari must do everything they can to let
their two driver to win 1st or 2nd to the drivers champ and dont let
Mclaren gets you!!! tnx! - Christian - Philippines
I do not agree
with what happened at the A1-ring, last race, Schumacher as a driver
is far more superior than Barrichello. Schumacher in reality is
realistically the title contender for Ferrari. Barrichello in my
opinion is an average driver in a very competitive car. He has not got
what it takes to win races. Schumacher two years ago would have won
the title but for his absence as a result of the accident, and
Barrichello even without Schumacher present and no team orders in
place was able to win races the way Schumacher can. Even when
Schumacher returned he was almost in the hunt for the title but for
the lengthly absence. Barrichello prior to coming to Ferrari was not
one of the elite driver's, Schumacher has always been considered an
elite driver, and looking back in the Benneton days when the car was
not considered to be up there with the Mclarens and the Williams,
Schumacher through his experience and knowledge and skill was able to
win titles. Barrichello is only good as the car beneath him, whereas
Schumacher is good no matter what he has to drive
- K Kyriacou - Australia
Rubens certainly knows that he will
never be anything else but number 2 driver. But realistically 2 points
this early on the season would not improve MS position so drastically
that they couldn't have allowed Rubens to enjoy a fantastic race and
celebrate a magnificent 6points!!! I know that Ferrari think that MS
is the only driver that could possibly compete for the championship
but there are still 11 more races to go and anything could happen - Margaret
M - Scotland
even though there are 2 championships
it is well known that constructors care little about the Constructor
championship unless they win both... You can easily see that fact in
the past where only the team getting the DRIVERS championship is the
one getting the glory........ so....... after stating it,
1) I think that Ferrari is securing points for getting the drivers
championship, while getting the same for the constructors one, as all
the probabilities says that is Michael the one with bigger chances to
take it......., if it was a wrong decision time will tell and JTodt
will have to face it..... otherwise they will be leading more comfortably
at the end of the season.
2) I don't think F1 is fair, there are many external factors
taking place there so it's hard to think about it as fair, mostly when
there are so many billions dollar involved....... It is just a
business.... and drivers are just part of the team, have to do theirs
jobs as any of us do, if you don't agree with the philosophy of the
team you shouldn't belong there... but indeed IT IS NOT FAIR.
3) Barrichello must continue to give his best, cause it will be good
for him too....... but RB is a very emotional person, latin blood is
hard to control ...... so I wouldn't bet he will....... I hope he
does.
4) As I said time will tell if they were right or wrong.... Carolina
- Venezuela
Ferrari needs to win both - The team and
the driver championship. They did what was necessary to achieve this
goal. Nothing wrong or immoral about it. Rubens is a pro and knows
these goals. To think that he can pick up the drivers title is going a
bit too far. Two additional points may be the decider for MS at the
end-- who knows! It is a two driver race and Team Ferrari should do
all that it can to repeat last years double - Ashok K - India
To answer the questions posed above, I
would say that no, Ferrari's actions were unjustified, unfair, wrong
and that from now on we can expect Rubens to have a sharp decline in
his performance.
The driver's championship takes into account whatever occurs
throughout the races in a year, and since I believe that MS made a
mistake trying to go round the outside of Montoya, then he deserved no
better that third place. He also made a terrible start, so overall one
can say that Rubens had a better race than Michael, lost only on
McLaren's great strategy. So I believe that he EARNED his second place
Furthermore, I think it is too early in the season for Ferrari to put
all its efforts into one car. We all know that it is in effect
Michael's team, but the extent to which he is favoured is ridiculous.
Even Gaston Mazzacane is not deserving of such treatment.
Hopefully in the long term Ferrari will pay for their actions, as they
will no longer be able to lure competitive drivers with their image
alone while MS is still there. The team is vastly different to the one
created under Enzo's eye. Were he still alive today, it is certain
that Schumacher would not have unquestionable No1 status.
Finally, I wish to congratulate Williams on the matter of team orders,
or rather on the lack of them. Their philosophy is that with two cars
competing, they have twice as many chances of winning races and
titles. One may point out that the 1986 title may have been lost that
way, but Williams' attitude has proved to be the right one, as they
are the most successful team in terms of victories when the smaller
amount of races they have competed in is taken into account - Nicodemos
N - Cyprus
No, Freraris actions are far from
realistic with so much of the season yet to go and Barrichello fairing
very well in the Championship also. What about a true result? Why
penalise Barrichello for consistent performance? I think the
indominatble Rubens has done and will always continue to give his
best. I have heard the rumour however of Eddie Irvine and Rubens
changing seats at the end of the year, seeing Irvine back in the
Ferrari camp and Barrichello to be paired with a yet to be named
driver of equal experience. Ferrari has not done the right thing,
particularly for us Aussies staying up all night to watch what turned
out to be a predictable finish - David H - Australia
I think the FIA should resolve this
question quickly for several reasons. Driver moral, sportsmanship, and
the millions of F1 fans worldwide. Did anyone back Barrichello to win
in Austria? It's very sad to see a driver forced to concede a position
because of Team orders. - Charles C - UK
Yes Ferrari did it fair, because in
Rubens's contract it would say something about being and supporting
driver to Michael Schumacher. But at the end of the day this man has
won 3 world championships to Rubens zero, he has won 47 grand prix to
Rubens 1. So this is the man who can win you races and championships,
not Rubens - Chris - Australia
MS should have won last sunday if JPM
didn't try to take him out of the track, some may say "that´s
racing" but remember Brasil, MS let JPM pass freely because he
saw him faster, and this is not a "last on his feed wins"
race.
Back to team orders, Rubinho should have kept his leader position and
show us all that he is really contending for the tittle too. He let
David pass, so why not let MS do it too? after all he is number two
driver (in points also) and after loosing his position he is now more
distant from the leaders, it's ok to give a hand MS if he can't stay
in pace. Fair would have been him to win the race and give nobody else
his place, but who remembers second, third or others? What really
matters is to be the winner, and i'm sorry as i am a Ferrari fan, but
he lost the race.
I hope no more team orders are needed, but everybody uses them when
the championship is in battle, ask McLaren Team if not.
If MS takes the championship home for a difference of two points or
less then Rubinho MUST stay at Ferrari and try the championship in
2002. But if MS wins for more than 2, he'll show that he is really the
best!
Time will tell.
My best wishes to all drivers, specially Michael and Rubinho! - Conrad
R - Paraguay
team orders suck.. if shumy does manage
to win the championship his victory will be tainted.. i think the
whole thing stinks. some people could argue that if a professional
football or other kind of sports team were to ''fix the game''
somebody would go to jail or at least be penalized.. isnt this kind of
the same thing, didn't ferrari fix the game here?? rubens should have
ignored the order and kept his second place he deserved it..
rubens has every right to fight for the drivers championship
too.. yeah maybe shumy might have won the race if not for his
little shunt with montoya but that's racing.. and for those people
blaming montoya,, forget about it. watch the race again ..
montoya did no wrong .. montoya is a breath of fresh air.. a
driver who will fight for position and do what it takes to keep it,
instead of pulling off to the side just because shumy is behind him..
way to go montoya. a driver should earn his championship points,
not have the points handed to him. rubens deserved second place and
should have been rewarded for it ..Bryan - Canada
Ferrari are a total law unto
themselves. Everyone knows it. They break all the rules,
and Berni simply smiles and nods them on. A couple of years ago,
David and Mika swapped places at the end of a GP - not because of team
orders, but because of a private arrangement - and the authorities
went mad with them, changing the regs to 'order' the teams to race
each other. What is different here? Surely Michael can win
races on his own if he's that good? Why does he need the help of
the support driver? It takes away from his position in the
team. I don't know how Rubens sleeps at night - he looks like
he's a fairly decent driver, he could go a storm at a team that would
give him a similarly decent car but without the Magic Todd Slow-down
button on the steering wheel! - Kevin B - UK
whats the fuss all about, rubens is a
good driver but he and all the critics for schumi, must realise that
schumi is undoubtedly the best f1 driver of his time and maybe of all
time. he has worked to with ferrari for 6 yrs to reach where ferrari
are today, who can deny that .SECONDLY THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME THIS
KIND OF TEAM SUPPORT HAS BEEN DONE IT HAPPENED WITH MCLAREN MANY TIMES
IN 1999.FURTHER THAT NEW MORON DRIVER JUAN PABLO, SHOULD BE GIVEN A
WARNING, HE WAS INDEED NOT RACING BUT DOING SOMETHING ELSE THAT IS
TAKE OUT SCHUMI, now has RON promised juan a place at MCLAREN next
year ie: in place of MIKA maybe, something to think about - Sachin
- India
Well, personally, I saw it coming! It
happened last year, even though it was not this early in the season,
so why would it not happen this year? They call it tactics, but for me
that is just a matter of ethics. However, if RB did not give up his
second place to MS, he would have been out of Ferrari by now, and that
would not help anybody, especially himself. Concerning JPM's move, I
think he did what any other driver (who does not see MS as a god)
would have done. The fact of the matter is that MS is getting too
spoiled by Ferrari and the media. And he better not let something like
the Austrian GP happen again, otherwise, people will be talking about
the legitimacy of his perfomance in the 2001 season - Dan - Brazil
No they did not do the right thing!
Regardless of the 'ethics' issue, Ferrari have clearly laid their
cards on the table. I would strongly feel that if the McLaren drivers
are in a similar situation they will NOW do the same thing.
Aside from this, Ferrari now have a second driver who is emotional at
the best of times and is likely to me extremely demotivated basis any
illusions he had as to being equal number one lie in ruins.
As such the support that MH can give to DC is likely to outweigh what
RB can give to MS. In my book that will end up bearing a heck of a lot
more than two points.
I am not a Ferrari fan, but I do (did) have a lot of respect for them
- somehow I don't think Enzo Ferrari would have enjoyed seeing what
went down in Austria. The spirit of Ferrari? I don't think so.
As I say, I think it will end up doing them more than good and after
Sunday, I certainly hope so to - Dunder - Hong Kong
Yes Ferrari did right. Shummi is the
number one driver and Rubins is second - Silvio - South Africa
What Ferrari did was totally unfair to
both drivers, because Schumi lost positions by his own mistake trying to
pass Montoya in a wrong place. I'm a Schumacher Fan but I want to
see him winning races by his own ability to deal with all the other
drivers. I think he is so anxious and could have problems in the future.
FERRARI did it all wrong!!!!!!! - George L - Costa Rica
Although I am a very big MS and Ferrari
supporter, I feel that this past weekend's happenings did not do the
formula 1 scene any good.
We must consider that there are 2 issues involved here. One of them
being the constructors championship. In this regard Ferrari had nothing
to gain -not even a single point. Therefore pointless manoeuvre. This
leaves the drivers championship. This is where I think if you want to be
champion, be a champion by working for it. This kind of thing will give
the impression that the drivers championship can be orchestrated and it
will have no merit. Sure this is a team sport and, yes let the guys help
each other to secure maximum points for the team (constructor). But if
you want to be a drivers champion - earn it!! Be better than anybody
else. And in Austria on the whole RB was better than MS even though MS
was almost taken out by JPM. Remember MS went off RB did not. Also MS
should have known that that place was not the place to go on the outside
of JPM. That was suicidal.
Don't get me wrong. I still think MS is the best driver there is and
probably one of the best ever. But not in Austria
I do not really have a problem if during a race two team mates work
together to secure better positions but I do have a problem with the
kind of thing that happened in Austria - Johan M - South Africa
Yes, in the spirit of the Team it did the
right right thing ...for a Barrichello fan it may be a sad thing ..
For Ferrari and Schumacher fans it is correct.
Anyway Schumacher would have won if it was not for Montoya.... Jinanoday
-India
The question for me is not "Did
Ferrari do the right thing?" It's "Did Barrichello do the
right thing?"
Personally, rather than trying to make some useless gesture by only
letting him take the place after the last corner, i would have just
taken 2nd. I'd have then walked into the garage and said "OK sack
me..."
What would Ferrari do? He's already out at the end of this year and
realistically they aren't going to be able to replace him and still take
the constructors championship.
He'd then be a hero to many, he'd be happy in himself and i presume he'd
also drive better if he freed his mind from the contractual restraints.
Worse case scenario would be a sacking, but he'd walk out with cash and
probably straight into a seat at Arrows or Minardi.
But in reality i recon he'd stay at Ferrari and force Schumacher to try
and win a championship like every other F-1 world Champion, ie by
beating everyone on the grid.
Come on Rubens have some self respect, so Jean Todt won't speak to
you....oh shame... Dom - UK
I think Ferrari was justified to do what
they did. I will be the first to admit that i felt sorry for
Barrichello, as he had driven a great race, but it's not like he didn't
know that this sort of thing would happen to him when he signed on with
the team (didn't he hear anything that Irvine said?). And as we've so
obviously seen, Ferrari will try to give Schumacher every possible
advantage in order to capture the championship, even if it means that
great performances, such as Barrichello's drive in Austria, are
sacrificed to boost Schumi's title chances. I feel that Schumi would
have gone on to win the race, however, if it wasn't for Montoya's
kamikaze-like maneuver that luckilly, didn't take both of them out of
the race. Good job to Verstappen on the fabulous 6th place drive! - Dave
G - USA
There are two sides of the answer. First
"Yes" Ferrari team orders are legitimate to win the
constructor title with any cost. Every team backed by a manufacturer
will do it (Sorry Mr. Denis). The other side is Michael Schumacher which
honestly I fell sorry for him. It wasn't fair play in my point of view
to give that order to Rubens, but he OBEY the order in the last meters.
In the other hand I don t know how Michael took the order to pass
Rubens on the last meters. HE IS STILL THE WORLD CHAMPION SO HE SUPPOSE
TO HAVE THE DIGNITY TO REFUSE THE ORDER. Even after the time lost with
"Riky Martin of Formula One-Juan Playboy Mantoya" he could do
better. Why the team decided to use this unfair solution (FOR BOTH
FERRARI DRIVERS) instead to have better tactics or better pit stops, I
don t understand. I don't understand why Michael was in agreement with
this solution knowing will cost his reputation. I m a Ferrari and
Michael fan but if he will win the championship everybody
including me ,will ask the legitimacy of the champion. My best regards, Marian
- Romanian Living in the US
Well...Rubens deserved the 6 points and
that's it.
Ugo's approach to the matter is very immature.
We are talking about a person who put all his life into racing.
The team had already 10 points so why did Rubens had to let Schumacher
pass? The fact is that the Driver's Championship is not based on team
work but individual performance and Rubens richly deserved the 6
points!!!!!
Very satisfied with Jos Verstappen's 6th place and the first point.
The strategy of having a lighter car and go to the pits twice worked
well in Austria even if it can be very risky. Jos is having a fantastic
season in fact he was 4th in Malaysia, running 8th in Brazil until he
crashed on Montoya and so well...
I think that we will be finish the season in a well 7th position
"like last year".
Go Arrows!!!! - Rob - Australia
I think team orders are NEVER good.
Not even during the season finale. It's racing - it's supposed to
be a chance for every driver to do the best they can. Once they
stop doing the best they can - they are no longer "racing"
they are just performing. Team orders are always disappointing -
especially this early in the season - Matt - USA
It should all come down to the maturity
of drivers, deciding when to give up the title fight and provide support
for the team mate. I think that, would it have been later on this
season, with David leading the championship, Barrichello would have
yielded his place to Schumacher without even being asked to do so. This
is probably the way things are going to happen at McLaren later on: I do
expect to see Mika helping David as much as he can in the races to come,
without being ordered to do so.
There were two things in this race that showed Michael is really worried
about his title this year: the fake pit-stop (when the Ferrari mechanics
came out of the pits, prepared for a stop, but no driver came in
actually), trying to lure David in the pits as early as possible, and
the Ferrari team orders. It makes me think that David has got every
chance to win the championship this year, and there's not much Michael
can do about it - Mike - UK
I think Ferrari did well because
Barrichello would never be able to win championship while Michael
Schumacher can do it. There's nothing else to say - Ugo - Italy
I think the Ferrari decision was totally
unfair, and Rubens must be pretty much offended by being asked to give
up his position in Michael's favour. This is a bad thing, especially
considering that he is probably fighting for at least a third place in
drivers' championship this season, and he's gonna need every little
point he can lay his hands on when Mika Hakkinen will finally start to
deliver. I think that it all came down mostly to Schummi's need to feel comfortable
in the lead, four points away from his main contender this year, but it
was a bad decision for Rubens, as well as for the team's image. It also
shows that Michael is really afraid of losing the world champion crown
to David already... Adrian - Romania
As far as I'm concerned, Michael
Schumacher would have won easily if it wasn't for that idiot Montoya. As
far as Ferrari or any other company is concerned, winning is everything.
If Michael Schumacher wins the championship all the better for Ferrari
after all they are footing the bill. Watching the race, I was hoping the
decission to let Michael Schumacher pass through was made by Barrichello
it would have been the right thing for him to have done as a team
player. But he had to spoil it by being sore. as for Montoya, he should
be penalized the next two races, that guy is a loose cannon and he is
going to cause a very serious accident one of these days - George Z -
Lebanon
1. Schumacher would have won the
race if Montoya wouldn't have taken him out.
2. Barrichello had a chance to go for the win, but couldn't do it.
3. As far as the Spanish Grand Prix, Michael was leading and after
a while had a car problem. At that point Hakkinen took over.
They both had car problems. Except that Hakkinen's was worse - Jean
- USA
If Schumacher at the end is the champion
no-one is going to recognize him as a legitimate champion, because the
tricks Ferrari play for him. Does not fear with Barrichello - Mike -
USA
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