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Diagnosis & Prognosis
By the Heretic

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By the Quali-flyer

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Interesting that you feel Michael was just too quick for Ralf to pass. I'm not so sure. Yes, the Ferrari was working very well at Brazil, better than we all expected but I think there was a combination of factors which influenced Ralf's poor final effort at Brazil.
1. Michael is very clever, he knows that the only chance to attack is to get in the slipstream up the hill towards the end of the lap, just some clever driving at the end of the lap could have consistently unsettled Ralf enough to stop him being close enough at the critical moment as they came out of the slow left hander up the hill. Personally I think Monty would have tried more to remedy this tactic, and Michael may have had to drive a fair bit quicker to stave off a Monster attack.
2. Ralf needs to beat Monty this season...and 6 points is a lot better than none. Button is performing well and has no fear of other drivers, maybe Ralf does, but should he beat Monty in the drivers championship Frank would be hard pressed to replace him. Especially as they have Targeted next year for Championship success.
Can Ralf Pass Michael, we don't know. We know Monty can and we know Button will have a go, but Frank will have to decide which combination will be most likely to reap the rewards. But Ralf's lack of even the slightest attempt to overtake may not have been the pace of the Ferrari at all...in fact I'm not convinced that the new Ferrari is actually the HUGE step forward I feared it would be. Imola will tell. Cheers - Dom - England (Reference Heretic 4-07 - Was Michael trying ?)

The Heretic replies:

Dom,

Addressing you last issue first: When I decided on the “Heretic” nom de plume it was because I felt that I really did not follow a particular driver or team. My interest is in the sport and the closeness of the competition.

I have not always been able to maintain that level of neutrality (the Senna/Prost battle at McLaren immediately springs to mind) but most of the time, like now with McLaren, I find myself wishing that the losers would improve and fearing the potential of another season of a single team domination. It is bad for the sport and on a selfish basis bad for newsonf1.com because it inevitably makes people lose interest.

A long way of saying that I hope you are right and that the F2002 is not a HUGE step forward.

Having said that, I am happy to agree with you on a “I hope you are right” basis. Ralf may be fast but his older brother has it all over him in tactics and strategy. If the cars were evenly matched Michael could have outwitted Ralf.

Montoya would have done something – if he was there Ralf could have scored more points as a result of him causing his own and Michael’s retirement.

Maybe Ralf was just being sensible but it was a pretty uninspiring act of sensibility.

Thanks for the comments

The Heretic