[Red Cooper]

I know this hasn't much to do with MINIs but what a dissapointment to see the today's result - I spent 2 hrs watching a fairly enjoyable race only to see it go down the drain in the last minutes...
Shame Ferrari!

[Dom mini cooper]

the end of that gp is exactly what is wrong with f1. Jean Todt or whoever made that decision should be shot. Don't even get me started on the fact that modern f1 cars have traction control and an automatic box...jeeeez....what is the world comming to???

Thats like driving a CVT mini!!!! LOL

p.s I am kidding please don't anyone get offended!

[AidenL]

Bad day for F1 for sure !!........

[mia]

ferrari are a bunch of jerks to do that to barichello! i was sitting there crying when schumacher put barichello on the podium..nice thing to do.. however, schumacher KNEW barichello deserved it. did you see that no one from ferrari came up to accept the constructors trophy? what a bunch of..anyway..anyone going to montreal? i'll be there,2nd time, 1st time in grandstand in front of the pits. i'm hoping they have a MINI car race one day. last time i was there, they had the beetles racing..lots of fun!

[Racer]

Barichello gets paid a lot of money to do a job - He has a choice if he doesn't like doing what his boss asks him he can resign or find a boss who doesn't make him do things he doesn't want to

Don't get me wrong it doesn't make what Ferrari did any more excusable it's just what is more important to Barichello the money or the joy of winning - obviously at that precise moment it was the money Ferrari put in his pocket which makes him no better than them - similarly Schuey had a choice to make Barichello the winner before his podium stunt i.e. don't take him just before the line

[mia]

i guess your right..i said in another forum that shuey could of bucked ferrari's decision, but, on the other hand rubens could of done the same

[AidenL]

I see Schue has said in the papers today that the telemetry will show that Reubens backed off, then so did MS, then Ruebens backed off some more......and that they hadnt a lot of time to think on the decision......

Both of them have been summoned to the next World Motorsport Convention in Paris on June 26th.......

[Racer]

Quote:

Originally posted by AidenL
I see Schue has said in the papers today that the telemetry will show that Reubens backed off, then so did MS, then Ruebens backed off some more......and that they hadnt a lot of time to think on the decision......

Both of them have been summoned to the next World Motorsport Convention in Paris on June 26th.......

I guess that if Schuey and Reubens both quit (given they didn't agree with the decision) Ferrari may struggle to win the championship and hence learn their lesson ......

Back on planet Earth Racer wakes up

[rcinco]

I, too, was a bit disappointed with the result at the Austrian Gran Prix...initially that is. Michael really had a point when he said that at the end of the season, they (Ferrari) would look rather silly if they did not make this decision. There is no debate that Michael has a far better chance of winning the Drivers Championship than does Rubens. Factor this in with the fact that Ferrari and its sponsors are spending about $130 million to back the F1 team this season, and you can see why they held Ruben's back. There is too much money at stake to have done otherwise. I believe that Michael and Rubens made the best of a very difficult situation. I also believe that Rubens will have further chances later in the season to stand atop the number one spot on the podium.

[Andrewfuzzy]

what you fail to remember is that Mclaren arent exactly scraping the bottom of their pockets either they have a large sponsor list too and i didnt see them stopping Coulthard from winning races when Hakkinen was racing for the championship, schuey or no schuey!!

Nevermind what errari will look like IF they lose the chapionship at the end of the season look how stupid they looked when everyone is boing them and they throw a race!!

They deserved everything they got and i hope they get penalised for it....they keep saying how certain things keep bringing F1 into disruput but if nothing is done to Ferrari to stop this waste of time then i for one think the sport will be irreperably damaged

Thats my 2 cents er i mean pence

[rcinco]

I understand your point regarding the McLaren situation, but I think that's a bit different in that the gap between Schumacher and Barrichello is more significant than the gap between Mika and David. At this point, whom do you think has a better chance of winning the championship? If you had to put money on it, whom would you bet on? Ferrari is betting $130 million on winning the Driver's championship. They put their money on Michael, and it's hard to argue how sound a bet that is.

[Andrewfuzzy]

i think there are plenty of people who are wondering that same question 'who do i bet on?' that have lost money yjanks to Ferrari and its tactics.....people who have bet on the one they believed could win and in the end should have......yes i see both sides of the arguement and no i didnt bet on the race (i would have said schu anyway) its just that yes i would bet schu to take the title....thats why i would have let them race....Mclaren did this albeit it was a decision between Mika And David not Ronny but they came under the same flak then (Australia couple of years ago)

I just dont think at this time of the year, in the position they are in....it was called for

[rcinco]

I think you make excellent points. However, I think it is primarily because of the time of year that they made this decision. The season is so young, and anything can happen. Why take chances now?

[Dr. Bob]

With the multiple hundreds of million $$ required to fund a competitive F1 team, it should be no surprise that business considerations hold sway over the "pure" sport aspects. This is no different than with American and world football, baseball and most any professional "sport".

If you want to see an almost pure automotive sport, watch "amateur" gocarts.

Take a look at http://www.formula1.com and read Ross Brawn's comments about Ferrari decision making for the finish of the Austrian GP. He certainly implies that both drivers were aware of the expected outcome well before the last turn!!

If you didn't like the outcome of that race, just standby for the next several. If the situation going into the end of the race matches the Austrian BP, the results will probably be the same, again. Rubens will simply have to wait for Michael to sew-up the championship or fail to finish the race before he can get a free run at a victory. That's the price he pays for being on the team.

[Andrewfuzzy]

Montezemolo unconcerned by FIA summons 15 May 2002



Ferrari's justification for ordering Barrichello to move over was that it was in the interests of the championship. And despite the criticism levelled at the team,
the tactics would appear to fall within current Formula One™ regulations



I think yhis might be the bone for contention on this issue?