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bajo39

Michael May Continue Testing...

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Just sharing some of the commentary from the SpeedTV broadcast of practice - you Brits don't get to see practice, do you? :mf_tongue:

The commentators were talking about some concern that they had picked up on in the paddock with respect to Kimi and Felipe's ability to develop the car. They speculated that a deal could be worked out whereby Michael continued developing the car without racing for the team. Interesting idea....

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Just sharing some of the commentary from the SpeedTV broadcast of practice - you Brits don't get to see practice, do you? :mf_tongue:

The commentators were talking about some concern that they had picked up on in the paddock with respect to Kimi and Felipe's ability to develop the car. They speculated that a deal could be worked out whereby Michael continued developing the car without racing for the team. Interesting idea....

It wouldnt surprise me.

He could then say that he was instrumental in the 2007 world championship.

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Good topic.

I first started pondering a situation like this when JV quit BMW. JV is a very good tester and I thought that if he could put aside his considerable pride, he could secure a testing position with a mid-grid team and really help them out.

Now Schumacher is (rumoured) to be considering this route. It's not that far-fetched considering his personal sponsors have renewed contracts with him for the next few years, which would indicate he's going to be involved somehow in motorsports. Like JV, Michael is a very good tester. At heart, he's a mechanic and can do great things for a team in a testing capacity.

Now for some opinions, based on my observations and gut instincts:

To me, Gene is not the best tester available. I've not heard anyone raving about his skills (outside of Ferrari PR press-releases) like we would hear about Badoer and Panis (both excellent testers).

Massa has shown at Sauber that he's more comfortable just driving what the engineers give him than really doing the work. He's tested before, but I don't think he excells at it.

Raikkonen, despite some forum members elevating the Finn to god-like status, isn't known for intensive car set-up abilities. Looking back on tests, in most cases, I don't see his name featured until the final day of testing. This would suggest that the brunt of the work is done with testers and teammates, with Kimi showing up to try out the results and fine-tune the car to his liking. Not bad, but hardly someone to fill Michael's shoes in regards to testing a car.

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Good topic.

I first started pondering a situation like this when JV quit BMW. JV is a very good tester and I thought that if he could put aside his considerable pride, he could secure a testing position with a mid-grid team and really help them out.

Now Schumacher is (rumoured) to be considering this route. It's not that far-fetched considering his personal sponsors have renewed contracts with him for the next few years, which would indicate he's going to be involved somehow in motorsports. Like JV, Michael is a very good tester. At heart, he's a mechanic and can do great things for a team in a testing capacity.

Now for some opinions, based on my observations and gut instincts:

To me, Gene is not the best tester available. I've not heard anyone raving about his skills (outside of Ferrari PR press-releases) like we would hear about Badoer and Panis (both excellent testers).

Massa has shown at Sauber that he's more comfortable just driving what the engineers give him than really doing the work. He's tested before, but I don't think he excells at it.

Raikkonen, despite some forum members elevating the Finn to god-like status, isn't known for intensive car set-up abilities. Looking back on tests, in most cases, I don't see his name featured until the final day of testing. This would suggest that the brunt of the work is done with testers and teammates, with Kimi showing up to try out the results and fine-tune the car to his liking. Not bad, but hardly someone to fill Michael's shoes in regards to testing a car.

I don't think that Michael's sponsorship deals necessarily mean that he will continue to be involved in motorsport in future. Just look at the next-most famous sporting Michael, Michael Jordan continues to appear on television commercials and he hasn't played in a long time.

The rest of your post I agree with completely, especially the part about Kimi. The biggest criticism I have of the Finn is that he doesn't seem to be the complete package. He just doesn't seem to have the level of interest and enthusiasm for the minutiae of F1 that is required to consistently produce exceptional results - in comparison, Michael had this in spades. I mean, I have heard accounts of Michael checking in with the test team via mobile phone while he is on vacation and the like. That is a far cry from Kimi who doesn't take great interest in testing, technical development, the operation of the team or even the championship chase!

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I don't think that Michael's sponsorship deals necessarily mean that he will continue to be involved in motorsport in future. Just look at the next-most famous sporting Michael, Michael Jordan continues to appear on television commercials and he hasn't played in a long time.

Good point.

The rest of your post I agree with completely, especially the part about Kimi. The biggest criticism I have of the Finn is that he doesn't seem to be the complete package. He just doesn't seem to have the level of interest and enthusiasm for the minutiae of F1 that is required to consistently produce exceptional results - in comparison, Michael had this in spades. I mean, I have heard accounts of Michael checking in with the test team via mobile phone while he is on vacation and the like. That is a far cry from Kimi who doesn't take great interest in testing, technical development, the operation of the team or even the championship chase!

Yup.

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Good topic.

I first started pondering a situation like this when JV quit BMW. JV is a very good tester and I thought that if he could put aside his considerable pride, he could secure a testing position with a mid-grid team and really help them out.

Now Schumacher is (rumoured) to be considering this route. It's not that far-fetched considering his personal sponsors have renewed contracts with him for the next few years, which would indicate he's going to be involved somehow in motorsports. Like JV, Michael is a very good tester. At heart, he's a mechanic and can do great things for a team in a testing capacity.

Now for some opinions, based on my observations and gut instincts:

To me, Gene is not the best tester available. I've not heard anyone raving about his skills (outside of Ferrari PR press-releases) like we would hear about Badoer and Panis (both excellent testers).

Massa has shown at Sauber that he's more comfortable just driving what the engineers give him than really doing the work. He's tested before, but I don't think he excells at it.

Raikkonen, despite some forum members elevating the Finn to god-like status, isn't known for intensive car set-up abilities. Looking back on tests, in most cases, I don't see his name featured until the final day of testing. This would suggest that the brunt of the work is done with testers and teammates, with Kimi showing up to try out the results and fine-tune the car to his liking. Not bad, but hardly someone to fill Michael's shoes in regards to testing a car.

yep! i think if the team really listens to jv(and jv listens to us to throw his pride) they can really develop a good car. i think the best option for him is to develop that team spyker! what do you guys say? wouldnt be fantastic for a team like spyker using ferrari engines and trashing bigger teams?

what you say about kimi is actually really true! he doesnt show much interest in testing, all the hardwork is done by his team mate and test drivers, but we know he is really capable. i once read in an interview with david coulthard that kimi sits out for most of the testing and on the weekends he just jumps in and blows his team mates off!! every one must agree this!

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Raikkonen, despite some forum members elevating the Finn to god-like status, isn't known for intensive car set-up abilities. Looking back on tests, in most cases, I don't see his name featured until the final day of testing. This would suggest that the brunt of the work is done with testers and teammates, with Kimi showing up to try out the results and fine-tune the car to his liking. Not bad, but hardly someone to fill Michael's shoes in regards to testing a car.

that's just not true. You just made it up.

Kimi is actually known from ability to give very accurate information about car behaviour.

He can say exactly, where for example grip problem exists, is it tyres, aerodynamics, or combination of some things. What Ferrari has said, is that they don't exactly know about Kimi's ability as tester. Everything they know they have heard from Sauber (kimi's rookie year team) If you ask Mclaren engineers, they will tell the truth. Kimi is not a mechanic, but he is a driver who can give probably the most accurate feedback about car behaviour in F1.

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noway, schuey wont stay as a tester. He's giving up driving and if he stayed it would only be to race. I really cannot see Schuey being a test driver, no possible way ever!

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that's just not true. You just made it up.

Kimi is actually known from ability to give very accurate information about car behaviour.

He can say exactly, where for example grip problem exists, is it tyres, aerodynamics, or combination of some things. What Ferrari has said, is that they don't exactly know about Kimi's ability as tester. Everything they know they have heard from Sauber (kimi's rookie year team) If you ask Mclaren engineers, they will tell the truth. Kimi is not a mechanic, but he is a driver who can give probably the most accurate feedback about car behaviour in F1.

Even if people could understand what Kimi was saying, I don't think he would be quite capable of giving the quality of feedback you suggest.

Bajo, how do you like the Speed commentators? Matchett is very good.

They are perhaps less exciting than the ITV crew but more informative to be sure. I used to watch the ITV coverage live and then catch the SpeedTV coverage later but now I just stick with the SpeedTV coverage. Overall, they're the complete package with Bob Varsha being a true professional commentator with a great sense of the history of the sport, Steve Matchett being the best technical analyst in the business, David Hobbs supplying a driver's perspective and his famous dry humour and of course Peter Windsor with his near-unlimited paddock access and insight.

We really have it lucky in Canada to have the SpeedTv crew as a one of our three choices for F1 coverage. Note: the Brits don't even get to watch practice and occasionally, not even live qualifying!

:naughty:

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We really have it lucky in Canada to have the SpeedTv crew as a one of our three choices for F1 coverage. Note: the Brits don't even get to watch practice and occasionally, not even live qualifying!

I can honestly say that I wouldnt watch practise sessions even if they were televised. I remember for the 2000 British GP, ITV showed the friday practise sessions live, and it was just dull! Quali today wasnt shown live, which I wasnt very happy about, but its extremely rare and I cant even remember the last time it wasnt live

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I can honestly say that I wouldnt watch practise sessions even if they were televised. I remember for the 2000 British GP, ITV showed the friday practise sessions live, and it was just dull! Quali today wasnt shown live, which I wasnt very happy about, but its extremely rare and I cant even remember the last time it wasnt live

:lol:

Practice is more useful than you might have thought. Because there isn't the pressure on the commentators, they can concentrate on discussing the latest F1 news and developments as well as previewing the forthcoming GP - although I read all F1 news, I still find new information in each of these sessions. At the same time, we get an advance view of the cars circulating the track which is useful in forecasting qualifying results.

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As I've already read somewhere that Michael is still deciding to continue his future with Ferrari. So seeing him as a tester for Ferrari would be great. In my opinion, Michael would be the perfect person for testing. From his on-track dedication and enthusiam, you can basically see the interests he has. Knowing all this in mind, he would be really ideal for prospect of the team.

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As I've already read somewhere that Michael is still deciding to continue his future with Ferrari. So seeing him as a tester for Ferrari would be great. In my opinion, Michael would be the perfect person for testing. From his on-track dedication and enthusiam, you can basically see the interests he has. Knowing all this in mind, he would be really ideal for prospect of the team.

Yup.

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noway, schuey wont stay as a tester. He's giving up driving and if he stayed it would only be to race. I really cannot see Schuey being a test driver, no possible way ever!

micheal may be regarded as a cheater but when compared to guys like jv, he is a guy who is really down to earth! remember, he was one of the main guys behind the development of Enzo! now why should an f1 driver spend time developing a road car??? the only other driver (to my memory) who has been involved seriously in developing a road car (linked with f1) is senna, who developed honda nsx but the sales never really took off becasue it was only a Honda!

what i conclude is that, ferrari may still have the kind of money to retain shumis service as a test driver and shumi still has the passion for driving!

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that's just not true. You just made it up.

Kimi is actually known from ability to give very accurate information about car behaviour.

He can say exactly, where for example grip problem exists, is it tyres, aerodynamics, or combination of some things. What Ferrari has said, is that they don't exactly know about Kimi's ability as tester. Everything they know they have heard from Sauber (kimi's rookie year team) If you ask Mclaren engineers, they will tell the truth. Kimi is not a mechanic, but he is a driver who can give probably the most accurate feedback about car behaviour in F1.

My friend, whatever you are smoking, please stop before you kill more brain cells ;)

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