Does R$ deserve to be in F1

[webber 0]

so does he

[nojvnof1 0]

in a word, no.

shaun

[Sato 0]

in another 2 words, deffinatley not

[Senna 0]

Guys, I don’t like Ralf Schumacher either but he does deserve to be in F1. In qualifying he has been fairly quick and he has also beaten Montoya a few times in the races, albeit infrequently. Although he can’t race his brother or overtake people he is better than some current F1 drivers like Zsolt Baumgartner, Takuma Sato etc. If the poll question had been, “Does RS deserve to be in F1 in a Williams?” my answer would certainly be no but he does deserve to be in F1, albeit in a car that matches his pace, say a Jordan or Sauber.

[nichosnz 0]

What Alister said!!!!

[Taku 0]

i'd have to agree with the 2nd part of what alastair said. he does deserve to be in f1 (he's a proven winner) but not in the williams anymore. he's just not consistent enough for a top team and there are plenty other driver's who would do a better job given his seat.

[amjay 0]

he sure as hell deserve to be in F1 .... he's got several poles and wins behind him... u have to be good to win for instance if u put alex yoong (arguably the worst F1 driver ever)(sadly he's malaysian ) in a ferrari damn tht ferrari is gonna finish badly in every race ....

[hollywood2003 0]

he is a reasonable driver with unreasonable salary and ego claims.

He has been ordinary in a very good car and does seem to be very keen on himself. Dont like his personality much, never warms to the public, very cold

[Kirk 0]

i'd have to agree with the 2nd part of what alastair said.  he does deserve to be in f1 (he's a proven winner) but not in the williams anymore.  he's just not consistent enough for a top team and there are plenty other driver's who would do a better job given his seat.

Bit of an oxymoron post there Taku. Does he deserve to be in F1? Well considering some of the pay drivers, I'd say yes; but "he's a proven winner" NOT.

Yes he's won, but he has had the longest learning curve in F1 history (not my quote, but an apt one). He's a legend in his own mind and one who has clung to the coat tails of his older brother and BMW.

[Taku 0]

in your opinion maybe so, but he has won more than one race, whereas those that haven't won (or haven't won more than one race convincingly) cannot be called proven winners. eg fisi, trulli, verstappen who have been in the game a long time; and webber & button of the up-and-comers.

the fact of the matter is he's won races and noone can claim they were by fluke.

but i agree with you completely on your other points. his learning curve had been rather flat-looking and long, and his ego & demands are unreasonably schuey-esque, despite a lack of michael-esque results and talent..

[webber 0]

R$ ha swon racers but he is on the out. this is because there are so many up and commers that are beter than him so for that resion and for the fact that he is a over rated over payed barsed he will not be racing in 2006 and no he will not reteier.

[Senna 0]

Might I point out that a lot of average drivers could win in a good car – you’d have to be quite a pathetic driver not to win in the 2002 Ferrari for example (assuming Rubens wasn’t there) so by trying to argue that Ralf is a good driver simply because he has wins to his name is not that clever. Shall we talk about Panis being a great driver because of Monaco 96 or Fisi because of Brazil 03? The simple answer is no and we should not apply this argument to Ralf simply because he has won a few races. The only times were past performance holds any significant weight to me is in terms of a driver winning the WDC. That is a great achievement, one that cannot be downplayed, and should be used when justifying a driver's pedigree, not the fact that they have had a few wins in 5 or so seasons of being in a top car. Ralf is an overrated driver who can't race his brother, can't overtake, is inconsistent, is heavily overpriced etc and not worthy of a Williams seat. He’s lucky Frank’s still there…

[Taku 0]

i certainly don't think he's a great driver, and i never said that, so you must be referring to someone else. in fact i don't think anyone called him a "great driver". my point was he's a proven winner.

i also never said fisi or panis were proven race winners either. in fact i quite clearly pointed out what a proven race winner is. fisi, whilst good, has only won one race, and it obviously wasn't convincing. panis won one in monaco, and i hear it was a good drive, but neither does this make a proven winner. ralf's done it on more than one occasion so i think he qualifies as a proven race winner. put him in a good car and he can win a race for you.

great driver? well like you said, show me a wdc and you're a great driver.

[daz 0]

Yip - he does...

He might not ever be as good as his brother or Kimi but compared to some of the others he most definitely does deserve to be in F1.

[Senna 0]

He might not ever be as good as his brother or Kimi

Or JPM, or Alonso, or Rubens, or Trulli, or DC, or Button, or Fisichella, or Heidfeld…

[nichosnz 0]

I'd rank RS as better than Trulli, and for me the jury is still very much still out on Button.

And if he will ever learn to overtake that will make him better than DC.

[Senna 0]

I think Trulli is better than Ralf.

Button has proven his talent. He performed well last year against JV and now has grown into the role as team leader at BAR - and continues to beat Sato by a margin of 1 sec per lap.

And to match David Coulthard Ralf will have to learn to overtake, race his brother, become more technically minded and generally increase his intelligence, add about an extra 3 years of F1 to his belt to match David’s current experience, become more of a team player, learn to accept a wage that is proportional to his talent….etc.

[boftolod 0]

I think Trulli is better than Ralf.

Button has proven his talent.  He performed well last year against JV and now has grown into the role as team leader at BAR - and continues to beat Sato by a margin of 1 sec per lap.

And to match David Coulthard Ralf will have to learn to overtake, race his brother, become more technically minded and generally increase his intelligence, add about an extra 3 years of F1 to his belt to match David

[webber 0]

YEA lets bag out R$ YEA