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#101 NadsatII

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Posted 26 January 2010 - 12:29

I think I would rather watch the sack of rice.



Interesting way of thinking :stoned:

I recommend you to watch sacks of rice when the new season starts.

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#102 grazioli82

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Posted 28 January 2010 - 21:40

I quite often read Marca and AS, for the same reason that people read the Daily Mail, so I can be outraged at the rubbish in them. The three highlights for me are:

1) When McLaren made a hash of LH's pitstop in Malaysia in 2008 Hamilton was asked what he was thinking at the time to which he answered: 'I could do with a beer;. Which Marca purposefully mistranslated as 'I could have made the stop with a beer'

2) Marca grabbing hold of Ed Gorman's description of Alonso as 'a miserable Spaniard' during his McLaren time, clearly meant to mean he was very unhappy, and holding it up to be the same meaning as 'miserable, which would be 'wretched' or 'despicable' A thousand comments later the advertisers were surely happy

3) Carlos Miquel in AS after Silverstone in 2008 saying for no apparent reason that if Hamilton had been driving the R-28 'he wouldn't have finished the race'

There are many more such things but these three have stayed in the memory.

The British press has its nationalism but it is mostly confined to national football teams. In F1 it is far, far ahead.

As for PDLR, he was the only thing that made Telecinco's coverage bearable against the boot-licking personality cult that held Lobato and the appalling Serrano rapt. I don't rate him as a racer but Kobayashi will benefit greatly from his experience.

#103 undersquare

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Posted 28 January 2010 - 23:24

I quite often read Marca and AS, for the same reason that people read the Daily Mail, so I can be outraged at the rubbish in them. The three highlights for me are:

1) When McLaren made a hash of LH's pitstop in Malaysia in 2008 Hamilton was asked what he was thinking at the time to which he answered: 'I could do with a beer;. Which Marca purposefully mistranslated as 'I could have made the stop with a beer'

2) Marca grabbing hold of Ed Gorman's description of Alonso as 'a miserable Spaniard' during his McLaren time, clearly meant to mean he was very unhappy, and holding it up to be the same meaning as 'miserable, which would be 'wretched' or 'despicable' A thousand comments later the advertisers were surely happy

3) Carlos Miquel in AS after Silverstone in 2008 saying for no apparent reason that if Hamilton had been driving the R-28 'he wouldn't have finished the race'

There are many more such things but these three have stayed in the memory.

The British press has its nationalism but it is mostly confined to national football teams. In F1 it is far, far ahead.

As for PDLR, he was the only thing that made Telecinco's coverage bearable against the boot-licking personality cult that held Lobato and the appalling Serrano rapt. I don't rate him as a racer but Kobayashi will benefit greatly from his experience.


Nice post, welcome :up:


#104 NadsatII

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Posted 29 January 2010 - 12:33

I quite often read Marca and AS, for the same reason that people read the Daily Mail, so I can be outraged at the rubbish in them. The three highlights for me are:

1) When McLaren made a hash of LH's pitstop in Malaysia in 2008 Hamilton was asked what he was thinking at the time to which he answered: 'I could do with a beer;. Which Marca purposefully mistranslated as 'I could have made the stop with a beer'

2) Marca grabbing hold of Ed Gorman's description of Alonso as 'a miserable Spaniard' during his McLaren time, clearly meant to mean he was very unhappy, and holding it up to be the same meaning as 'miserable, which would be 'wretched' or 'despicable' A thousand comments later the advertisers were surely happy

3) Carlos Miquel in AS after Silverstone in 2008 saying for no apparent reason that if Hamilton had been driving the R-28 'he wouldn't have finished the race'

There are many more such things but these three have stayed in the memory.

The British press has its nationalism but it is mostly confined to national football teams. In F1 it is far, far ahead.

As for PDLR, he was the only thing that made Telecinco's coverage bearable against the boot-licking personality cult that held Lobato and the appalling Serrano rapt. I don't rate him as a racer but Kobayashi will benefit greatly from his experience.



I could say the same examples from British press...

1) The big scandal that British Press made when some guys in carnival dressed up painting their faces in black and calling themselves the Hamilton Family. It triggered accusations of racism and that Spain was one of the most racist countries in the world... :rolleyes:

2) Bahrain 2008. Hamilton crashed his car against Alonso's. British TV commentators said that Alonso brake-tested Hamilton and started calling Alonso "the archenemy of Lewis". :stoned:

3) Monaco 2007. British Press accused Alonso of "stealing" the race to LH and the national scandal that it supposed... :drunk:

Leaving apart accusations such as Alonso blackmailing, Alonso impeding Hamilton in Hungary and a long etc etc etc...

So the British press is not that far...

And, again, I would stick the comments to Pedro de la Rosa. If you don't rate him as a good driver, that's your business. Give the guy the benefit of inocence. If Sauber have choosen him over Fisico or Heidfeld, they'll have their reasons, don't you think?


#105 Hole

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Posted 29 January 2010 - 14:08

I could say the same examples from British press...

1) The big scandal that British Press made when some guys in carnival dressed up painting their faces in black and calling themselves the Hamilton Family. It triggered accusations of racism and that Spain was one of the most racist countries in the world... :rolleyes:


The problem with that is that english-speaking world used to make movies mocking at blacks (and not so long ago), and so they are over-sensitive about the issue when someone paint their faces black. A good example of pure etnocentrism.

I never met any black in Spain who felt ofended by what those guys were doing to Hamilton. More like the oposite, they say they don't need the press acting politically correct like if being black was an illness and painting your face black was an offence.

I guess nobody would have cried if a bunch of guys whould have painted their hair yellow to mock at Kimi.

The british press focused the stuff in a really etnocentrist and unfair way... So I don't think that fans of british press should be lecturing the spanish press.

Edited by AdamKOR, 29 January 2010 - 14:08.


#106 Biggles Flies Undone

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Posted 29 January 2010 - 14:43

2) Marca grabbing hold of Ed Gorman's description of Alonso as 'a miserable Spaniard' during his McLaren time, clearly meant to mean he was very unhappy, and holding it up to be the same meaning as 'miserable, which would be 'wretched' or 'despicable' A thousand comments later the advertisers were surely happy


The term inadvertently used was "miserable Iberian"



#107 Bazinga

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Posted 29 January 2010 - 14:47

It´s so difficult to stay on topic????? Im fed up of this type of discussion guys, so boring...........................................

#108 grazioli82

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Posted 30 January 2010 - 00:26

It´s so difficult to stay on topic????? Im fed up of this type of discussion guys, so boring...........................................


It's not as if there are any other threads to read is there....

'Miserable Iberian' was indeed the description. Thanks for the correction.

Spain's biggest selling newspaper has, since 2007, allowed appalling racial abuse to go largely unchecked on its story comments. Until that stops then people will kick up a fuss about 'carnivalesque' blacking up in the stands.







#109 klyster

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Posted 30 January 2010 - 01:08

The problem with that is that english-speaking world used to make movies mocking at blacks (and not so long ago), and so they are over-sensitive about the issue when someone paint their faces black. A good example of pure etnocentrism.

I never met any black in Spain who felt ofended by what those guys were doing to Hamilton. More like the oposite, they say they don't need the press acting politically correct like if being black was an illness and painting your face black was an offence.

I guess nobody would have cried if a bunch of guys whould have painted their hair yellow to mock at Kimi.

The british press focused the stuff in a really etnocentrist and unfair way... So I don't think that fans of british press should be lecturing the spanish press.


How about this?
Posted Image
Racist or carnival?

I can't see the difference between that guy and "Hamiltons Family", both were acting in unacceptable fashion, though this doesn't mean all of Spain is racist.

Anyway, poor old Pedro. What would he think if he saw his three pages turning into this?
Any news on Pedro anyone?

Edited by klyster, 30 January 2010 - 01:13.


#110 Sausage

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Posted 30 January 2010 - 01:28

I heard he visited Croydon. Someone asked him to come and, being such a nice guy, he did :smoking:

#111 NadsatII

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Posted 30 January 2010 - 12:50

Probably, one of the best F1 forums is the one dedicated to Pedro de la Rosa. I never met so well educated and respectful people in any other F1 forum. You can also find there his fisio posting sometimes, De la Rosa himself being grateful with his fans and some interesting journalists. For the Spanish-speakers...

http://www.pedrodela...php?showforum=1


Sadly funny that this topic turned into such idiot comments about racism et al...

#112 Stuko

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Posted 30 January 2010 - 17:46

How about this?
Posted Image
Racist or carnival?

I can't see the difference between that guy and "Hamiltons Family", both were acting in unacceptable fashion, though this doesn't mean all of Spain is racist.

I can´t believe you can understand racism in that image. I thnk ithat´s a very cinical way of thinking....
What i see in that image is only a joke (a good joke for someone or a bad joke for someone). Do you see the red big button in the steering wheel? Do you remember Interlagos 2007 and some press saying Hamilton pressing the wrong button?
All i can see is a dressed up guy joking about that. If he´d been joking about Norbert Haugh he´d got a paunch, but he was joking about Lewis so he painted his face. The button is the joke, Hamilton is the joke. And, of course, he probably hates Hamilton (for being Hamilton, nothing to do about his race, but about his racing), but then you see racism there... i can´t believe it.

Edited by Stuko, 30 January 2010 - 17:47.


#113 Stuko

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Posted 30 January 2010 - 17:48

Probably, one of the best F1 forums is the one dedicated to Pedro de la Rosa. I never met so well educated and respectful people in any other F1 forum. You can also find there his fisio posting sometimes, De la Rosa himself being grateful with his fans and some interesting journalists. For the Spanish-speakers...

http://www.pedrodela...php?showforum=1


Sadly funny that this topic turned into such idiot comments about racism et al...


+100000000

#114 Stuko

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Posted 31 January 2010 - 12:22

daddy, don´t give up yourself !!

(Marca today, sorry but only in spanish) (I´ll try to translate it later)
http://i47.tinypic.com/2wee25e.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/2luf51t.jpg



#115 Stuko

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Posted 31 January 2010 - 17:10

Probably, one of the best F1 forums is the one dedicated to Pedro de la Rosa. I never met so well educated and respectful people in any other F1 forum.


A present for Mr. Sauber from that forum. Great guys!  ;)

Posted Image



#116 arzarito

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Posted 31 January 2010 - 20:37

amazing picture!!!!!!!!!! well done guys.

#117 NadsatII

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Posted 01 February 2010 - 00:49

amazing picture!!!!!!!!!! well done guys.



Brilliant! When Pedro de la Rosa fans knew that Peter Sauber chose Pedro de la Rosa as a Sauber driver, they were discussing the way to thank him. Someone said that Sauber liked cigars, so all the fans decided to put their money to buy the best cigars for him. They were discussing about Sauber's favourite cigars and then they all made a collect in order to buy him his favourite cigars. That's a really sweet story. Everyone was giving his best on money...

The picture portrays the moment in which Peter Sauber is receving the humble gift, his favourite cigars, by a bunch of De la Rosa fans.

That is really sweet. And great. For those who still think, in cold mind, "Uff! That guy, De la Rosa...!" You have a story here. And a good story. The story of a dream come true.

No insults, no disrespect, just true fans just saying: Go Pedro!

That's amazing in the F1 world. But admiration happens!

#118 ZenSpeed

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Posted 01 February 2010 - 00:57

Brilliant! When Pedro de la Rosa fans knew that Peter Sauber chose Pedro de la Rosa as a Sauber driver, they were discussing the way to thank him. Someone said that Sauber liked cigars, so all the fans decided to put their money to buy the best cigars for him. They were discussing about Sauber's favourite cigars and then they all made a collect in order to buy him his favourite cigars. That's a really sweet story. Everyone was giving his best on money...

The picture portrays the moment in which Peter Sauber is receving the humble gift, his favourite cigars, by a bunch of De la Rosa fans.

That is really sweet. And great. For those who still think, in cold mind, "Uff! That guy, De la Rosa...!" You have a story here. And a good story. The story of a dream come true.

No insults, no disrespect, just true fans just saying: Go Pedro!

That's amazing in the F1 world. But admiration happens!

Awesome story, reminds me of when Italians were collecting money to allow Merzario to continue to race in F1 with his own team

#119 NadsatII

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Posted 01 February 2010 - 01:27

Awesome story, reminds me of when Italians were collecting money to allow Merzario to continue to race in F1 with his own team



That's the true and romantic story about the real Formula 1... When drivers are heroes. That's why I love Formula 1.

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#120 NadsatII

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 00:43

Someone has shown today his true colour: Pedro de la Rosa. Just his first day at Sauber, as Michael Schumacher at Mercedes. Interesting to learn that Schumacher (41) and De la Rosa (38) -with the exception of the great Felipe Massa- ended leading the times in the first test session. It sounds as a great lesson to learn from.

This season sounds really interesting. The tests of tomorrow and Wednesday will be really brilliant. But, as for the first day, it seems that both, Schumacher and De la Rosa will be in the fight. Massa and Alonso will be there too, and fighting. McLaren seems a little bit lost there. If Kobayasi makes good times tomorrow, it will be a promise that Sauber is there in the fight. Hamilton and Button are forced now that McLaren has to show it's a strong team, which seems is not at the moment. Ferrari is at the top right now. Mercedes-Schumacher is at the top too there. Sauber is at the top.

Let's see what happen this week in Valencia and next week in Jerez, but it sounds really great with the veterans here...

PD: Funny: De la Rosa and Schumacher raced for their last time in 2006. Now both are in the coming back. And leading.

If De la Rosa beats Hamilton or Button in some race in this season, a lot of questions should be addressed to McLaren about: "What did you were doing having Pedro as a test driver for all these years?"

#121 Hole

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 01:29

What angers me a little bit a lot :lol: is that if Pedro does well, people will say "wow, his car is amazing" and if he does bad people will crush him...



#122 balaclava

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 03:19

de la Rosas forum puts to shame every other board, including this one.

By the way, the cigar story is amazing, specially following how it devoloped and the exchange of emails etc.

#123 intothepits

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 04:57

Someone has shown today his true colour: Pedro de la Rosa. Just his first day at Sauber, as Michael Schumacher at Mercedes. Interesting to learn that Schumacher (41) and De la Rosa (38) -with the exception of the great Felipe Massa- ended leading the times in the first test session. It sounds as a great lesson to learn from.

This season sounds really interesting. The tests of tomorrow and Wednesday will be really brilliant. But, as for the first day, it seems that both, Schumacher and De la Rosa will be in the fight. Massa and Alonso will be there too, and fighting. McLaren seems a little bit lost there. If Kobayasi makes good times tomorrow, it will be a promise that Sauber is there in the fight. Hamilton and Button are forced now that McLaren has to show it's a strong team, which seems is not at the moment. Ferrari is at the top right now. Mercedes-Schumacher is at the top too there. Sauber is at the top.

Let's see what happen this week in Valencia and next week in Jerez, but it sounds really great with the veterans here...

PD: Funny: De la Rosa and Schumacher raced for their last time in 2006. Now both are in the coming back. And leading.

If De la Rosa beats Hamilton or Button in some race in this season, a lot of questions should be addressed to McLaren about: "What did you were doing having Pedro as a test driver for all these years?"


Erm, it's just a test session, and the first one too, not all teams are pushing for maximum best times. The times don't mean much yet. This test should not be used as an indicator of how the cars will perform in qualifying and races.

But it was a good run for De Le Rosa, he did look quite good out there.

Edited by intothepits, 02 February 2010 - 04:59.


#124 Glimce

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 05:29

A lot of people talk about his drive in Bahrain in 2005 as a pointer to what he's capable of.

You have to remember though, he was properly wild in that race, with a car that was an utter missile.

In 2006 he got pretty convincingly annihilated by Raikkonen. And that was a Raikkonen by that stage of the year whose heart really wasn't in it either.

I think De la Rosa is a good technical brain, but he's a bit of a chump when it comes to out and out speed. I expect Kobi to utterly destroy him (and a few of his own cars while he's at it).

If De la Rosa is the new Badoer, Kobi is the new Massa.



A chump in out and out speed who in his first f1 race in 4 years managed to outqualify Kimi and set a faster race lap, and who was also faster than Kimi in the damp of Hungary 2006?
Its ridiculous to think Kobi who is totally unproven will destroy him based on 1 good race. Pedro will beat him easily.

#125 Simon Says

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 07:01

I could say the same examples from British press...

1) The big scandal that British Press made when some guys in carnival dressed up painting their faces in black and calling themselves the Hamilton Family. It triggered accusations of racism and that Spain was one of the most racist countries in the world... :rolleyes:

2) Bahrain 2008. Hamilton crashed his car against Alonso's. British TV commentators said that Alonso brake-tested Hamilton and started calling Alonso "the archenemy of Lewis". :stoned:

3) Monaco 2007. British Press accused Alonso of "stealing" the race to LH and the national scandal that it supposed... :drunk:

Leaving apart accusations such as Alonso blackmailing, Alonso impeding Hamilton in Hungary and a long etc etc etc...

So the British press is not that far...

And, again, I would stick the comments to Pedro de la Rosa. If you don't rate him as a good driver, that's your business. Give the guy the benefit of inocence. If Sauber have choosen him over Fisico or Heidfeld, they'll have their reasons, don't you think?


Did you ever watch soccer in Spain? Alot of racism over there. :lol:

#126 Simon Says

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 07:05

A lot of people talk about his drive in Bahrain in 2005 as a pointer to what he's capable of.

You have to remember though, he was properly wild in that race, with a car that was an utter missile.

In 2006 he got pretty convincingly annihilated by Raikkonen. And that was a Raikkonen by that stage of the year whose heart really wasn't in it either.

I think De la Rosa is a good technical brain, but he's a bit of a chump when it comes to out and out speed. I expect Kobi to utterly destroy him (and a few of his own cars while he's at it).

If De la Rosa is the new Badoer, Kobi is the new Massa.


The Mclaren just works for Kimi just like a Ferrari just works for Massa. It doesn't say much. Looking at Montoya for example, he had problems driving the Mclaren too.

But I'm not saying Pedro is a top driver when Mclaren hires Heikki over him.

#127 Simon Says

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 07:09

Yeah, the guy who recognized that he copied all Alonso set-ups before every race...

And, if you're so sure of that, why hiring Alonso for McLaren then?

And more:

Question: "Your worst moment in F1?, Something that you could erase of your memory?"
Alonso: "My year in McLaren"


Alonso copied Lewis his setup too :wave: But it's hard beating a rookie with just pure driving talent rather than having a better car than him :lol:

#128 Simon Says

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 07:11

Me thinks Pedro has been hired by Sauber so that he can divulge the inner workings of Macca! C'mon lets face it,if he really was any good Maclaren would have drafted him in 2007 or 2008 no?


Exactly :up:



#129 Simon Says

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 07:13

I think he deserves his own thread already :kiss: , I've collected pics from 1997, the year he won the F3000 from Japan.


http://img705.images.../tm0119jy35.jpg
http://img8.imagesha...start970704.jpg
http://img718.images.../5566/rosa6.jpg
http://img718.images.../8350/rosa5.jpg
http://img51.imagesh...1852/rosa3c.jpg
http://img191.images...5022/rosa2r.jpg
http://img191.images...1/9312/prbb.jpg
http://img59.imagesh...50/48416761.jpg
http://img191.images...fpon97lfwin.jpg
http://img716.images...delalosa001.jpg
http://img191.images...415/970820c.jpg
http://img51.imagesh...9fponpdmori.jpg
http://img191.images...39/97fpon05.jpg


Somehow he looks like Lorenzo a bit when he was younger :p

#130 noikeee

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 10:37

A chump in out and out speed who in his first f1 race in 4 years managed to outqualify Kimi and set a faster race lap, and who was also faster than Kimi in the damp of Hungary 2006?
Its ridiculous to think Kobi who is totally unproven will destroy him based on 1 good race. Pedro will beat him easily.


Oh the irony. Pedro was fast in 2 races, so that proves he's going to destroy a guy who nobody knows whether he's really any good or not. :drunk:

By the way I don't remember laptimes of that Hungary race, but Kimi was ahead of Pedro when he messed up.

#131 Stuko

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Posted 02 February 2010 - 22:24

http://translate.goo...y...sl=es&tl=en

#132 NadsatII

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Posted 04 February 2010 - 12:47

De la Rosa is gonna be great this season!

#133 Stuko

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Posted 07 February 2010 - 16:10

Gentleman driver :up:




#134 Hole

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Posted 01 March 2010 - 21:08

Posted Image

:p

#135 Victor_RO

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Posted 02 March 2010 - 05:06

Since the Sauber looks good after testing, I expect good performances from Pedro... unless he falls in a river yet again. :rotfl:

#136 Feanaro

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Posted 02 March 2010 - 13:43

http://f1.gpupdate.n...the-next-brawn/

"My dream? I know what it is but I'll keep it to myself, otherwise you'll maybe call me a dreamer at the end of the year and I don't want that!"

:lol: :up:
Guess we all know what he is talking about.

Seem to be a very likable,my hopes are high for sauber this year, i wish the best for both pedro and koba.:up:

cheers!

#137 Pink Snail

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Posted 02 March 2010 - 20:57

De la Rosa is gonna be great this season!

I hope so too - I got odds of 100/1 on Pedro for 2010 so have gone each way for the bet!!! :love:

#138 Frozen

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Posted 18 June 2011 - 14:32

I thought this history would be great to read for all of you. It's on DLR official website but unfortunately in the spanish version of it (http://www.pedrodela...llano/index.php), so I decided to translate it because I don't know if they will put it in the english section as they usually put there different articles from one version to the other.

It's written by Pedro De la Rosa himself explaining his odissey in Canada when standing in for Perez. It was fun to read.

I hope you enjoy it as I did reading it, and excuse my poor english, please:


Friday, Montreal Circuit. At 10 minutes from the start of the second free practice of the Canadian GP I'm calmy seated in McLaren's motorhome finishing my lunch with Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren's Team Principal. Suddenly someone touches my shoulder, I turn my head and with great surprise I see they are Monisha Kaltenborn, Sauber CEO, and Joseph Leberer, the physiotherapist. They look startled and they ask me right away if I can replace their driver Sergio Perez. "What? Sergio? Sure, sure..." I reply without hesitating and surprised "But when?" "Right now Pedro, Sergio is not feeling okay!!" I look to Martin Whitmarsh who was seated with me and I ask him: "Martin, would you let me do it?" Martin takes a look to his watch and tells me, "Pedro, if I were you I would rush to the Sauber box right now!"

And there I go, but first I take my utensils from McLaren (helmet, overalls, boots, Hans...) which we got packed in a suitcase for this kind of emergency situations (emergency situations within McLaren of course) and I ran to the Sauber box. Known faces, mechanics that are trying to salute me and I exchange my first words as there are people which don't know exactly what I'm doing there. Some of them look at me with a scared face, of course, they don't know yet I'm going to replace Sergio, they don't even know that he's not feeling well, but they focus on his work when they see their Team Manager with me and this is getting serious. We want to salute, it has been a year without contact, without working together. With some of them we did not even had the chance to say goodbye at the end of last season. I have to admit that the situation is a bit comic, because if we had not the chance to say goodbye before, now we don't have the time to say hello, there's no time for that. "We will hug later, we need to be able to go out at the end of the session. Let's try it out, even 1 lap at the end is going to be a lot." That's all I said to them.

The truth is that there was no time for much, just for trying to go out. So, after trying to fit into Sergio's overalls without being able to put my legs inside, we decided to go out in the second free practice with my McLaren overalls along with my boots and helmet. The important thing was to do few laps to start familiarize with everything to prepare for Saturday and Sunday. What normally is a process we take in pre-season, during one full month at minimum, now we had to do it in 1 hour in the middle of a Grand Prix. Jeezzzzz, I think the level of stress I had to cope in the following 24 hours were the highest I had to endure ever. There's nothing worse, (nor better!) than jumping in a F1 car in the middle of a World Championship to fight against the best drivers in the world with empty pockets...But with everyone's efforts, we made it. On Friday I was able to do 8 laps, and then on Saturday I could do the full practice session before qualyfing. Well, not the full session, because I hit the wall in the last lap in the second chicane. That's what you take when you can't look for the limits with plenty of time available, there was no time and I had to see how hard I could take those kerbs in that chicane so I could go to qualyfing with a clearer picture. From then on a new race started, one more, for all the mechanics crew because the car was quite damaged, broken rear suspension and gearbox... But at this stage everything looked even easy, nothing was impossible and the mechanics replaced the rear end (suspensions and gearbox) in just 1 hour.

Meanwhile, I was already full dressed up ready to go to the stage with, at last, the team's overall, this team of course. It was from a mechanic, the only one we found with my size. They were homologated and weighted 1 kilo more than a driver's overall, but it was perfect. There was only one additional problem, I needed fireproof and clean underwear. I called to McLaren and they told me that Button had a spare set of long underpants and socks, the upper part was the one wich was dirty, but there was no time for stupid things. From now on I have to admit that the fun started and I was able to really enjoy it.

The best moment of the weekend and one I'll never forget was when I was leaving the garage in the pitlane, alone and relaxed in the cockpit I put my visor down, it clicks when I close it, I feel deeply happy, relieved, at ease. I can't avoid a smile under my helmet, I even start to laugh my ass off. I floor on the throttle and I tell to the car, "alone at last, you and me. Let's see what we are able of. He does not reply but his engine screams while we are reaching turn-2."

Yes, probably one of my best and craziest moments of all my sporting career.



Hope you enjoyed my translation!

Edited by Frozen, 18 June 2011 - 14:39.


#139 Totza

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Posted 18 June 2011 - 16:35

I thought this history would be great to read for all of you. It's on DLR official website but unfortunately in the spanish version of it (http://www.pedrodela...llano/index.php), so I decided to translate it because I don't know if they will put it in the english section as they usually put there different articles from one version to the other.

It's written by Pedro De la Rosa himself explaining his odissey in Canada when standing in for Perez. It was fun to read.

I hope you enjoy it as I did reading it, and excuse my poor english, please:


Friday, Montreal Circuit. At 10 minutes from the start of the second free practice of the Canadian GP I'm calmy seated in McLaren's motorhome finishing my lunch with Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren's Team Principal. Suddenly someone touches my shoulder, I turn my head and with great surprise I see they are Monisha Kaltenborn, Sauber CEO, and Joseph Leberer, the physiotherapist. They look startled and they ask me right away if I can replace their driver Sergio Perez. "What? Sergio? Sure, sure..." I reply without hesitating and surprised "But when?" "Right now Pedro, Sergio is not feeling okay!!" I look to Martin Whitmarsh who was seated with me and I ask him: "Martin, would you let me do it?" Martin takes a look to his watch and tells me, "Pedro, if I were you I would rush to the Sauber box right now!"

And there I go, but first I take my utensils from McLaren (helmet, overalls, boots, Hans...) which we got packed in a suitcase for this kind of emergency situations (emergency situations within McLaren of course) and I ran to the Sauber box. Known faces, mechanics that are trying to salute me and I exchange my first words as there are people which don't know exactly what I'm doing there. Some of them look at me with a scared face, of course, they don't know yet I'm going to replace Sergio, they don't even know that he's not feeling well, but they focus on his work when they see their Team Manager with me and this is getting serious. We want to salute, it has been a year without contact, without working together. With some of them we did not even had the chance to say goodbye at the end of last season. I have to admit that the situation is a bit comic, because if we had not the chance to say goodbye before, now we don't have the time to say hello, there's no time for that. "We will hug later, we need to be able to go out at the end of the session. Let's try it out, even 1 lap at the end is going to be a lot." That's all I said to them.

The truth is that there was no time for much, just for trying to go out. So, after trying to fit into Sergio's overalls without being able to put my legs inside, we decided to go out in the second free practice with my McLaren overalls along with my boots and helmet. The important thing was to do few laps to start familiarize with everything to prepare for Saturday and Sunday. What normally is a process we take in pre-season, during one full month at minimum, now we had to do it in 1 hour in the middle of a Grand Prix. Jeezzzzz, I think the level of stress I had to cope in the following 24 hours were the highest I had to endure ever. There's nothing worse, (nor better!) than jumping in a F1 car in the middle of a World Championship to fight against the best drivers in the world with empty pockets...But with everyone's efforts, we made it. On Friday I was able to do 8 laps, and then on Saturday I could do the full practice session before qualyfing. Well, not the full session, because I hit the wall in the last lap in the second chicane. That's what you take when you can't look for the limits with plenty of time available, there was no time and I had to see how hard I could take those kerbs in that chicane so I could go to qualyfing with a clearer picture. From then on a new race started, one more, for all the mechanics crew because the car was quite damaged, broken rear suspension and gearbox... But at this stage everything looked even easy, nothing was impossible and the mechanics replaced the rear end (suspensions and gearbox) in just 1 hour.

Meanwhile, I was already full dressed up ready to go to the stage with, at last, the team's overall, this team of course. It was from a mechanic, the only one we found with my size. They were homologated and weighted 1 kilo more than a driver's overall, but it was perfect. There was only one additional problem, I needed fireproof and clean underwear. I called to McLaren and they told me that Button had a spare set of long underpants and socks, the upper part was the one wich was dirty, but there was no time for stupid things. From now on I have to admit that the fun started and I was able to really enjoy it.

The best moment of the weekend and one I'll never forget was when I was leaving the garage in the pitlane, alone and relaxed in the cockpit I put my visor down, it clicks when I close it, I feel deeply happy, relieved, at ease. I can't avoid a smile under my helmet, I even start to laugh my ass off. I floor on the throttle and I tell to the car, "alone at last, you and me. Let's see what we are able of. He does not reply but his engine screams while we are reaching turn-2."

Yes, probably one of my best and craziest moments of all my sporting career.



Hope you enjoyed my translation!

Haha crazy :p


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#140 Latos

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Posted 18 June 2011 - 17:35

what a great read!! Thanks for translation, he is even greater driver than I thought!

#141 Atic Atac

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Posted 18 June 2011 - 18:39

Thx for the work man. Great insight in what happened that weekend.;)

#142 Bunchies

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Posted 18 June 2011 - 18:39

Big ups for Pedro! What a classy guy.

#143 pingu666

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Posted 18 June 2011 - 18:54

great read :)

#144 midgrid

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Posted 18 June 2011 - 22:22

Thanks for translating and posting. :up:

#145 encircled

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Posted 06 October 2012 - 09:29

Great qualifying performance from Pedro!

:up:

#146 Jejking

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Posted 06 October 2012 - 10:44

Good time for a kick, he really nailed it today!

#147 Ali_G

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Posted 06 October 2012 - 12:08

Looks like De la Rosa will be the last remaining driver from the 90s driving in F1 from next season.

#148 Jejking

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Posted 06 October 2012 - 13:48

Yeah, I didn't realize that until now :(