17 replies to this topic

[JaredS]

I was reading the post-qualifying press conference and noticed something quite interesting. One of the Italian sport journo tried to conjure up a situation out of thin air and used carefully crafted question to Nico to paint a false picture. Nico however was simply too smart for him and answered very well which showed the truth of the situation leaving the journo looking quite pathetic.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, when we met yesterday, we were joking a little bit with bad words in Italian about your situation.

NR: What were we talking about?

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) We were joking with a bad word...

NR: Ah yeah. You said that, yeah?

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Yes, I know, my apologies. How did you improve the car?

It's interesting because if a driver didn't answer quite as well as Nico or didn't pick up what the journo was trying to do, then the journo may have succeeded and we would all be speculating that Nico/driver may have been cursing the team/car/Brawn etc etc in Italian.

Just goes to show that sometimes we all need to take what's reported, especially with some of the less reputable journos/newspapers, with a pinch of salt.

[FizzyJerk]

I was reading the post-qualifying press conference and noticed something quite interesting. One of the Italian sport journo tried to conjure up a situation out of thin air and used carefully crafted question to Nico to paint a false picture. Nico however was simply too smart for him and answered very well which showed the truth of the situation leaving the journo looking quite pathetic.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, when we met yesterday, we were joking a little bit with bad words in Italian about your situation.

NR: What were we talking about?

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) We were joking with a bad word...

NR: Ah yeah. You said that, yeah?

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Yes, I know, my apologies. How did you improve the car?

It's interesting because if a driver didn't answer quite as well as Nico or didn't pick up what the journo was trying to do, then the journo may have succeeded and we would all be speculating that Nico/driver may have been cursing the team/car/Brawn etc etc in Italian.

Just goes to show that sometimes we all need to take what's reported, especially with some of the less reputable journos/newspapers, with a pinch of salt.

[Kingshark]

Nico is one of the more intelligent drivers, and perhaps quicker at picking these things up. Now, whereas I'm not going to call him stupid, I think that if that journo was talking to Lewis, there'd be a PR disaster at Merc right now.

[SpaMaster]

NR: Ah yeah. You said that, yeah?

Yes, I noticed that.

[SunnyENTP]

Nico is one of the more intelligent drivers, and perhaps quicker at picking these things up. Now, whereas I'm not going to call him stupid, I think that if that journo was talking to Lewis, there'd be a PR disaster at Merc right now.

I would agree but you have to look at exposure and their family background. But I personally think Nico is the most intelligent driver out there. I have listened to his speak many times. If he was not an F1 driver he would have had a successful career in the corporate world. He speaks at least 6 languages fluently German, Spanish, Italian, Finnish, French, English

[1Devil1]

I would agree but you have to look at exposure and their family background. But I personally think Nico is the most intelligent driver out there. I have listened to his speak many times. If he was not an F1 driver he would have had a successful career in the corporate world. He speaks at least 6 languages fluently German, Spanish, Italian, Finnish, French, English

I disagree and agree on the same time. I really don't think he is well educated if you take a typical school education into account. I just need to hear him speak german to prove this wrong. Sometimes I can not believe german is his native language - so many mistakes, just a pain in the ass. Once he thought the first verve of german anthem is allowed to sing in public. His observations of the performance of the car were often wrong in the past, completely wrong, overoptimistic. If you take the perspective of formula one I agree he seems technical well educated, smart driver on the track, and a clever in interviews. But all in all I wouldn't call him the smartest guy in formula one.

Edited by 1Devil1, 21 April 2013 - 07:49.

[August]

I would agree but you have to look at exposure and their family background. But I personally think Nico is the most intelligent driver out there. I have listened to his speak many times. If he was not an F1 driver he would have had a successful career in the corporate world. He speaks at least 6 languages fluently German, Spanish, Italian, Finnish, French, English

Actually not Finnish.

[apoka]

I disagree and agree on the same time. I really don't think he is well educated if you take a typical school education into account. I just need to hear him speak german to prove this wrong. Sometimes I can not believe german is his native language - so many mistakes, just a pain in the ass. Once he thought the first verve of german anthem is allowed to sing in public. His observations of the performance of the car were often wrong in the past, completely wrong, overoptimistic. If you take the perspective of formula one I agree he seems technical well educated, smart driver on the track, and a clever in interviews. But all in all I wouldn't call him the smartest guy in formula one.

Hm, I did not have that impression. He sometimes mixes languages, because English is so dominant, but he is clearly native German. He has "Abitur" with a 2.1 grade which is quite good for someone building up a racing career.

[motorhead]

He has finnish citicenship too, but he doesn´t speak the language

[03011969]

I disagree and agree on the same time. I really don't think he is well educated if you take a typical school education into account. I just need to hear him speak german to prove this wrong. Sometimes I can not believe german is his native language - so many mistakes, just a pain in the ass. Once he thought the first verve of german anthem is allowed to sing in public. His observations of the performance of the car were often wrong in the past, completely wrong, overoptimistic. If you take the perspective of formula one I agree he seems technical well educated, smart driver on the track, and a clever in interviews. But all in all I wouldn't call him the smartest guy in formula one.

You're quick to judge for somebody who thinks it's correct not to capitalise 'German', let alone sing the first 'verve' of it's anthem...

With the notable exception of Mark Blundell, I think most F1 drivers have been pretty smart, and Nico is clearly amongst the higher echelons.

Edited by 3011969, 21 April 2013 - 08:29.

[Nina]

He has finnish citicenship too, but he doesn´t speak the language

Yeah, and actually Vettel speaks more Finnish than him..

[1Devil1]

You're quick to judge for somebody who thinks it's correct not to capitalise 'German', let alone sing the first 'verve' of it's anthem...

With the notable exception of Mark Blundell, I think most F1 drivers have been pretty smart, and Nico is clearly amongst the higher echelons.

Yeah, I think I can judge a german native as german native myself. I never said I can speak or write english perfectly - so I don't see a connection here. verse of course. German fans and press don not rate Nico high in that regard so its quite funny to see. And as I said if you want to judge intelligence there are a few different areas you can look at. As driver on the track I agree he is a smart boy in others areas I wouldn't call him super smart and above the rest.

[JaredS]

F1 traditionally has been a rich man's sport. To get through the early karting series requires immense funding from family. Only once they make that, then can get sponsorship in the higher series. So stands to reason that they come from a better socioeconomic background with more opportunities for education.

[apexpredator]

I disagree and agree on the same time. I really don't think he is well educated if you take a typical school education into account.

He's definitely very intelligent, got a a place to study at Imperial (London) in engineering or something. It's like the MIT of Europe, I would know, I went there

Obviously he's not 'educated' in the sense that his racing career meant he didn't pursue higher education, but he's clearly a very intelligent guy in my opinion. Whether he has the same intelligence on the track is more arguable.

[learningtobelost]

It's hardly a revelation that the press ask leading and intentionally manipulative questions to provide soundbytes to suit their agenda. In fact, journalism as it stands is more deceptive than it has ever been. Mainstream media use huge doses of opinion in place of fact and public opinion soundbytes to craft a story to fit whatever agenda they are pushing. They represent statistics gathered from surveys as a form of reliable immutable fact, when the surveys themselves are crafted to gather the exact statistic that the publication/station wishes. Emotive, persuasive language is used to reinforce their position, selected quotes are picked often ignoring the actual intent of the speech/interview/etc. in favour of juicy soundbytes. "Experts" are plucked from obscurity to discredit genuine research and are given a platform of authority well beyond their station.

Simply put, to sell newspapers/magazines/tv news etc. you have to be sensational, devisive and first with a new story. None of those things sit well with the idea of fair, unbiased, responsible journalism. I don't see how the niche media like the F1 crowd is any different.

As an example Autosport published a story yesterday entitled "Hamilton Admits That he Faded in Qualifying". The quotes published in the article suggest nothing of the sort. Hamilton said the car felt different after the rebuild and congratulated nico on a great drive that he wasn't able to match in the circumstances. Unfortunately that doesn't generate an interesting headline. Now that the headline has been read by thousands it is digested as a "fact" and repeated by others as such.

So yeah... I'm not a fan of the media

[DutchCruijff]

He's definitely very intelligent, got a a place to study at Imperial (London) in engineering or something. It's like the MIT of Europe, I would know, I went there

And suffered, suffered a slow and painful mental torture.

[JaredS]

It's hardly a revelation that the press ask leading and intentionally manipulative questions to provide soundbytes to suit their agenda. In fact, journalism as it stands is more deceptive than it has ever been. Mainstream media use huge doses of opinion in place of fact and public opinion soundbytes to craft a story to fit whatever agenda they are pushing. They represent statistics gathered from surveys as a form of reliable immutable fact, when the surveys themselves are crafted to gather the exact statistic that the publication/station wishes. Emotive, persuasive language is used to reinforce their position, selected quotes are picked often ignoring the actual intent of the speech/interview/etc. in favour of juicy soundbytes. "Experts" are plucked from obscurity to discredit genuine research and are given a platform of authority well beyond their station.

Simply put, to sell newspapers/magazines/tv news etc. you have to be sensational, devisive and first with a new story. None of those things sit well with the idea of fair, unbiased, responsible journalism. I don't see how the niche media like the F1 crowd is any different.

As an example Autosport published a story yesterday entitled "Hamilton Admits That he Faded in Qualifying". The quotes published in the article suggest nothing of the sort. Hamilton said the car felt different after the rebuild and congratulated nico on a great drive that he wasn't able to match in the circumstances. Unfortunately that doesn't generate an interesting headline. Now that the headline has been read by thousands it is digested as a "fact" and repeated by others as such.

So yeah... I'm not a fan of the media

Thanks for expanding on the main point of the thread! I agree it's not a revelation but I thought this example was particularly interesting in that the journo tried to imply that Nico was swearing in Italian to him about the problems Nico has had with the car, team orders etc "we were swearing" and when Nico called it out "you were swearing", the journo looked very sheepish indeed and changed subject very quickly. Had Nico not publicly outed him like that and instead answered the question about how he has had bad luck so far, the rest of the media would have reported it as that Nico had been swearing about his team to another journalist.

[rolf123]

Nico is well educated. He clearly did not have the typical education. He grew up and went to school in Monaco, for Pete's sake.

That does not make him smart. That makes him lucky to have won the jackpot of life. I'll bet the average Monaco-schooled brat knows multiple languages too.