30 replies to this topic

[Megatron]

I guess you have to have someone to blame. Personally, I thought it was always going to be tough to find a ride in CART. There are not a lot of seats out there that aren't bought or releated to an engine deal. Good luck trying to find something, Johnny.

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Johnny Herbert has launched an astonishing attack on Jaguar, accusing them of ruining his chances of landing a top ChampCar drive.

Herbert is still fuming at the crash with which he ended his Formula 1 career in Malaysia. The 36-year-old suffered a knee injury when a suspension failure pitched him into the crash barriers at 160mph.

The Englishman believes the accident was down to the team's negligence and says it has jeopardised his chances of finding a ChampCar seat.

He told the Daily Mail: “I had so wanted to end my F1 career on a high note and then head for the States to clinch myself a place in ChampCars.

“It was very disappointing to finish flying off the track through no fault of my own but because of a stress failure that should never have happened.

“And it wasn’t the first time. I had a wing fall off at 190mph during testing before the season began.

“If you make mistakes as a driver then you can accept it, but when you get into trouble because someone else has got it wrong, it is very hard to take.

“It couldn’t have come at a worse time and I was pretty annoyed. I didn’t do anything wrong and yet I was the guy who ended up on crutches.

“I could hardly have gone looking for a job in that condition. It wouldn’t have made much of an impression.”

Herbert has still not given up hope of landing a ChampCar drive.

He said: “There is still a chance for me and I have not given much thought to any alternative form of racing because I am so eager and excited about competing in the ChampCar championship.”

[pRy]

Yeah, his comments are interesting. He has a point, the failure put him in crutches and possibly cost him a drive. Wonder what the legal chances are if he decided to sue them for lost earnings. But its kind of like Schumacher coming out and blaming Ferrari for costing him the 1999 WC..

Herbert had a bad time at Jaguar, and I wouldnt be suprised if this is just the tip of his hate for them as a team. I hope he does find a drive, but i think id be happier to see him retire and spend the rest of his life with his family rather than risking it for no success in Cart.

[Sean L]

I don't hear other drivers complaining about their teams when they've had a failure. With Johnny's luck, he should never have made a career in racing cars anyway. Just give it up Johnny.

[Jhope]

Sean, you're saying that Johnny never had a place in Formula 1? Interesting.

[Clatter]

I'd like to see him in champcar. I think he could do well out there. But the other reason is that with a better known British driver in the series then Eurosport may step up its coverage, rather than the dogs dinner we had last season.

[Todd]

Any CART team owner that hires this bitch deserves what they get. I'm sure Johnny will have an excuse for why it isn't HIS fault.

[bigblue]

The guy's got a black cloud hanging over his head. Retire or meet a wall at 230 mph.

[Reg]

IMO, his remarks did not do anyone any good except maybe himself. If he wanted a CART ride that bad, maybe he should'nt have risked driving anymore in F1 when he found out he was'nt an option for jaguar 2001.

Any team can have equipment and/or human error failure and Johnny was part of that team in Jaguar. CART as well as F1 is about team effort and all good fortunes as well as bad should be looked upon that way, as a team effort.

I cannot see his belly aching landing him a ride now.

Maybe he should take up tennis... but maybe then he'd find blame in the ball.

[Zoe]

Please tell me: Which team didn't receive Johnnys blame?

I always thought that Mansell (and maybe DC) was the biggest whiner, but Johnny seems to try to beat them for that prize!

At least now he knows that of course it wasn't his fault that CART teams didn't queue for his services. Ah well...

Zoe

[P1 Pyrsol]

is that article for real? what's the source? those are stupid things to say to a friend, let alone a journo.

[Paste]

I think Johnny needs to learn that the fact that he did NOTHING this year is likely pretty close to the reason that he didn't get himself a ride in CART. It's his own fault. He didn't measure up to Irvine.

But I guess he's got a point, I mean it was pretty obvious that Jaguar caused his car to break on purpose to screw him out of a ride. I think he needs a reality check. As long as you're driving race cars, stuff like that is gonna happen, and you need to be willing to take those risks. But for poor Johnny it seems that he thinks Jaguar did something malicious to him. That's car racing (accidents and stuff).

I think he needs to shoulder a large portion of the blame here..

[Piquet_1]

I might be thinking of another team and driver's comments, but I think I read that Jaguar had a breakage earlier and they manufactured the new part to be three times stronger than the original - and it still broke again in a very scary fashion. Remember Monaco 99 where both Fords had frightening breakages? That would be a bit perturbing.

Not that I'm defending Herbert - I've been steadily getting chuckles at his blind assumption that he'd have a CART ride for 2001 before he even spoke with anyone.

[stevew]

Johnny Herbert should remember the fates of some before him...

Jochen Rindt, Peter Revson, Patrick Depailler to name a few who suffered from car failures...

[DangerMouse]

Paste in 3 or 4 of tha last races JH out raced Irvine (and passed HHF JV and Barrachello on the track) - yeah what did he do? a damn site more than double CART champion Zanardi managed in a whole season.


In his last race he was heading for a points scoring position after outracing EI again - then a car failure injured him - enough to make anyone angry.

[Paste]

The season is 17 races pal, not 3 or 4. Herbert blew for the other ones. Zanardi is proven in CART, so he's obviously wanted back.

The fact that Johnny outraced Irvine for three or four races at seasons end is great. It just doesn't make up for the other bunch that he got outraced.

[Hooster]

"The Englishman believes the accident was down to the team's negligence and says it has jeopardised his chances of finding a ChampCar seat. "

My feeling is that most of you are used to reading comments made by drivers that are under contract with teams and not allowed to speak their mind. I wish drivers were more outspoken than they are but I am afraid they can't be because it would make them unpopular with their bosses. You are just so used to sanitized and politically correct comments you are shocked when a driver says what he really thinks. I suppose you would rather Herbert had said something like this; "In spite of the fantastic effort by the team to make the car strong and reliable we had a freak failure no one could have predicted". In the end what you like is up to you. I much prefer the honest approach.

Everyone knows Jaguar stinks and Herbert was perfectly justified saying what he did.

[Zoe]

I happily believe that Johnny isn't happy with his accident or with the way Jaguar was working. However, things like that can (and do) happen, the same way as driver errors do happen. It is part of racing and you know that before you sign a contract and step into a car.

Maybe I am picky but a comment like:

If you make mistakes as a driver then you can accept it, but when you get into trouble because someone else has got it wrong, it is very hard to take.

just indicates to me some arrogance. So he as a driver is entitled making mistakes, but no one else is, huh? I hope that he was misquoted on that and maybe we really shouldn't interpret that much into drivers interviews.

However, what I think is really really low-class of Herbert is, that he is now blaming Jaguar that he apparently won't get a seat in CART.

Zoe

[Smooth]

Originally posted by Reg
Maybe he should take up tennis... but maybe then he'd find blame in the ball.

Bwahhahahahahah!

[Duck]

I find Johnny's alleged comments quite surprising to say the least. I've always considered Johnny a fine, and gutsy driver. The question I have continually asked myself during the last six months or so is why he would want to transition to C.A.R.T.? Not that I doubt his ability to perform well, but after a long, and hopefully, satisfying F1 career, why would he voluntarily place himself in a series which INHERENTLY incorporates 230 m.p.h. average lap speeds, AND concrete walls? His poor legs, and lower extremities have been beaten-up enough.
Obvioulsy, ANY and ALL racing drivers MUST accept the natural risks involved. IF Johnny was quoted correctly, I would think that now, after the fact, he regrets his wording, AT LEAST making his feelings so public.

[pa]

I'm interested to know why the driver who everyone said was the nicest guy in F1, and the most popular among the drivers, is suddenly the biggest asshole in F1 just because he complains about some pretty grotesque engineering/mechanical failures on the car he happened to be driving at speeds over 160 m.p.h.

I suppose everyone would believe that his whining was justified had he been killed or maimed in those crashes.

[George Bailey]

My beef with what he is reported to have said is that he seems to be saying, "When I screw up it's understandable- things happen, when my mechanics screw up it's unforgivable". A strange double standard.

[Nikolas Garth]

Originally posted by P1 Pyrsol
is that article for real? what's the source? those are stupid things to say to a friend, let alone a journo.

Well said.

[pa]

Originally posted by George Bailey
My beef with what he is reported to have said is that he seems to be saying, "When I screw up it's understandable- things happen, when my mechanics screw up it's unforgivable". A strange double standard.

Not really. He is by definition in control of what he does in an F1 car. When that car does things to him, it's no longer within his control.[p][Edited by pa on 12-22-2000]

[George Bailey]

Sure, but if a mechanic said "I was so annoyed with Herbert, we bulit a perfect car and he makes a mistake that should not happen. It's hard to take knowing we have to spend all night fixing the suspension when we did nothing wrong..." - he'd look like an idiot.

[Piquet_1]

Mechanics, like most other jobs and regardless of the pressure to deliver on sunday, have the liberty to work in a relatively more methodical manner than a race driver - that's why we watch the drivers work and not the crews on saturday night. I really don't think the two jobs can be compared in as equally frantic and reactionary and I agree with Herbert's statement.

Additionally, we're not just talking about race mechanics, but also the engineers who should know what types of loads the parts can withstand; obviously they didn't do their job right since it wasn't reported that Herbert hit anything to exceed the tolerances for which the parts were designed.

[Zoe]

Piquet,

thats true, but still it happens. No one is happy with it. However, when Mikas tire deflated in Australia, when his rear suspension broke in Belgium, when HHFs brake disc exploded in Canada, when MSs brakes didn't work in Silverstone, those drivers more or less accepted it as a nasty thing that unfortunately CAN happen.

One thing comes to my mind: I remember a quote about MS: When he put the Ferrari into the wall in Monaco it was reported that he was angry with himself. Some guy said something like "he can accept mistakes from others, but not a mistake of his own". I think that opinion (whether true or not) can't be more opposite of the statement Johnny made.

Still, while I have some sympathy for Johnny about that accident and don't blame him for being publicly unhappy about Jaguar, I still think it is ridiculous of him to blame Jaguar for his apparent joblessness in CART next year. THAT is pathetic.

Zoe

[George Bailey]

Piq_1, You are of course right, the jobs are very different, and it's only Herbert who is in physical danger.

I still think his comments were ill considered because he seems to be forgetting that he works for Jag, not the other way around. The team can mess up in any number of ways any given weekend, and the screw ups cost the team no matter how and why they occur. Blasting fellow teammates, who obviously already know they blew it, doesn't strike me as a good thing to do.


Zoe,

You said what I meant to say much quicker and better

[Dudley]

I really don't think the two jobs can be compared in as equally frantic and reactionary and I agree with Herbert's statement.

Say that again when you have to change an engine in 25minutes

[magic]

jh was the best thing since sliced bread when a big f3000 crash ruined his career.

according to his british fans without this legcrushing crash jh would have been an alltime f1 great.

his second career (cart) is also ruined by a crash.

jh bitter?
i understand.

[selena]

I find it hard to believe that JH really said those harsh words.

[RiverRunner]

The days of ex F1 drivers finding an automatic seat in CART are over,there is far too much young talent that is working very hard to get into CART,JH was daft if he thought they would hold a seat for him,injured or not.