29 replies to this topic

[A3]

Shameless copying from www.autosport.com :

Former world champ says Barrichello is no match for team mate Schumacher


Triple Formula 1 World Champion Nelson Piquet has unleashed a scathing attack on fellow countryman Rubens Barrichello after the Brazilian failed to shine in his home Grand Prix last weekend.

Barrichello qualified sixth and retired from the race on only the second lap after smashing into the back of Ralf Schumacher's Williams. Piquet believes that, despite closing the gap to Ferrari team mate Michael Schumacher in the first few races of 2001, the 28-year-old does not have what it takes to match the world champion.

"Schumacher is much quicker than Barrichello," said Piquet, "perhaps not so much in qualifying, but in the race there's no comparison. There are at least eight tenths a lap between the two in every race except when Schumacher lifts off. That determines clearly who is the number one and who is the number two.

"Schumacher is very happy to have Barrichello with him because he is not a challenge for the championship and he can charge Ferrari what he wants for his services."

Schumacher is less sure of his advantage over his team mate and before Sunday's race the German said that he thought Barrichello had raised his game since last year.

"If you look at Malaysia's qualifying," said Schumacher, "you'll see how much of a challenge he is making. It's very close. I'm still in front, but it's getting tighter."

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn is quick to defend Barrichello and despite being involved in scrapes in all three Grands Prix so far this year, Brawn is unconcerned by his driver's recent spate of accidents.

"I don't think there's a problem," said Brawn. "Maybe he's been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Michael got punted out of two races last year, and you couldn't say he was doing things any different. Sometimes that happens, because it's all very competitive."

[miniman]

Mr. Piquet wants to be remembered as the greatest living Brazilian F1 Driver

[Nathan]

Maybe be it is just me...but I dont rank Piquet very high. He just doesnt seem to have what it took. I guess for me its the same as Lauda...good drivers in great cars.

But I think Senna and Fittipaldi are better than Piquet as far as Brazilian's go.

[mtl'78]

I hate when people do that. Just because you don't like what a driver like Piquet or Lauda have to say, it doesn't change a thing they did on the race track. Both Lauda and Piquet were outstanding drivers, perhaps not the best of their generations, that would go to Peterson, GV, Prost, Senna, but their accomplishments speak for themselves. 6 WDC's between them...

Besides, you may disagree with Piquet (I don't in this case) or Lauda, but they are still more interesting characters than ANY of today's drivers. even the "outspoken" ones like JV or Montoya lack a certain "flair".

[BMW_Power]

Well he's right. In fact, he was right two years aho when he said Barrichelo was'nt good enough to drive for Ferrari. Too bad nobody was listening.

[coyoteBR]

Originally posted by miniman
Mr. Piquet wants to be remembered as the greatest living Brazilian F1 Driver

Well, indeed he is.

And that's not his opinion alone. Terra, the third biggest brazilian Internet provider just made a poll on Rubens Barrichello. People voted if his lack of results are due to:
- Bad Luck
- Unfair treatment by Ferrari
- Too much pression
- Lack of driving skills.

The last option's scoring 52%.



Nathan
With all due respect, Piquet was a complete driver. He was one of the first ones to care about the settings of the cars, the engine, everything. During his carreer, he helped to develop turbo engines, tyres, conventional engines, and the great innovations of Gordon Murray. Every title he won, it was on his own merits on track and as a car developer.

Problem is, today we're used to drivers who hardly leave their PR script. If Nelson wanted to say to someone (drivers or press) to fXXX off, he just did it, not caring about what they would say about him.

[damonhillchamp96]

Piquet is another old timer that should shut the hell up. He is worse than "The Rat". All these old farts who can't seem to realize that F-1 has passed you by, SHUT UP!

[Gilles Villeneuve]

Piquet is allowed his opinion, he's not completely wrong. Rubinho will never win nothing as long as he's #2 behind Schumi.
Rubinho has won 1 race , and the only other race he will win will be because Michael will let him win it, or because Michael gets a DNF.

I,m sure Rubinho is getting quite frustrated being behind Schumi all the time....
I bet Rubinho and Crazy Eddie have something to talk about...

[BT 44]

I dont think thats Nelson you should blame. All hes is doing is honestly answering to the press, hungry for statements like this.

Best regards

BT

(ps)
Before his big shunt at Imola, he was the very best. After that, he lost it.

[The_Z_Man]

Originally posted by BT 44
I dont think thats Nelson you should blame. All hes is doing is honestly answering to the press, hungry for statements like this.

Agreed. And I don't see how different it is in principle from us mouthing about things that for the most part only experience from our collective armchairs.

Not that I necessarily agree with what he said.

Best regards

BT

(ps)
Before his big shunt at Imola, he was the very best. After that, he lost it.

Even though I was a fan for the driving and attitude, i wouldn't rank him as the very best but he was definitely up there, IMO.

The_Z_Man

[magic]

coyotebra;
---------
With all due respect, Piquet was a complete driver. He was one of the first ones to care about the settings of the cars, the engine, everything.
---------

lauda showed the way.


---------
Problem is, today we're used to drivers who hardly leave their PR script. If Nelson wanted to say to someone (drivers or press) to fXXX off, he just did it, not caring about what they would say about him.
---------

yep.
and on ruby he was and is right.

[Duck]

Any multiple World Champion who was able to tame, and drive an 1100 H.P. (upwards of 1400 H.P. in qualifying trim) B.M.W. Brabham, and SURVIVE is someone whose opinion I have to respect. Nelson is Nelson.... the same today as he was back when he was driving - as outspoken as ever. I think Nelson's the type of guy I could sit down with over a cold one and discuss not only F1 as it existed in the eighties, but the current state of F1 as it exists.
As far as Lauda is concerned, again, I certainly can't dis a former multiple World Champion, but I don't think Niki would be a lotta laughs as a conversationalist.

[BuzzingHornet]

To be honest I don't care if Rubens is good enough or not, only that he is getting fair treatment (which he is) from Ferrari. If he then fails miserably then its down to him... that's sport ;)

there aren't really any decent replacements floating around (apart from de la Rosa (or Alesi!) so it looks like they are stuck with RB.

Piquet speaks his mind, yeah it does seem like he is jealous of every Brazilian still racing (even though he is one of the greatest) but he usually says what he thinks. You have to put his comments into the context of a disasterous home Grand Prix and the outcry that i expect has happened in Brazil... newspaper column inches to fill and all that

[Peeko]

"Nigel Mansell is the fastest idiot in the world." - Nelson Piquet

Nelson's classic.

[vroom-vroom]

Piquet is pure garbage - belongs to a Sao Paulo gutter.

He won a WDC on illegal fuel.

Once Senna started to make waves, Piquet made statements questioning Senna's sexuality.

Once Mansell started kicking his butt, he called his wife ugly, among other niceties.

A very classless act, IMO. Not a WDC to be proud of.

[mtl'78]

I believe he called his wife a pig...;)

[BuzzingHornet]

The funniest stories i've heard about Piquet mainly involve Mansell.

My favourites are the time that Mansell was suffering from dihorrea (sp?) ok the sh!ts and Piquest stole the toilet roll from the Williams pit just before the race

Or when he had his friends sitting in the grandstands on slow corners with 'Nigel is a wanker' signs... apparently Mansell complained to Frank Williams about that one

[John]

I'm not as well versed in the personalities of former F1 drivers but that Piquet has a sense of humour, despite being a bit of a bugger.

I wouldn't write off Barrichello so soon. But he should realise that the time it takes for him to take his right foot off the throttle and put it on the brake is seriously in question.
Perhaps he needs glasses too, for better depth perception.

Or maybe he needs to be taken out back and wacked a few times by the F1 mafia.

[klipywitz]

Alright, READ THIS about Piquet:

Although a big fan of Piquet myself, there is one thing that must be said about Piquet and Barrichello.

Piquet has been an arduous non-supporter of Barrichello since his earlier days, when Barrichello changed sponsors before Formula 1. It so happened that the sponsor Barrichello dropped was a good personal friend of Piquet and, ever since, he has been bad mouthing RB. Just another Piquet stab at RB.

That said, there is no doubt that Piquet was one of the greatest all time drivers. As mentioned before, not only did he win 3 wdc (at times where there were a bunch of good drivers and good teams), but he also did that in, sometimes, adverse conditions -- like having Williams giving a better car to Mansell, etc. He was genius when it comes to strategy and car setup, and major contributor to many advances in Formula 1. He does have a quick temper though, and that is kind of fun if you know the reasons behind it.

I figured that you guys out there should know about the sponsor bit; it changes things considerably.

Forgot to add: he was doing an excellent job at the Indy 500 qualifiers (1st by far! in his first track experience) till something also went wrong technically with his car, although they will also never admit it -- much like Senna's final accident. He had his touch, and it was a pretty darn excellent one.

[klipywitz]

Oh! Piquet stories? My favorite one involves Nanini (or another Italian, sorry cant remeber) -- I think. Wasnt he the one that had his hand chopped off in an helicopter accident? He had it re-implanted shortly after, but I dont think he went back to racing...

Well, when Piquet crashed bad at Indy and had to undergo major surgeries and lost sensibility at his feet, Nanini sent him a telegram while he was still in the hospital. It read something like this:

"Dont worry, you veer and I accelerate". It reputely generated some good laughs from Piquet while still in the hospital...

That is what I call friendship...


The F1 days were way more fun when Piquet was around...

[Hi Test]

[SpeedReptile]

Piquet stories and fun facts:

. He once peed into Mansell's gas tank while nobody was watching during a qualifying run, and laughed his ass off as Mansell struggled under acceleration. He once admitted to it.

. After his crash at Indy, he made lots of jokes about his feet. One of the most famous was "now I wear a size 42 on one foot and a 37 on the other!".

. Apparently Mansell had a statue built of his wife's upper body. Piquet: "Now he has the two uggliest women in the world!"

. One day during a press conference he was bored and he started telling how F1 is rigged and everything is pre-decided in a meeting a few hours before the race. He said even the lap and reason why a car expired was pre-decided. Apparently some news people printed it, but most knew what happened.

. He won one championship on illegal fuel and another one (81) cheating on the weight of his car using ice as a ballast. But that was apparently a common practice back then - supposedly Williams (Jones and Reutemann) did it too.

. Back in the 80s the press used to give out the Lemon Award to the driver that they considered to be the ruddest and the hardest to interview. Piquet was a multiple-time winner. Senna also won it.

. Senna apparently seduced Piquet's girlfriend to get back to him on those gay jokes Piquet spread all the time.

. Piquet is a typical "malandro carioca" - if you know Brazil you know what I mean But he always worked very hard and had no family money to support his way up.

[molive]

NP is one of my favourite drivers all time, but he does have a personal thing going on against RB (maybe because RB was AS´s protegé).

Despite all that, I reckon today´s F1 could use a bloke like NP once in a while to put things into a more laughable perspective...;)

[Gilles Villeneuve]

Piquet and Mansell seem to get along fine......NOT....lol

leaving with the toilet paper roll was quite funny. Hey it's all in good fun, I wouldn't want to be the guy cleaning his racing suit after....lol.

[senninha]

Originally posted by SpeedReptile


. He won one championship on illegal fuel and another one (81) cheating on the weight of his car using ice as a ballast. But that was apparently a common practice back then - supposedly Williams (Jones and Reutemann) did it too.

. Back in the 80s the press used to give out the Lemon Award to the driver that they considered to be the ruddest and the hardest to interview. Piquet was a multiple-time winner. Senna also won it.

. Senna apparently seduced Piquet's girlfriend to get back to him on those gay jokes Piquet spread all the time.

. Piquet is a typical "malandro carioca" - if you know Brazil you know what I mean But he always worked very hard and had no family money to support his way up.

And you may be a "paulista". I'm very embarassed nowdays how brazilian people didn't do a real value wich Piquet deserves. We can see it since we have to cheer for Barrichello !!


1 - How can you buy this BS of ilegal fuel ? Piquet explained what improved BMW's performance at the end of the season. The intercooler was previoulsly heated to give more HP's.

2 - this gay thing was spread by Prost. Piquet only put it in public only reacting by Senna's interview. Senna said he would dissapear to give an space to "another" drive appear on the media. Senna said it just after Piquet on his 3th WDC and Senna had nothing until that time. Piquet's reply was classic "Senna will dissapear only to not explain why he doesn't like women !" Was o joke with seriuos consequences. But Senna felt revenged, since he slept with one of Piquet's wifes (from nederlands) BEFORE all this gay thing.

3 - The lemon award - Piquet explained too. The prize was created by a french reporter wich had some problems with BMW. If you don't remeber Piquet was WDC ahead 3 frenchmen (Prost, arnoux and Tambay) and french team (Renault) ...

4 - The ugly Mansell's wife - Piquet explained: There was a LIVE interview with Murray Walker (a typical brit Mansell supporter). NP though: "i would't let the chance of joking with him". Walker questioned NP about : What NP was different than Mansell ?

NP anwser: "I play tennis whenever NM palys golf; i'm bralizilian whenever NM is brit; I won 3 WDC whenever NM lost 2; I like beautiful women and NM not ..."

5 - Piquet didn't like Rubens cause in 80's there was a classic question in Brazil: "Piquet OR Senna?" (never AND). Barrichello always said: Senna, whenever C. Fittipaldi (Rubens track rival that time) said: Piquet. So, Rubens became Senna's protegee. The Arisco thing only grew up Piquet's dislike about Rubens.

BTW: Waht Rubens did with "Arisco" was a "sacacanagem" ... Geraldo Rodrigues things. This man will finish zonta's career !!

[SpeedReptile]

What did Rubens do with Arisco? I don't live in Brazil anymore...

[coyoteBR]

You mean, aside the fact RB droped the brand supported him since kart (BTW, notice how his helmet ressembles Arisco Logo?) at the moment he would give it more exposure?

About Piquet manners, sayings and atitudes:
Hey, I want a driver to cheer for, not to marry my daughter:lol:

[LuckyStrike1]

3 titles, loads of racewins. Fast and good enough to unrattle guys like Mansell and Senna. Yeah, the guy was a complete wanker ..... Mazzacane is way better than this complete looser .....

GIVE IT A BREAK ! I agree completely when mtl´78, just because you don't like a specific driver, you don't have to say that all he did was wrong.

Nathan - if not taking 3 titles and a lot of race wins is to have what it takes ...... well, then I have to remind you that it took Schumi 4 years to take a title with Ferrari and he "only" has 3 titles ... I was never a fan of Piquet (or Schumi) but I still recognize that they both are among the best drivers in the world...

And what a relief that there still are people like Piquet who at least say what's on their mind instead of consider the politics. Piquet do have a point about Rubens though ..I don't think that he ever will become a worldchampion and I would be surprised to see him even notch up 10 GP wins in his career.

[senninha]

Originally posted by SpeedReptile
What did Rubens do with Arisco? I don't live in Brazil anymore...

Rubens family wasn't that rich. So, Arisco sponsorship since Kart until F1 helped Rubens a lot.
Rubens image was associated to Arisco as Senna's to Nacional ...

But Rubens' lack of gratitude (Geraldo ?) changed it to Pepsi in 95.

So, the rest everybody knows, Pespi was with rubens only one year, just because Irvine outpace Rubens.

Well done.

[coyoteBR]

Adding to Senninha:
Now his only personal sponsor is Net/Globo Cable Tv. (Nope, Nokia doesn't sponsor him, just uses him in ads.)[to brazilians only] That would explain tons of commentaries by Galvão Bueno [/to brazilians only]