21 replies to this topic

[RedFever]

Sounds like Alex's days at Bennetton are over.....

"Q. Flavio, there is a similar situation inside your team. What is the future for Alexander Wurz?
Flavio Briatore: I have no idea. I don't know. I honestly don't know whether he will stay with the team.

Q. Might you get rid of him?
FB: I have no idea. We have been running Benetton for the past two months. As everyone knows, Benetton finished 6th in the championship last year. I believe the team does not deserve to be in this sort of position and now we are trying to build up the team again. It is not something that can be done in just two months. Renault has announced a plan to be [competitive again] in F1 by 2002, which leaves us two years to prepare the team in the best way possible.

Q. Are you planning to change a huge amount of things?
FB: I will change what needs to be changed. I don't have to tell the press what will be changed, because I get no help from the press. I will just change what I feel is necessary to change. But I don't want to start any revolution, because the basis is there. It just needs a few changes and then the team will be there.

[Pacific]

It has been reported Wurz is set for the rest of 2000, but he will not be back in 2001 with Benetton. Perhaps Sauber if Diniz is let go. (Wurz has more talent than Diniz, but of course Wurz is heavier naturally than every F1 driver.)

But, Benetton should go after Villeneuve to pair with Fisichella. That'd be a great driver pairing for Renault in 2002. I imagine Antonia Pizzonia will also be considered if they cannot get Villeneuve as a new hot young talent.

Certainly Wurz will not be back in 2001 with Benetton.

[Mrv]

Wurz is history at Benetton. What has happened to Alex I don't have a clue. 2 years ago he showed so much promise, that they were hailing him as a future World Champion. Too bad, Alex is a nice individual and I hope he gets another ride in F1 with some other team.

[RedFever]

Pacific, I believe ALex has talent, but as you point out, he will never make it in F1. He needs to divert his focus on a series where is physic is not an undicap.

[Lamont]

Red, unfortunately I'm inclined to agree regarding the "physical handicap" thing. When he came into F1 I was a big fan, with Gerhard Berger out it was nice to have another Austrian driver. Plus he was so personable and showed some talent. Unfortunately, his height seems to be a major drawback when it comes time to design the car....

[TBone]

Ironic that the driver AW replaced at Benetton was Berger, who was also pretty tall, if my memory is correct.

[Gruff]

I disagree. Diniz is better than Wurz.

Diniz outperformed Alesi last year, while Alesi outperformed Wurz in the Benetton a few years back. OK, it was the start of Wurz's career, but at the same time, the start of Wurz's career was his best time in F1. He has progressively got worse and worse. Maybe it is down to his weight to a degree, but I'm not convinced.

Diniz, however, has got steadily better and better. Indeed, this year I read that Diniz is getting paid more as a salary from Sauber than the cas he brings in from Parmalat. This doesn't prove the guy's worth, but it gives an idication of how much he has improved.

He also excels in extreme wet conditions:
eg
Spain 96: 6h in race
Belgium 97: 7th in race
Belgium 98: 5th in race etc

Also, he was a genuine contender for the #2 2000 Ferrari seat, after Barrichello.

[RedFever]

Gruff, what championship were you watching last year???? Diniz outperformed Alesi? how? when?

OK, Diniz scored 1 more point than Jean, but in qualifying Jean outperformed Diniz 12 times out of 16. That's pretty dominating statistics!!!! Jean scored also a 7th, an 8th and 2 9th places, showing more regularity. Of course, he was in the points many more times than Diniz, but his car was not reliable. Also, Jean managed top 10 starts, Diniz never did.

Clearly Jean outperformed Diniz, regardless of the fact he scored 3 points versus Jean's two. And in the wet Jean is even better than Pedro.

[This message has been edited by RedFever (edited 06-01-2000).]

[Pacific]

Alesi fans rejoice with Jean's speed in practice at Monaco today!!!

Certainly Alesi is more talented than Diniz, but in the races last year, Diniz did get better results. More as a result of increase focus from Diniz, and a lack thereof from Alesi. Alesi needs a good race for a change to recharge the interest batteries.

[RedFever]

Oh come on, Pacific. diniz scored 1 6th place more than Jean, but Jean was in the points several times when his car blew up. Jean is on another level compared to the present Diniz

[Mila]

I don't that Flavio has ever been very big in the driver-support area.

if AW is given the boot, will it be the red or the blue one?

[vroom-vroom]

Could someone kick Diniz's arse out of F1 once and for good? I'm sick of hearing of that rich pathetic snail taking the available seats from genuine young stars.

[Gemini]

"I don't have to tell the press what will be changed, because I get no help from the press"

Oh, that must be ironic.. Flavio is the guy who show many other teams how to use press, publicity and all of that, to make a noise about his team.

He was doing most spectular new car launches etc. This is his skill, atrackting sponsors and keeping media around the team.

J Vill matches perfectly what Flavio needs to get back in the center of media and sponsors interest. He will get JV on board..

[Pacific]

But Red, some of the mistakes Jean made to cost him points were so stupid. Like running out of gas at Austria when the Sauber team was telling him to please pit? Spinning off in France in that position is not highly acceptable regardless of the track conditions. Jean was better than that. He cost the team some points right there. What Diniz did was prove sometimes slow and steady wins the race. At least as Sauber.

Berger said it many times how Jean has his problems but once or twice a year Jean puts in a dynamite performance. Maybe Monaco is one of those this year if practice times are credible. We'll see Saturday I guess.

I'm never going to debate Diniz being more talented than Alesi, we all know that's not true, but Diniz did get that one extra point when Alesi SHOULD have had probably five points more than Pedro.

[Gruff]

OK, I am willing to admit that maybe Diniz is no better than Alesi, but probably no worse either. Alesi is past his peak and is getting slower; Diniz is still improving and has yet to reach his peak.

However, this thread is about Wurz originally, but I'd appreciate comments on Diniz's 2000 season analysis as conducted on the "Diniz to Minardi?" thread, should any of you 'rich kid' haters still remain unconviced.

thanks

[GoAlesi]

Berger actually said something along the lines of "You'll get three nuclear explosions per year, and the rest of the time he'll do a great job for you"

[RedFever]

I am not a Diniz hater at all. I actually like him a lot as a person. He just doesn't have the talent Jean had at his age and will never become a dominant driver in F1. If he gets a top car, he will win a few GPs. But he will never reach Mika and Schumi's level, no matter how many years he will drive in F1. It's that simple.

Also, yesterday Diniz was part of the after practice conference. Asked if it was tougher with Mika Salo or Jean, Diniz said:

"I think we had more fun last year with Jean. It was a great challenge to do the same time as him. But Mika is a quick driver, and he is a challenge too."

Directly from the source, my friend......
http://www.f1-news.net/

[mtl'78]

Evry time Jean spins off, and especially in the rain, I'ts because he's 5 positions ahead of where the pundits placed him, and also because he's lapping half a second faster than the car is able to.

The last couple of years, He's racked up more overtakings than any other driver, even as his rides have gotten progressively worse.

2 years ago I would have put him on a level with Mika Hakkinen, after MS and JV, since Hakk has becopme a champ and Jean is a little older, but If you pay close attention to the race this weekend, you will see his position slowly rise evry couple of laps until his car expires once more. So far this year, I belive he's averaged around 5 passes per race. This when MS in a Ferrari can only look at JV's gearbox from a safe distance, or RB can only tailgate Ralf from 5 lenghts. It isn't as obvious as MS, but Jean is a first rate driver, still has the fire, and is the only driver who could challenge MS in the wet. He would have done better than RB so far had he got the seat instead.

[RedFever]

yeah, I wish they had hired him back to Ferrari. Schumacher wanted him too.

[f1sl]

what's the colour of the boot blue or red? their are only 2 things i like about Wruz it's that he has the same first name as i do and he has a cool looking helmet. he has talent he's won LeMans but i think it's not F1 talent.

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f1sl
Formula 1 Super Links

[Pacific]

Last year in Germany Alesi passed an insane amount of cars but kept having problems and such that weren't his doing if I recall. Jean has great talent, all the tools, just not the tool box. And now he seems to be losing hope. (Dear Jean, feel free to come over and destroy CART after your contract at Prost expires in 2001, thank you.) Jean on true racing tires is sometimes a sight to behold. He'd love CART road courses I think.

[Franco]

Monaco update:

When asked if he was happy with Fisichellas second place, Flavio Briatore said yes, but not happy with Wurz though. He said that Benetton has 2 cars but apparently only 1 driver!!!!

He was quite mad too!!!

OUCH Wurz!!!!!!!