9 replies to this topic

[molive]

Pedro issued a formal complaint against his team after he was told to go test with the team in Mugello. The fact is that Sauber wanted to compare PPD with the team´s test driver Bernoldi and used the testing session for that without telling Diniz.

As it turned out, PPD was more than 1sec quicker than Bernoldi, but he was so upset, and felt that the trust he had in Peter Sauber had been broken, that he´s openly negotiating with other teams for next year (Prost is one of them).

[Wishbone]

Bitter Sauber driver signs for Prost? Bet that's never happened before.

[Sudsbouy]

I would suggest it's more than possible this is a way for Diniz to save face. Everything I've seen indicates that Sauber have pretty much decided they don't want him back. In fact his reputation is such that he may not be able to get another ride in F1, even with all that money in his pockets.

The guy should pay less attention to his own feelings and more to other drivers on the track.

Thank you.

[Linus27]

Wishbone

I shouldn't laugh as my favourite driver is at Prostbut it was very funny.

[molive]

Suds,

You mean, he beating Bernoldi was a false shoot out to help Diniz save face? C´mon.

I don´t rate Diniz too highly either, he´s just an average driver IMO. But he has shown on many ocasions that he´s more than a bagful of cash. He has put in some good drives during his career and often outpaced his more famed teamates. Spa happens to be one of these tracks where he had good drives before. His experience (after driving for many team) can be an asset for a middle-pack team trying to develop their package.

Either Prost or Minardi, not much difference.

[Damop]

For a pay driver he has a useful amount of skill and talent, so I think one of the underfunded, underperforming teams (Prost and Minardi) would be happy to get an injection of nice warm Parmalat cash.

[Todd]

Diniz isn't very good, but when he was teamed with Damon Hill at Arrows, there were five races that both Arrows drivers finished. Pedro beat Damon on 3 of those 5 occasions. That doesn't make him great, but he is comparable to the David Coulthards and Jacques Villeneuves of the world.

[Pacific]

Diniz comparable to DC and Jacques...I can't wait for the Canadians to read this.

Seriously though, I mentioned in another thread that returning to Sauber and going to Minardi looked like real options. Apparently Prost is also on this list. (There are rumors they will lose some sponsors after this season, so...)

If I were Diniz I'd try going to Minardi before I'd go to Prost, unless Prost gets a Ferrari engine of course. His best bet is really to try to stay with Sauber.

There are good reasons why Sauber have lost faith in Diniz.

A. Canada
B. Austria
C. Germany
D. Salo is generally faster

And even though we all knew Salo was better, it does lead to the team having more enthusiasm for Salo. Now that Salo is leaving for sure, this is Diniz' shot to win back affection within the team. Instead he does this. Alexander Wurz is almost certain to join the team, but if Diniz keeps pulling crap on and off the track...wave hello to Ricardo Zonta at Prost.

The fact Bernoldi got beat by a second by Pedro Diniz means he's not ready for F1. Pedro can drive fast, he usually isn't too far off of Salo, but still. Diniz had some good consistent drives in 1999, it seemed like a break-through year, but instead, he follows it up with this crap. He appears faster...but he's making some stupid mistakes this year, especially as of late.

What Diniz needs is some good performances the rest of the season.

Signing for Prost at this time is not a good answer for anybody. Time needs to pass to see how things sort out with the Prost team, which of course means, Prost will likely be the last team to finalize their drivers. Or near last.

[Mila]

we're making the assumption that Bernoldi and PD had equal cars? that is, would Sauber make the new guy look bad in order to lower his market value?

just speculation.

I tend to agree, Pacific, PD seemed to be improving from year to year until this season.

[Jhope]

yeah..cause i see an american driver with the skill required in F1 in the near future right??? Please. Jax has a championship and is rated second to shumi by almost everybody in the bloody paddock Todd! ~eesh~ comments like yours are not even worth commenting on. i wonder why the hell i'm doing this then!!!! i must be mad.
As for DC. he blows Diniz out of the water anyday of the week here, or any other planet in this galaxy.

Oh by the way, wasn't there talk of having Diniz in a ferrari seat 2 years ago? Your god and mine, Shumi, once said he followed diniz around silverstone on test day and said he had very interesting and effective driving lines. Micky wanted Diniz at ferrari 2 years ago.If so, i guess you wouldn't mund having a DC or Jax in a ferrari then. right?

so todd, before you open your mouth, think and know abit about what you have before you.