Jaques Habla acerca de la F1
Publicado: 22 Feb 2007 12:17
podria estar en un 90% de acuerdo con este tipo
fun fun fun
It has been 10 years since I won my world championship in 1997, and so much in my life has changed in the interim – family, baby, music… But so much in Formula 1 has changed, too. I’ll be following the 2007 season with interest, of course. You might think I’d be pleased to see a Michael Schumacher-free season, but I’m not really. You need heroes to beat, or else people just decide that everybody is ‘great’. There should be at least 10 Alonsos and Schumacher’s, but, sadly, there aren’t. So, it’s time, now, to set the record straight on a few false reputations.
Jacques on RENAULT
It was obvious when I drove for Renault at the end of 2004 that they were a team on the cusp of winning championships. Everything about them was amazing – the factory, the way they worked. Flavio seriously knows his stuff. Driver-wise, though, they don’t seem such a strong team in 2007. Alonso was the reason Renault were so dangerous in the past couple of years. You need a star driver to keep people interested and the team motivated, so it’s strange that they don’t now have one.
GIANCARLO FISICHELLA
I want to be positive about Fisi because he’s a nice guy and has been in F1 for a long time. But he just doesn’t cut it. He can’t compare to Alonso. People used to say, “If only he was in a good car, he’d be a world champion.” But the first time he got in a good car, he couldn’t cope with the pressure and simply wasn’t quick enough. I don’t know why. Some say the Renault was made for Alonso and didn’t suit Fisi’s driving style, but by the third race I did with Alonso as a team-mate, we had two cars that were completely different doing the same lap times. So maybe Fisi just spent too much time in crap cars. But now, even if he beats Heikki, I don’t think he’s got anywhere to go. He’s done. He’s there as a benchmark for Heikki, and then at the end of the season, or even halfway through, they’ll put Nelson Piquet Jr in the car. That seems logical, sadly. Piquet would be fun. He’s the next generation and people know the name, so it would bring more interest to F1.
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
I’ve no idea how Heikki will compare with Fisi. He’s a nice guy, but I don’t know how he’ll do in a race. Testing form doesn’t always translate, so he’s a question mark. Flavio has so many drivers under contract – they could be good or bad, it doesn’t matter – that he’ll put them in the car. So, there’s a fair chance Heikki will be quick, but we’ll see how he fares under pressure.
Jacques on FERRARI
Ferrari are a great team, but much of what they are today came from Michael and his group of people. He did 11 seasons at Ferrari, so whoever they got next would find it very difficult: Kimi, Alonso, whoever. Psychologically, they need to keep Michael involved – even at a token level – so the troops can see their king is still among them. That could make a difference – until prince Felipe takes over.
FELIPE MASSA
Massa will probably take over as team leader. He did a really strong job last year, made a few mistakes, but didn’t look too shabby next to Michael. He’s intelligent, talented, quick. With the right equipment, he can be a title contender. Then we’ll see if he’s really a great, or just a good, driver. But he could be great.
I criticised him a lot at first, but he was way too young when he arrived in F1. He couldn’t even go in a straight line. After a year testing at Ferrari, he was a different guy. By the time we were team-mates at Sauber, he was amazing: strong, mature, focused, hard-working – and we became friends. He’s even more relaxed now. He and Kimi will definitely challenge each other, but Felipe should finish ahead because of his work ethic.
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN
Kimi is overrated as a driver package, because apart from jumping in a car and going fast, he really doesn’t care about the rest. A complete driver will spend time with the engineers, setting up the car and pushing the team. He doesn’t give a s*&!, so he isn’t up there with Alonso. In a way it’s good for F1 to have a driver like that – you can’t just have robots. And he is fast. But you never know how dedicated he is. He’ll look good, then have the odd race where he’s somewhere else. You can imagine him saying, “Okay, I’m done with F1, bye” for no reason. If there’s no fireworks with him and Ferrari then it’ll be fine, but only if Felipe manages to drive the team. Then Kimi can do a few quick races. But he cannot drive the team.
Jacques on McLAREN
I’ve no idea what’s happening with McLaren, it’s really strange. They’re a big team with big money, so it’s not understandable why the results haven’t come. From the outside it doesn’t look like they understand, either, and that makes it difficult to progress. With Alonso, they could do something really special, if they listen to him, work with him and don’t try to mould him. Then I can see great things happening because he can help them a lot. They need a driver who is focused, hungry and knows what it is to win. Alonso is as hungry as hungry can be, but a lot depends on the car. If it continues to break down a lot, that will have a big effect.
FERNANDO ALONSO
Even before Alonso arrived in F1, you could see he was special. Not his qualifying so much – but his racing. I remember at the time I spoke with Flavio and told him he should get him under contract. He did, and it was obviously a good choice. When Alonso puts his helmet on, all he cares about is winning. He’s a bull; nothing deters him. He’ll make the odd mistake, like anyone, but not a great many. So, as long as it doesn’t blow-up socially between him and McLaren, I think he’ll move the team forward. It may take a while, though.
LEWIS HAMILTON
He’s quick, but still green. He’s won everything he’s done, but that’s not always a good thing for F1. But he could buck the trend. He’s a very nice character, but since he’s the first black driver in F1 a huge amount of pressure and attention will be put on him. Any mistake will be heavily criticised, so that will make or break him. Alonso will either make him better or eat him alive. That will depend on how strong Hamilton is himself, but he seems to have good work ethics. McLaren always protect their drivers, too, so he should have plenty of time to get up to pace without too much pressure.
Jacques on HONDA
They recovered during the season last year, which was positive. If other teams have problems, Honda could move forward. But they seem to have too many chiefs and not enough Indians. So that could be the problem, long-term. At the moment it isn’t clear who makes the decisions.
JENSON BUTTON
F1 Racing recently published my ‘59 most mouthy moments’ [September 2006]. When I read it, there were a couple of quotes about Jenson that I said back in 2003 where I thought, “Ouch! That didn’t come out too well!” Jenson didn’t deserve that. Some of the things I said were a little bit too harsh and a couple shouldn’t have been said at all. But I’d built that team, and suddenly a new team principal was saying, “We don’t want Jacques, he’s useless – we’ve got a future world champion in Jenson.” Jenson had done nothing at the time and had had his %&$ kicked by Fisichella at Benetton. So mainly I was saying let’s just wait and see – I’ll respect him once he achieves something. And he did, so I did. It wasn’t as bad as it was portrayed and there was never a problem between us. He’s fast, strong, and nothing disturbs him. But he’ll have to be in a position to take a shot at the championship if we’re to see if he’s as good as Alonso. That’s highly probable, because he’s at least as good as Kimi
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
Rubens is better than he showed last year. He just couldn’t adapt to the car, and every driver can have that. The thing is, Jenson is very established and not a complainer. He just drives. So if another driver arrives and complains, the team might say, “Jenson can drive it, so just shut up.” But if Rubens doesn’t put his foot down and force people to change things, he’ll go nowhere. You antagonise people when you do that, so it becomes a recovery situation, not a winning situation. That’s as much the team’s fault as anything, but a year under his belt at Honda should help Rubens.
Jacques on BMW-SAUBER
BMW are a good team. The people are competent; they have a big budget, a great wind tunnel. But, as a driver, you just have to go along with whatever the team want. If you disagree, you can have fireworks. No one tells Mario Theissen what to do. I didn’t have a problem with him, personally, but, if you need a little psychological help, you won’t get that from him; more the opposite. You’re less than dirt, basically. But that’s the modern approach to F1 – just business. Apart from that, he’s a nice guy. I was a bit surprised when they replaced me, because, internally, everything was working well with me and the team. I suppose they really believe Kubica can do a good job, so fair enough. They may be wrong, they may be right. I have no problem with that. At least it wasn’t a political decision.
NICK HEIDFELD
You don’t see it from the outside, but Nick says what he thinks, and puts his foot down. He’s a team driver and a hard worker. Sometimes too hard. There comes a point where you just have to go to bed. But Nick is very conscientious. He’s capable of being on the podium at every race, and – if the car is strong – winning races. He always finds a way to go quickly. But he’s very quiet, and not so young any more, so people don’t talk about him.
Robert KUBICA
Kubica is fast but made a mistake in every race last year. Any driver who makes a mistake almost every race is driving too fast for themselves. And he’s very hard on his machinery, and I don’t think he’ll be capable of changing his driving style enough to suit the harder Bridgestone’s. If he can be more gentle, then he could be up there. But it’ll get really interesting from 2008 when he goes without traction control.
Jacques on TOYOTA
Year after year, it’s the same. Toyota have some really good races, then some incredibly bad ones. It’s strange how extreme it is. It can’t be explained from the outside, but they seemed to recover during 2006, so hopefully that will continue into 2007. They certainly have the money to be successful.
RALF SCHUMACHER
We’ve seen the best of Ralf over the years, so I think everybody knows what he’s capable of. On a good day, he can be extremely good – but it does need to be a good day. He’s been in fine teams for quite a few years now, so I’d say he’s peaked. It’s a bit harsh, though, when people say he doesn’t deserve of his place in F1. That’s only because Michael is his brother, making it hard for him to be perceived objectively.
JARNO TRULLI
Jarno seems to have got better. He used to be a great qualifier who couldn’t race, but over the years he’s getting better at racing. He seems a hard worker, so I see him as carrying the team more than Ralf does. But he’s been in F1 a long time, so I think we’ve seen what he’s capable of, too. When he gets out of the car he looks one of the most tired. That’s not lack of fitness, but a sign of how much psychological effort he puts in. Maybe that’s why, in some races, he slows down a bit from time to time. I think he’s overly tense and wears himself out when he doesn’t need to. Maybe it’s because he sets his car up too much for qualifying.
Jacques on RED BULL
Just a fun-image team, that’s all. They’ve got the biggest motorhome, all the girls and so on. They really don’t care about winning. Anyway, that’s the perception. But now they’ve got [designer] Adrian Newey on board, maybe they’re becoming more serious. At least they’re making their driver choices on the basis of what they can bring to the team, not just image. They arrived in F1 saying they wanted to bring in young drivers, but they’ve ended up valuing experienced drivers, which is nice to see.
DAVID COULTHARD
DC is a good friend of mine, and to pull off good races, Even at Monaco las year. He’s a driver you can count on – perfect for any team. He’s dedicated, has a good image, is well spoken. The way he speaks in GPDA meetings is amazing; funny, but at the same time serious, and to the point. He should be running a country or something. He’s as quick as he always was. Maybe he won’t do the ultimate quickest lap, but you can be sure that he’ll always be there bugging you in the race. Drivers are often judged too much on their one qualifying lap, not on their whole approach, how they bring a team forward. On that basis, David is a very strong package.
MARK WEBBER
For the first time, Mark has a big test. He’s been highly rated for years, but never had a proper team-mate. Someone decided one day that he was great, and everyone believed it. But why? Nobody knows. This year we’ll see what he’s really made of. I saw him race in F3000 and, like now, he was a strong, hard-headed racer. But I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him yet. He just needed a team-mate like David to fulfil his potential.
Jacques on WILLIAMS
Williams aren’t the team they used to be. They’re just surviving, which saddens me because they were such an amazing team when I was there [and won the championship]. But they’ve shot themselves in the foot. Over the past few years, everybody’s been either kicked out or criticised. There isn’t one driver who hasn’t been criticised, or a single engine manufacturer. They aren’t capable of accepting that they’re not good enough these days. I think that’s the big problem with Williams. They’ll never take the blame for anything. Even when you win a race, they’ll blame you for not having won it easily enough. It seems, too, that a few people have remained in good positions for years because they’re good politicians, which doesn’t help, either. The team have done nothing since Sam Michael took over. Sadly, therefore, I think the winning days for Williams are over.
NICO ROSBERG
Nico is quick, but the car broke down too many times last year for me to make a proper judgement, so he’s just lived off he fame of his first race. He definitely should be in F1, but I don’t know yet if he’s a win contender or not. If he isn’t quicker than Wurz, that’ll be the end of him.
ALEX WURZ
An odd choice. He was never great, and now he’s just older. You don’t get better with age. You can get wiser and more experienced, but for that you need to be racing, and Alex hasn’t been. He could struggle, depending on how good Nico is.
Jacques on TORO ROSSO
They abused the rules last year, using the V10, which was embarrassing. And from what I’ve read it looks like they’ll be abusing the rules again this year. They aren’t a proper team – more a test team who go racing to give some young drivers a chance. But it’s fun to have Gerhard Berger back in the sport. He’s a nice character. And I suppose it’s better to have a team who abuse the regulations and are closer to the pace than a useless one like Minardi running five seconds off it.
TONIO LIUZZI
Apart from him dressing like a rapper doing karaoke, there’s nothing to say about Liuzzi. F1 isn’t karaoke, it’s the pinnacle of motor racing. You just wonder how long he spent in front of the mirror to make sure his hat was tilted exactly far enough to look cool. I could never like the guy because of that, and I don’t see how he can be perceived as a serious driver. His driving is nothing special, anyway.
SCOTT SPEED
He has a great surname for motor racing. There’s nothing more to say. Except he’s lucky that his sponsor, Red Bull, have been wanting to break into North America for years. He hasn’t shown anything to justify his place in F1. He’s shown attitude, but not necessarily a good one. He and Liuzzi are part of a big bunch of drivers who are just there. Not bad, not special; just part of F1. One day they won’t be and no one will notice.
Jacques on SPYKER
I don’t know anything about Spyker, but I hope they’re in it for the right reasons, to move the team forward. The previous guys, Midland, didn’t know what they were getting into. They’ve got Mike Gascoyne, but Toyota only seemed to make progress once he was gone; Renault, too, were at their best once he was gone. Maybe he needs to be in a small team to work well. He’s done good only for himself.
CHRISTIJAN ALBERS
He’s a nasty, dirty driver on the track. If you’re fighting him for 18th place, he drives like he’s going for the win, making it the most dangerous racing you can ever do. When you talk to him about it, it doesn’t register, so he’ll keep doing it. It’s part of an attitude, but making enemies does your career no good. People say he’s quick, but I don’t know why. All he’s done is beat Tiago Monteiro, and who knows how quick he was?
ADRIAN SUTIL
No idea. I’ve not heard anything about him. But it’ll be hard for him as a German, because there are already a bunch of other Germans in F1. It’s much better when you’re the only guy from a particular country.
Jacques on SUPER AGURI
It was insulting to F1 that Aguri were allowed to race last year. They just weren’t ready. By the end of 2006, with their new car, they were quite quick, but it’s easier to get better when you start from so far off. They’ll be more competitive now they’re using the same loophole as Toro Rosso, to use last year’s Honda. In my view, they’ll become the Honda A-team in the future. Maybe, at Brackley, Honda got themselves stuck into something they don’t want.
TAKUMA SATO
The team were created for Sato because once Honda got rid of him, they got so much bad press in Japan. They made him into a hero, falsely, then they were stuck with it. It was insulting that I was replaced by Taku at the end of 2003. It was purely political. He’d never been quick, just a danger on the track. At Aguri, he’s stopped doing stupid things, but only by driving slower.
ANTHONY DAVIDSON
A nice bloke and a hard worker. The question is: has he, like Wurz, been testing too long? But he’s a quick, confident driver. He needs to beat Taku, but that won’t be a problem. If he doesn’t, Taku will be over-driving and will start going off again, mark my words
fun fun fun
It has been 10 years since I won my world championship in 1997, and so much in my life has changed in the interim – family, baby, music… But so much in Formula 1 has changed, too. I’ll be following the 2007 season with interest, of course. You might think I’d be pleased to see a Michael Schumacher-free season, but I’m not really. You need heroes to beat, or else people just decide that everybody is ‘great’. There should be at least 10 Alonsos and Schumacher’s, but, sadly, there aren’t. So, it’s time, now, to set the record straight on a few false reputations.
Jacques on RENAULT
It was obvious when I drove for Renault at the end of 2004 that they were a team on the cusp of winning championships. Everything about them was amazing – the factory, the way they worked. Flavio seriously knows his stuff. Driver-wise, though, they don’t seem such a strong team in 2007. Alonso was the reason Renault were so dangerous in the past couple of years. You need a star driver to keep people interested and the team motivated, so it’s strange that they don’t now have one.
GIANCARLO FISICHELLA
I want to be positive about Fisi because he’s a nice guy and has been in F1 for a long time. But he just doesn’t cut it. He can’t compare to Alonso. People used to say, “If only he was in a good car, he’d be a world champion.” But the first time he got in a good car, he couldn’t cope with the pressure and simply wasn’t quick enough. I don’t know why. Some say the Renault was made for Alonso and didn’t suit Fisi’s driving style, but by the third race I did with Alonso as a team-mate, we had two cars that were completely different doing the same lap times. So maybe Fisi just spent too much time in crap cars. But now, even if he beats Heikki, I don’t think he’s got anywhere to go. He’s done. He’s there as a benchmark for Heikki, and then at the end of the season, or even halfway through, they’ll put Nelson Piquet Jr in the car. That seems logical, sadly. Piquet would be fun. He’s the next generation and people know the name, so it would bring more interest to F1.
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
I’ve no idea how Heikki will compare with Fisi. He’s a nice guy, but I don’t know how he’ll do in a race. Testing form doesn’t always translate, so he’s a question mark. Flavio has so many drivers under contract – they could be good or bad, it doesn’t matter – that he’ll put them in the car. So, there’s a fair chance Heikki will be quick, but we’ll see how he fares under pressure.
Jacques on FERRARI
Ferrari are a great team, but much of what they are today came from Michael and his group of people. He did 11 seasons at Ferrari, so whoever they got next would find it very difficult: Kimi, Alonso, whoever. Psychologically, they need to keep Michael involved – even at a token level – so the troops can see their king is still among them. That could make a difference – until prince Felipe takes over.
FELIPE MASSA
Massa will probably take over as team leader. He did a really strong job last year, made a few mistakes, but didn’t look too shabby next to Michael. He’s intelligent, talented, quick. With the right equipment, he can be a title contender. Then we’ll see if he’s really a great, or just a good, driver. But he could be great.
I criticised him a lot at first, but he was way too young when he arrived in F1. He couldn’t even go in a straight line. After a year testing at Ferrari, he was a different guy. By the time we were team-mates at Sauber, he was amazing: strong, mature, focused, hard-working – and we became friends. He’s even more relaxed now. He and Kimi will definitely challenge each other, but Felipe should finish ahead because of his work ethic.
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN
Kimi is overrated as a driver package, because apart from jumping in a car and going fast, he really doesn’t care about the rest. A complete driver will spend time with the engineers, setting up the car and pushing the team. He doesn’t give a s*&!, so he isn’t up there with Alonso. In a way it’s good for F1 to have a driver like that – you can’t just have robots. And he is fast. But you never know how dedicated he is. He’ll look good, then have the odd race where he’s somewhere else. You can imagine him saying, “Okay, I’m done with F1, bye” for no reason. If there’s no fireworks with him and Ferrari then it’ll be fine, but only if Felipe manages to drive the team. Then Kimi can do a few quick races. But he cannot drive the team.
Jacques on McLAREN
I’ve no idea what’s happening with McLaren, it’s really strange. They’re a big team with big money, so it’s not understandable why the results haven’t come. From the outside it doesn’t look like they understand, either, and that makes it difficult to progress. With Alonso, they could do something really special, if they listen to him, work with him and don’t try to mould him. Then I can see great things happening because he can help them a lot. They need a driver who is focused, hungry and knows what it is to win. Alonso is as hungry as hungry can be, but a lot depends on the car. If it continues to break down a lot, that will have a big effect.
FERNANDO ALONSO
Even before Alonso arrived in F1, you could see he was special. Not his qualifying so much – but his racing. I remember at the time I spoke with Flavio and told him he should get him under contract. He did, and it was obviously a good choice. When Alonso puts his helmet on, all he cares about is winning. He’s a bull; nothing deters him. He’ll make the odd mistake, like anyone, but not a great many. So, as long as it doesn’t blow-up socially between him and McLaren, I think he’ll move the team forward. It may take a while, though.
LEWIS HAMILTON
He’s quick, but still green. He’s won everything he’s done, but that’s not always a good thing for F1. But he could buck the trend. He’s a very nice character, but since he’s the first black driver in F1 a huge amount of pressure and attention will be put on him. Any mistake will be heavily criticised, so that will make or break him. Alonso will either make him better or eat him alive. That will depend on how strong Hamilton is himself, but he seems to have good work ethics. McLaren always protect their drivers, too, so he should have plenty of time to get up to pace without too much pressure.
Jacques on HONDA
They recovered during the season last year, which was positive. If other teams have problems, Honda could move forward. But they seem to have too many chiefs and not enough Indians. So that could be the problem, long-term. At the moment it isn’t clear who makes the decisions.
JENSON BUTTON
F1 Racing recently published my ‘59 most mouthy moments’ [September 2006]. When I read it, there were a couple of quotes about Jenson that I said back in 2003 where I thought, “Ouch! That didn’t come out too well!” Jenson didn’t deserve that. Some of the things I said were a little bit too harsh and a couple shouldn’t have been said at all. But I’d built that team, and suddenly a new team principal was saying, “We don’t want Jacques, he’s useless – we’ve got a future world champion in Jenson.” Jenson had done nothing at the time and had had his %&$ kicked by Fisichella at Benetton. So mainly I was saying let’s just wait and see – I’ll respect him once he achieves something. And he did, so I did. It wasn’t as bad as it was portrayed and there was never a problem between us. He’s fast, strong, and nothing disturbs him. But he’ll have to be in a position to take a shot at the championship if we’re to see if he’s as good as Alonso. That’s highly probable, because he’s at least as good as Kimi
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
Rubens is better than he showed last year. He just couldn’t adapt to the car, and every driver can have that. The thing is, Jenson is very established and not a complainer. He just drives. So if another driver arrives and complains, the team might say, “Jenson can drive it, so just shut up.” But if Rubens doesn’t put his foot down and force people to change things, he’ll go nowhere. You antagonise people when you do that, so it becomes a recovery situation, not a winning situation. That’s as much the team’s fault as anything, but a year under his belt at Honda should help Rubens.
Jacques on BMW-SAUBER
BMW are a good team. The people are competent; they have a big budget, a great wind tunnel. But, as a driver, you just have to go along with whatever the team want. If you disagree, you can have fireworks. No one tells Mario Theissen what to do. I didn’t have a problem with him, personally, but, if you need a little psychological help, you won’t get that from him; more the opposite. You’re less than dirt, basically. But that’s the modern approach to F1 – just business. Apart from that, he’s a nice guy. I was a bit surprised when they replaced me, because, internally, everything was working well with me and the team. I suppose they really believe Kubica can do a good job, so fair enough. They may be wrong, they may be right. I have no problem with that. At least it wasn’t a political decision.
NICK HEIDFELD
You don’t see it from the outside, but Nick says what he thinks, and puts his foot down. He’s a team driver and a hard worker. Sometimes too hard. There comes a point where you just have to go to bed. But Nick is very conscientious. He’s capable of being on the podium at every race, and – if the car is strong – winning races. He always finds a way to go quickly. But he’s very quiet, and not so young any more, so people don’t talk about him.
Robert KUBICA
Kubica is fast but made a mistake in every race last year. Any driver who makes a mistake almost every race is driving too fast for themselves. And he’s very hard on his machinery, and I don’t think he’ll be capable of changing his driving style enough to suit the harder Bridgestone’s. If he can be more gentle, then he could be up there. But it’ll get really interesting from 2008 when he goes without traction control.
Jacques on TOYOTA
Year after year, it’s the same. Toyota have some really good races, then some incredibly bad ones. It’s strange how extreme it is. It can’t be explained from the outside, but they seemed to recover during 2006, so hopefully that will continue into 2007. They certainly have the money to be successful.
RALF SCHUMACHER
We’ve seen the best of Ralf over the years, so I think everybody knows what he’s capable of. On a good day, he can be extremely good – but it does need to be a good day. He’s been in fine teams for quite a few years now, so I’d say he’s peaked. It’s a bit harsh, though, when people say he doesn’t deserve of his place in F1. That’s only because Michael is his brother, making it hard for him to be perceived objectively.
JARNO TRULLI
Jarno seems to have got better. He used to be a great qualifier who couldn’t race, but over the years he’s getting better at racing. He seems a hard worker, so I see him as carrying the team more than Ralf does. But he’s been in F1 a long time, so I think we’ve seen what he’s capable of, too. When he gets out of the car he looks one of the most tired. That’s not lack of fitness, but a sign of how much psychological effort he puts in. Maybe that’s why, in some races, he slows down a bit from time to time. I think he’s overly tense and wears himself out when he doesn’t need to. Maybe it’s because he sets his car up too much for qualifying.
Jacques on RED BULL
Just a fun-image team, that’s all. They’ve got the biggest motorhome, all the girls and so on. They really don’t care about winning. Anyway, that’s the perception. But now they’ve got [designer] Adrian Newey on board, maybe they’re becoming more serious. At least they’re making their driver choices on the basis of what they can bring to the team, not just image. They arrived in F1 saying they wanted to bring in young drivers, but they’ve ended up valuing experienced drivers, which is nice to see.
DAVID COULTHARD
DC is a good friend of mine, and to pull off good races, Even at Monaco las year. He’s a driver you can count on – perfect for any team. He’s dedicated, has a good image, is well spoken. The way he speaks in GPDA meetings is amazing; funny, but at the same time serious, and to the point. He should be running a country or something. He’s as quick as he always was. Maybe he won’t do the ultimate quickest lap, but you can be sure that he’ll always be there bugging you in the race. Drivers are often judged too much on their one qualifying lap, not on their whole approach, how they bring a team forward. On that basis, David is a very strong package.
MARK WEBBER
For the first time, Mark has a big test. He’s been highly rated for years, but never had a proper team-mate. Someone decided one day that he was great, and everyone believed it. But why? Nobody knows. This year we’ll see what he’s really made of. I saw him race in F3000 and, like now, he was a strong, hard-headed racer. But I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him yet. He just needed a team-mate like David to fulfil his potential.
Jacques on WILLIAMS
Williams aren’t the team they used to be. They’re just surviving, which saddens me because they were such an amazing team when I was there [and won the championship]. But they’ve shot themselves in the foot. Over the past few years, everybody’s been either kicked out or criticised. There isn’t one driver who hasn’t been criticised, or a single engine manufacturer. They aren’t capable of accepting that they’re not good enough these days. I think that’s the big problem with Williams. They’ll never take the blame for anything. Even when you win a race, they’ll blame you for not having won it easily enough. It seems, too, that a few people have remained in good positions for years because they’re good politicians, which doesn’t help, either. The team have done nothing since Sam Michael took over. Sadly, therefore, I think the winning days for Williams are over.
NICO ROSBERG
Nico is quick, but the car broke down too many times last year for me to make a proper judgement, so he’s just lived off he fame of his first race. He definitely should be in F1, but I don’t know yet if he’s a win contender or not. If he isn’t quicker than Wurz, that’ll be the end of him.
ALEX WURZ
An odd choice. He was never great, and now he’s just older. You don’t get better with age. You can get wiser and more experienced, but for that you need to be racing, and Alex hasn’t been. He could struggle, depending on how good Nico is.
Jacques on TORO ROSSO
They abused the rules last year, using the V10, which was embarrassing. And from what I’ve read it looks like they’ll be abusing the rules again this year. They aren’t a proper team – more a test team who go racing to give some young drivers a chance. But it’s fun to have Gerhard Berger back in the sport. He’s a nice character. And I suppose it’s better to have a team who abuse the regulations and are closer to the pace than a useless one like Minardi running five seconds off it.
TONIO LIUZZI
Apart from him dressing like a rapper doing karaoke, there’s nothing to say about Liuzzi. F1 isn’t karaoke, it’s the pinnacle of motor racing. You just wonder how long he spent in front of the mirror to make sure his hat was tilted exactly far enough to look cool. I could never like the guy because of that, and I don’t see how he can be perceived as a serious driver. His driving is nothing special, anyway.
SCOTT SPEED
He has a great surname for motor racing. There’s nothing more to say. Except he’s lucky that his sponsor, Red Bull, have been wanting to break into North America for years. He hasn’t shown anything to justify his place in F1. He’s shown attitude, but not necessarily a good one. He and Liuzzi are part of a big bunch of drivers who are just there. Not bad, not special; just part of F1. One day they won’t be and no one will notice.
Jacques on SPYKER
I don’t know anything about Spyker, but I hope they’re in it for the right reasons, to move the team forward. The previous guys, Midland, didn’t know what they were getting into. They’ve got Mike Gascoyne, but Toyota only seemed to make progress once he was gone; Renault, too, were at their best once he was gone. Maybe he needs to be in a small team to work well. He’s done good only for himself.
CHRISTIJAN ALBERS
He’s a nasty, dirty driver on the track. If you’re fighting him for 18th place, he drives like he’s going for the win, making it the most dangerous racing you can ever do. When you talk to him about it, it doesn’t register, so he’ll keep doing it. It’s part of an attitude, but making enemies does your career no good. People say he’s quick, but I don’t know why. All he’s done is beat Tiago Monteiro, and who knows how quick he was?
ADRIAN SUTIL
No idea. I’ve not heard anything about him. But it’ll be hard for him as a German, because there are already a bunch of other Germans in F1. It’s much better when you’re the only guy from a particular country.
Jacques on SUPER AGURI
It was insulting to F1 that Aguri were allowed to race last year. They just weren’t ready. By the end of 2006, with their new car, they were quite quick, but it’s easier to get better when you start from so far off. They’ll be more competitive now they’re using the same loophole as Toro Rosso, to use last year’s Honda. In my view, they’ll become the Honda A-team in the future. Maybe, at Brackley, Honda got themselves stuck into something they don’t want.
TAKUMA SATO
The team were created for Sato because once Honda got rid of him, they got so much bad press in Japan. They made him into a hero, falsely, then they were stuck with it. It was insulting that I was replaced by Taku at the end of 2003. It was purely political. He’d never been quick, just a danger on the track. At Aguri, he’s stopped doing stupid things, but only by driving slower.
ANTHONY DAVIDSON
A nice bloke and a hard worker. The question is: has he, like Wurz, been testing too long? But he’s a quick, confident driver. He needs to beat Taku, but that won’t be a problem. If he doesn’t, Taku will be over-driving and will start going off again, mark my words
