Thoughts on Junquiera's Season

Snrub · 12 Nov 2004, 17:18 (Ref:1151770)

I can see two common trains of though about Junquiera's 2004 season:
1. Junky played it smart all year. He got the results in a safe manner, was consistant and fast. He pushed hard in a number of races, but ultimately ensured he got to the end.
2. Junky's NH car had a clear advanatage over the field. He was simply outclassed by Bourdais and didn't put in a particularly impressive performance.

So what do you think about the season Junquiera had? Do you look at his performance another way? Where do you rate him compared to other drivers in the field?

BootsOntheSide · 12 Nov 2004, 17:35 (Ref:1151778)

Well, he's definitely not as good as Bourdais. At no stage in the season did he look faster, and Seb didn't make many mistakes either.

I think Newman-Haas was the strongest team in terms of setups all season, and that perhaps made Bruno's showing look better than it was. Not crashing in a well-setup car is easier than truly driving on the limit in a well-setup car.

esorniloc · 12 Nov 2004, 18:46 (Ref:1151834)

He was on the podium 10 times in 14 races, there is no way that is a bad season. He is a star driver.

BootsOntheSide · 12 Nov 2004, 19:18 (Ref:1151853)

He certainly didn't have a bad season, but he did lose the title to a less-experienced team-mate who had worse luck as a whole. Finishing 2nd in the best team isn't worthy of massive credit.

Kicking-back · 12 Nov 2004, 19:21 (Ref:1151855)

Good, but not quite good enough.

He should have been closer to Bourdais, and a lot more often.

MLM · 12 Nov 2004, 21:15 (Ref:1151944)

I think Bruno drove smart (only 1 DNF). Could he have been more aggressive? Probably. However, to question his skills is, IMO foolish. I think this was his best season....to date.

Reminder: how many years did it take PT to finally win the championship? Several!
Besides, on top of the CC season, Bruno ALSO ran at Indy.
May was a very busy month for him.

When was the last time we had the championship go down to the very last race? 4-5 years?

Give the guy a break (IMO)....he did, IMO, very well this year.

flyfishr · 12 Nov 2004, 21:23 (Ref:1151956)

The question is like asking how Rubens Barrichello's season was.

Kicking-back · 12 Nov 2004, 22:05 (Ref:1151981)

Quote:

Originally posted by MLM

When was the last time we had the championship go down to the very last race? 4-5 years?

That was only because of this year's silly points system.

macdaddy · 12 Nov 2004, 22:36 (Ref:1151998)

Under the old system, Bourdais would've clinched by simply making the starting grid in Vegas.

I'm thinking that the last time it went down to the final race was 1999? When Montoya and Franchitti ended up tied?

MLM · 12 Nov 2004, 23:08 (Ref:1152019)

Quote:

Originally posted by Kicking-back
That was only because of this year's silly points system.

Apples and oranges, IMO.
We could get into the crazy NASCAR points system this year.

It happened. IMO, this points race was more exciting this year than in year's past. Of course, I'm prejudiced towards Bruno, so the point system is OK in my book

We'll see about next year.
IMO, Bruno did fine. If you want to carp or b**** about it, that's your perogative.
But, I'll argue with you, also

That's MY perogative, also

TGIF!!!!! Have a good weekend!

Jordi · 13 Nov 2004, 00:21 (Ref:1152089)

Quote:

Originally posted by macdaddy

I'm thinking that the last time it went down to the final race was 1999? When Montoya and Franchitti ended up tied?

In 2000, De Ferran, Fernandez, Bräck, Tracy and Moreno all had a chance at Fontana, though Pupo was eliminated when he didn't get pole. I wonder how many other top series have had five potential champions in the last race in the last 15 years?

On Junqueira... he seems to be like Prost, in the way that he seems to try to win as slowly as possible, without risking more than necessary.

enemy-ace · 13 Nov 2004, 02:36 (Ref:1152138)

Quote:

Originally posted by MLM
Besides, on top of the CC season, Bruno ALSO ran at Indy.
May was a very busy month for him.

That's no excuse. Bourdais ran the 24hrs of lemans, which is arguably as tough if not tougher a race than Indy.
IMO Bruno has woefully underperformed. There is no questioning his talent or his CV. The fact remains though that he is now a series veteran; and had the perfect opportunity when taking the No.1 seat when da Matta left for F1. Not only did he inherit the No.1 car he also had da Matta's race engineer, Rocky Rocquelin. Last season he said it took him awhile to gel with the new team, but by the second half of the season he seemed to be finding his speed. Where it went this season I don't know, but the result is that Bourdais kicked his arse. Newman-Haas are the class of the field; Forsythe depleted themselves running three cars and the rest of the teams are still finding their competitive edge. Bruno can only be reasonably measured against Bourdais, and he failed. IMO

BootsOntheSide · 13 Nov 2004, 11:13 (Ref:1152322)

Quote:

Originally posted by Jordi
In 2000, De Ferran, Fernandez, Bräck, Tracy and Moreno all had a chance at Fontana, though Pupo was eliminated when he didn't get pole. I wonder how many other top series have had five potential champions in the last race in the last 15 years?

Pretty much just 2000 CART and 2003 IRL, I think.

Enemy-ace makes a good point about Bruno's crew being the more established fornt-running one, which makes Seb's success over him even more impressive.

D.R.T. · 13 Nov 2004, 12:45 (Ref:1152388)

Near the end of the season, ok minus Mexico City Bruno was able to challenge Sebastian much more which was great to see. But overall, at the moment just cant match Sebastian week in week out. If Christa does sign with NHR, Bruno's gunna have to find something pretty special over the winter

Snrub · 13 Nov 2004, 18:51 (Ref:1152599)

As for championship to the end of the season issue, I could have sworn it did '99-01, 03 and 04. Agreed about this year's point system making it happen.

luke · 13 Nov 2004, 19:19 (Ref:1152618)

Personaly I don't think he is good enough for a shot at the title.
He has been at the best team, and has had 3 good chances at the cup and failed to win it, surley if he was special would'nt he have been the king by now?

Omega99 · 13 Nov 2004, 22:36 (Ref:1152736)

He's also been second place three times in a row. If he didn't get a championship somewhere down the road, I think he would be one of the best drivers not to win it. Any team would be lucky to have a driver with that level of consistency.

BootsOntheSide · 13 Nov 2004, 22:47 (Ref:1152743)

In terms of the 26 seasons ChampCar has been running, Bruno is probably among the top 10 who haven't won championships. My exact knowledge of who was around in the early days isn't compelte, but certainly Teo Fabi, Helio Castro Neves, Tom Sneva and Tony Kanaan are contenders for that honour.

Snrub · 14 Nov 2004, 00:24 (Ref:1152802)

Quote:

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
but certainly ... and Tony Kanaan are contenders for that honour.

Not to start a fight but based on his CC performances if the criteria is that broad there are dozens of others who we could add the the list.

MLM · 14 Nov 2004, 01:48 (Ref:1152836)

Quote:

Originally posted by Omega99
He's also been second place three times in a row. If he didn't get a championship somewhere down the road, I think he would be one of the best drivers not to win it. Any team would be lucky to have a driver with that level of consistency.

Ahhhhhhh, someone with some sense!

Dov · 14 Nov 2004, 04:53 (Ref:1152899)

NHR would be better off if they let Bruno go to another team and replaced him with DaMatta.

f1manoz · 15 Nov 2004, 18:50 (Ref:1154289)

Thoughts?

Bourdais annihilated him all season. Junky is certainly a consistent racer, and on that basis is worthy of his wins and runner-up places in the championship, but seems to lack that 'killer' instinct.

Omega99 · 16 Nov 2004, 00:52 (Ref:1154624)

Yeah, I tend to agree that he doesn't seem to really have that killer instinct. At least not yet anyways. It did take a guy like Paul Tracy 10 years to win his championship, and Junky's been more consistent.

mitchie · 16 Nov 2004, 01:25 (Ref:1154638)

By the numbers, its tough to fault Bruno. Ten podiums, including two wins is a pretty good season by anyone's standards. The points system favoured his consistency as well, which kept him in the title hunt.

However, Bourdais more than had his measure. Without the incidents at Milwaukee, Montreal and Seca, Bourdais would have wrapped up the title alot earlier.

Dov · 16 Nov 2004, 07:21 (Ref:1154721)

1. If it wasn't for the new point system then BJ's season would have been over a long time ago. This new system rewards the drivers who sit back and try to finish consistently in the top five while at the same time it strips drivers of valuable points like Bourdais and Tracy who are always out there to win.

2. Yes, it took PT around 10 years to win the Vanderbilt Cup, however, let's remember that before he joined Forsythe Racing in 2003 he was always considered to be the #2 and sometimes #3 driver on every team he was with in Champ Car. Paul also had to face a much stronger field of drivers on a yearly basis when compared to Junqueira.

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