Ralf, how much room do you want? (Merged)

[oziengineer]

Originally posted by The Monster
How many times has Ralf overtaken Montoya?

In fact how many times has he overtaken a Ferrari, Williams, Mclaren or Renault?

Indeed, the man is an old woman. But, he has some strengths and I think getting past him would prove a bit of drama, as webber proved.

[mac]

Somedays Ralf can pass cars like they're not even there. Other days he couldn't successfully pass me in my Seat Ibiza.

[Don K]

Originally posted by Don K
...
They were driving side by side while appraoching that corner.
...

After looking from a different angle, I would say the front half of Ralf's car was next to the back half of Webber's car at the moment they started braking for the corner.

[freud]

Originally posted by mac
Somedays Ralf can pass cars like they're not even there.

I havent been able to witness any of the 'somedays' that you mention.. do they really exist??

[Mr V]

Whilst not a fan of Rafes, watch Nurburgring 99 or Hungary 03 again, (the only) 2 races that he proved that he can pass other cars.

[BootsOntheSide]

In fairness, he only needed to pass cars in Hungary because he stuffed up the first lap and spun. But I take the point - maybe having that puncture while leading the Nurburgring 1999 knocked his confidence and determination, as he's seemed somewhat poofy since then.

[chunterer]

Originally posted by Fondmetal
let webber do something meaning full on the track before ppl start singing praises....he is still unproven in f1 in the races he is just mediocre nothing special...

Hang on! What is meaningful? Just tooling around for an hour and a half just to get a finish and maybe get a point if he's lucky (Or in Ralf's case, a podium cos he's got a far better car?!)

That ain't motor racing. Webber was already highly rated before he reached F1. That's why Alan Docking ran him for naff all in F3 and Mercedes picked up his tab before Flavio and Renault did. Justin's been unfortunate, but ultimately Mark is the better driver.

Being a damn good driver isn't just about winning things, that's statistics. After all Gilles Villeneuve was considered by many to be the fastest driver ever to sit in an F1 car and he hardly won anything!He still proved what he could do and gave everything in inferior equipment. Isn't that what Mr Webber has been doing for the last year most of the time?! I'd say that's meaningful

Wait and see what he does if he gets a Williams to play with next year(unless Dixon proves even better still!!)

[Onlooker]

Ones on the way up and another is on the way down ,there will always be contact

[Draven]

Ralf has a few issues with overtaking to say the least.
He'd do well not to mention overtaking when talking to teh press until he gets a few good moves under his belt this year.

I think there might be a reason for his timidness (I'm being kind and I couldn't think of another phrase that didn't envolve the word sounds like skit).
If you remember his first year with Jordan he did some very silly things and was hammered by teh press for being too wild, well I think he took that to heart and possibly thinks too much when he's driving now.

[Mr V]

4 different drivers in 3 races now for Rafe, totally at fault with regards to the collision with Sato, 10 place penalty for San Marino?

Can't remember his exact words, but Patrick Head sounded disgusted with Rafe today.

[ralf fan]

and to top it all off he comes into the pits thinking he has a suspension broken without testing it out first....
waste of a good 5-6 secs that could have meant hed be closer to alonso and sato near the end...

moment of utter brain blockage!!!

[Kicking-back]

Ralf is a hypocrit.

He whinges about not being given enough room, then he doesn't give Sato any.

[Don K]

Originally posted by Mr V
Whilst not a fan of Rafes, watch Nurburgring 99 or Hungary 03 again, (the only) 2 races that he proved that he can pass other cars.

I think he has proven in Bahrain that he *can* do it.

We have seen clean overtaking moves by Ralf on Trulli, Massa and Da Matta.
(And possibly more off camera?)

And a quesionable overtaking move on Sato.
And over-optimistic overtaking moves on Alonso and Fisichella.

[hamsmith]

Ralf fan can you change your username of are you stuck with it now?(joke) All my F1 dream team names are in support of Ralf and now i hope i do not win to avoid embarrasment.

[steve_r]

I think Ralf is under pressure from his team-mate, and has put extra pressure on himself with the contract negotiations, and is cracking.

If you were Frank Williams, would you want to pay mega-bucks to re-emply him after the first 3 races of this year?

Patrick Head was not a happy bunny.

Bring on Dixon, Button or Webber...

[avsfan733]

he shoulda been fined or banned for that move on Sato...not only did he not admit responsibility but he had the gall to blame Sato!?

[Don K]

Originally posted by avsfan733
he shoulda been fined or banned for that move on Sato...not only did he not admit responsibility but he had the gall to blame Sato!?

I'm not really sure whether or not Ralf should have been punished for his incident with Sato.
But as far as I know, the stewards *did* give him a warning.
So if he does it twice again, he will get a 1 race suspension.

On the other hand, I think Ralf's collision with Fisichella (later in the same race) should have counted as the first of those two cases.
But then again, I haven't watched that incident closely enough ...

[Don K]

On second thought, I do remember that Ralf didn't give Sato enought room to fight back (just after Ralf overtook Sato).
Sato might have been partly responsible, but Ralf should have known (after the way Sato cut the corner on him two laps earlier) that Sato would not brake at that point.
So Ralf is (at least) partly responsible.

[golem]

Well, the difference was, Sato was right alongside Ralf. Take a look at where Taku's wheel touched the Willi. Right in the centre of the car, the front wing almost up to Ralf's front. That's not just squeezing. That's just, well, ask the stewards. They'll tell you. They told Ralf.

[AllofaSutton]

Ralf is only as good as his car. Unlike his brother or any other of the top rung drivers he cant push his car to the limit, like Mike or JPM. Also he is an incredible whiner. Your right on about his "double standards". He reminds me of JV and look where it got him. Shut up and drive.

[AllofaSutton]

Ralf needs to stop whining and drive before he ends up like JV

[cos]

I see Ralf only did 5 laps in testing today, handing over to Gene after complaining of a back/shoulder problem... what was his reason for missing Monza last year again?

[Don K]

If it is his left shoulder, I would think that might be related with the fact that both Sato and Fisichella hit the left side of his car last sunday ...

[AllofaSutton]

Either that he is already establishing an excuse