Ralf Schumacher at his best

[amier]

Lets not forget that Ralf is not a crap driver that many people seem to believe.. you cant have 6 poles and 6 wins being a crap driver.. sure he is no Michael, but he is a good driver who deserves his place on the grid. He won those 6 races during Ferrari domination days!

For Ralf to be at his best he needs a car with good front end bite, his style is the same as Michaels, where he turns in early while braking into the apex, instead of the traditional approach of braking in a straight line and then turning into the apex.

Here are some of his finest moments... Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D4H6jXHnRg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m93AXr5iCuc

Give him a good car and he can be fast anyone

[Knowlesy]

And the rest of his career?

Indeed, nobody doubts Ralf can be sublime on his day. But let's face it, those days are rare.

For example, he went from that sublime pole lap at Monaco and the very next day disappeared off the radar.

And after those two wins in 2003 (his last wins I might add) he then went on a run of results awful by anyones standards.

It is also notable that the thread is named Ralf at his best, with the videos posted dating back four years....

[djinvicta]

There do seem to be a few F1 drivers on the grid nowadays that "won" or were class drivers in years gone by. Do they still deserve to be classed as future winners,even if they were in todays front running cars? Or should their places go to younger blood? Thoughts of Ralf, DC?

[Bononi]

Doh... I thought "Ralf Schumacher at his best" was something he said for a newspaper... oh, he's actually racing ? Indy corners anyone ?

[djinvicta]

Indy corners??? Ralf? Sideways racing at its best!

[Gt_R]

I was never a fan of Ralf, and to me, he does seem to be in a similar boat as DC, a good driver who can impress in the occasionally race, but too often just being normal.

But to be fair to RS, he does seem to be criticised a lot more than his teammates, when he has shown himself capable of matching them. Interesting that you have put the Fench GP clip, IIRC it's effectively the race that rattled JPM within Williams and made him decide to jump ship. I mean, you can't do that without being seen as a decent threat.

Ralf is actually quite promising in his early days, but unfortunately, he seem to lose that "extra edge" after spending some years in poor cars. He just seem to be happy to race and finish, take his pay and go home to his wife. I think that's what happened to Nick earlier too, and all perhaps Ralf need is a fresh challenge and an opportunity to win/race for podiums to re-ignite his aggression.

It's unfortunate, but many potentially good drivers just lose it after years in the mid and back end.

[BootsOntheSide]

There haven't been many fine moments from him at Toyota though. Maybe both parties need a change of scenery. A few strong drives don't prove Ralf to me - he always looked second-best to JPM at Williams overall. Perhaps he never mentally recovered from Indy 2004 - his whole vibe has been cruise-and-collect (money and whatever results are on offer) rather than chasing hard.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Gt_R

IIRC it's effectively the race that rattled JPM within Williams and made him decide to jump ship. I mean, you can't do that without being seen as a decent threat.

Iirc, he (Rafe) called for his pitstop on a different lap as to had been agreed, (wasn't it meant to be the lap JPM was coming in on?) And Juan Pablo then decided to have an arguement with the team midrace.

It wasn't Rafe as a team mate that made JPM jump ship, it was his relationship with the team.

[amier]

yes I agree, Ralf needs a fresh challenge, I really hope he ends up at BMW. I think being in a midfield car just demotivates him and needs a car that is capable of being right at the front end.

[Gt_R]

At the risk of going offtopic,

Ralf made a change in strategy to counter JPM's, and came out on top. There wasn't really an "argument" when it's just one guy screaming over the radio. Point i'm trying to drive across is NOT JPM vs Ralf, but that if Ralf has been as useless and pointless, then there shouldn't have been any concerns about Ralf as a competitor, a teammate, or his relationship with the team. And the race is supposedly the "breaking point" of continued tension and suspicious.

Back to Ralf, i agree on the "cruise-to-collect" image. It just seem like he's just doing a job like the night shift security guard...for the sake of it. And even when he says "i am good and confident in my own ability to win", you could almost even hear the doubts in his words.

He needs an environment which the team looks up to him, and a challenge which he thinks he can come out on him. But it's a vicious cycle. At the rate he's performing, he isn't going to find a team of mechanics and engineers who will welcome his arrival as "Oh..here's the guy who's going to bring us to winning ways".

[Mike_Wooshy]

The only good part of that video was the glorious sound of the V10 engine.

[senna12]

Regardless of where Ralf ends up next season, he's in for a massive pay cut.
If he were really as special as his brother, or even somewhere close, he would have rung something special out of that lump called a Toyota more than once or twice in the last couple of years, or at least comprehensively or consistently beaten his teammate. It doesn't exactly inspire loyalty and confidence among the troops, particularly at 20 odd million per year!

[carlo8]

I HOPE he's in for a massive pay cut! His appalling lack of good drives hasn't stopped him getting a huge sallary in the past .How he acheives this is a mystery


By the way Amier ,you're dreaming if you think that Ralf achieved his six wins and poles in spite of so called "ferrari domination"!
Most times the williams won back then were because it was incredibly dominant on the day

[ensign14]

Why am I not surprised that this is quite a short thread?

[Marbot]

I think it was Patrick Head that said something along the lines of 'On his day Ralf is as quick as anyone,unfortunately those days didn't usually coincide with race days!' Sums it all up for me really.

[NaBUru38]

Thread bump!

[bathurst77]

Good on him.

Would be hard, keeping something so central hidden, especially if you are famous
And the world is full of people who would try to use any secret of yours, if they think they can make a buck from it.

Be happy Ralph.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Thread bump!

After 17 years.......

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

After 17 years.......

Fantastic resurrection from the dead!

And good for Ralph.

Richard

[S griffin]

Good to be reminded of him. People need to spell his name right though. It’s Ralf, not Ralph!

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Thread bump!

Love this.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Good to be reminded of him. People need to spell his name right though. It’s Ralf, not Ralph!

Haha. Yes. Sorry I got that wrong.

Richard

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Gt_R

I was never a fan of Ralf, and to me, he does seem to be in a similar boat as DC, a good driver who can impress in the occasionally race, but too often just being normal.

But to be fair to RS, he does seem to be criticised a lot more than his teammates, when he has shown himself capable of matching them. Interesting that you have put the Fench GP clip, IIRC it's effectively the race that rattled JPM within Williams and made him decide to jump ship. I mean, you can't do that without being seen as a decent threat.

Ralf is actually quite promising in his early days, but unfortunately, he seem to lose that "extra edge" after spending some years in poor cars. He just seem to be happy to race and finish, take his pay and go home to his wife. I think that's what happened to Nick earlier too, and all perhaps Ralf need is a fresh challenge and an opportunity to win/race for podiums to re-ignite his aggression.

It's unfortunate, but many potentially good drivers just lose it after years in the mid and back end.

I think part of that criticism may be more related to personality, rather than pure ability.

People's opinions about drivers are very mixed, often simply that pure opinion with no real thought or analysis going into them.
Ralf's latter years were without good results, but it was at Toyota whom most people rubbish completely when they talk about ineptness and failure to make the most of the money spent.

If people rubbish a driver because he had poor results then rubbish the team he drove for in those years, how objective is that opinion?
Unless you do a comparison with his teammate it has no real objectivity.
Ralf won races, was never in the very best machinery and never had a team that was built around him in the way that his brother did.

No one would regard him at the same level as his brother, but he wasn't complete rubbish.

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

I think part of that criticism may be more related to personality, rather than pure ability.

People's opinions about drivers are very mixed, often simply that pure opinion with no real thought or analysis going into them.
Ralf's latter years were without good results, but it was at Toyota whom most people rubbish completely when they talk about ineptness and failure to make the most of the money spent.

If people rubbish a driver because he had poor results then rubbish the team he drove for in those years, how objective is that opinion?
Unless you do a comparison with his teammate it has no real objectivity.
Ralf won races, was never in the very best machinery and never had a team that was built around him in the way that his brother did.

No one would regard him at the same level as his brother, but he wasn't complete rubbish.

Trying to think of a Toyota driver who finished up improving his reputation or even not having it decline.
Pretty sure their bank balances were much improved though.

[Born Racer]

I'm happy for him he feels able to be himself with his sexuality after so long in his life. At least this is the first time he has come out to the general public. Hopefully it will pave the way to more drivers being confident enough to be sincere with this. Although it is entirely personal, nobody should never have to hide their sexuality.