Were is Christiano Da Matta

[Dan Fielden]

Did he go back over to America or just fade away. I havent heared much since he was sacked. Anyone help?


D

[luke]

In the 3rd car at Newman/Haas.

[Kicking-back]

Possibly!

If it's happening it'll be announced soon.

His contract with Toyota went up to 31 Dec 2004, hence the lack of any firm news so far.

[Tweed]

He's down for the Daytona 24 Hours, think that's the only confirmed (?) news.

[BootsOntheSide]

The team are trying to get enough sponsorship together to run the extra car, and I'm sure if it happens it'll be great for the championship and he'll do really well.

[Öbus]

Originally Posted by luke

In the 3rd car at Newman/Haas.

I shouldn't be to shure about that. Da Matta is asking for a ****load of money and I'm not shure that Newman/Haas can find a sponsor how is willing to pay all this $$$. He may end up in some other team because KK is really keen to get him in to Champ Car.

[Snrub]

Originally Posted by Öbus

I shouldn't be to shure about that. Da Matta is asking for a ****load of money and I'm not shure that Newman/Haas can find a sponsor how is willing to pay all this $$$. He may end up in some other team because KK is really keen to get him in to Champ Car.

May I ask where you heard the high salary info and how high is high?

[macdaddy]

It's the new year, and I'm optimistically expecting announcements any day now...
Teams, cars, drivers, sponsors, new Steward...

[Öbus]

Macdaddy! Sorry again for my poor language but this time I was thinking in the terms of "shipload of money" but unfortunately my fingers was faster than my brain so it became something else.

Don't ask me about my sources Snrub, but I know he is asking for a lot of money. Da Mattas’s value is high both for the team he will be racing for and for Champ Car overall and he knows that. I don’t think that Newman/Haas will kill themselves to get Da Matta because they already have two, of maybe four or five, strong contenders for the championship 2005 on their payroll. If the DaMatta-N/H deal not will happen I’m sure KK wouldn’t se him disappear without offering him something.

[Dan Fielden]

Why is he so sought after. He was never much in f1. Solid but not spectacular. What is all the fuss about him. F1 were tipping him a future great. In the end he was sacked. Im confused about it. The U,S is were all failed f1 wanabees go. Is there much class over there. Please do not think i am being disrespectfull as i have seen many of good races and Juan Montoya is an outstanding driver as i Scott Dixon. Please i mean no offence

[racinthestreets]

From Obus:

Don't ask me about my sources Snrub, but I know he is asking for a lot of money.

What would you expect? We should accept your statements as factual because you "know he is"!

[codename_47]

I think he's right though, it follows logic that after all the positive hoopla about him stating that wants to come back when he was in Mexico, if after all that Newman-Haas say no then KK will wheel out a third car instead in a bid to save face....

I have no sources, I'm just assuming!

But I feel that CDM driving with Newman and Bourdais in the Daytona 24 Hours is a very good sign......hopefully they'll get to talking!

And it gives us another team to cheer for!

[macdaddy]

Obus:
I didn't edit your post, I thought you had typed it that way! Score one for the autocensor!

Dan:
That post makes me question your knowledge of any motorsport beyond F1.
Alessandro Zanardi didn't do much in F1. What's your impression of him, as a driver?

Codename:
You took the words right out of my mouth.

[Öbus]

Originally Posted by racinthestreets

From Obus:



What would you expect? We should accept your statements as factual because you "know he is"!

Head on nail racinthestreets!

[N I Tram]

Originally Posted by Dan Fielden

Why is he so sought after. He was never much in f1. Solid but not spectacular. What is all the fuss about him. F1 were tipping him a future great. In the end he was sacked. Im confused about it. The U,S is were all failed f1 wanabees go. Is there much class over there. Please do not think i am being disrespectfull as i have seen many of good races and Juan Montoya is an outstanding driver as i Scott Dixon. Please i mean no offence

Right now ChampCars has 3 F3000 champions (Bourdais, Wilson and Enge) with Wirdheim knocking on the door. F1 has 2 - Montoya and Heidfeld, and JPM needed 2 years in ChampCars to become the finished article. A lot of drivers who don't outwardly succeed in F1 are actually hugely talented - they simply end up with poor machinery, uncomfortable team situations or a lack of testing, and don't shine as they should. Zanardi is the ultimate example - he shone in F3 and Sportscars as well as ChampCars, and had a succesion of bad luck in F1.

da Matta was sacked for political reasons as much as anything, as he'd matched the more experienced Panis for 1 1/2 years, and Zonta didn't get close to his level of performance once he came in. The team wanted to keep Panis 'onside' so as to give him the testing/PR role, which he's ideally suited for.

[Snrub]

In defense of Obus, he has said things that later turned out to be credible, I'm willing to take it with a grain of salt, but consider it more official than your typical rumour.

N I Tram: Enge is in CC for sure? Or did you mean to say Junquiera?

While JPM stayed in CC for 2 years and I think did develop as a driver, I don't think he "needed" two years in CC. Given that lately drivers have been put on the grid perhaps before they're ready, JPM would have impressed if he'd gone into F1 in '99.

[Dan Fielden]

Originally Posted by N I Tram

Right now ChampCars has 3 F3000 champions (Bourdais, Wilson and Enge) with Wirdheim knocking on the door. F1 has 2 - Montoya and Heidfeld, and JPM needed 2 years in ChampCars to become the finished article. A lot of drivers who don't outwardly succeed in F1 are actually hugely talented - they simply end up with poor machinery, uncomfortable team situations or a lack of testing, and don't shine as they should. Zanardi is the ultimate example - he shone in F3 and Sportscars as well as ChampCars, and had a succesion of bad luck in F1.

Zonta didn't get close to his level of performance once he came in. The team wanted to keep Panis 'onside' so as to give him the testing/PR role, which he's ideally suited for.

Yes heidfeld is in f1 because he could be quick in a slow car. Sauber. Alonso was in a slow car(minardi!!) and shone. He is now recongnised as one of the best drivers on the grid.

Da Matta,Enge and Wilson all had chances to shine and failed. Wilson was nowere near as good as webber or Verstappen. Enge kept crashing his prost and also tested positive to Maruana! and was also beaten by Frentzen. Da Matta matched the oldest man in f1 in the same car. Panis is not a good example of a great driver.

As regards to Zonta not matching Panis. That is false as he was in 3rd in Spa when his engine failed in the last ten laps and outqualified him. All the above were not good enought o be in F1. The wern't the first and they won't be the last.

[luke]

Da Matta,Enge and Wilson all had chances to shine and failed. Wilson was nowere near as good as webber or Verstappen. Enge kept crashing his prost and also tested positive to Maruana! and was also beaten by Frentzen. Da Matta matched the oldest man in f1 in the same car. Panis is not a good example of a great driver.

I agree, they all had thier chances and didn't make the most of it.

Da Matta, Enge and Wilson are all good drivers and hopefully will all be in Champ Car next year.

[Öbus]

Thank’s Snrub for your confidence. Da Mattas record (!) in F3000 1996 is maybe not a correct reflection of his cabability as a driver but even Zonta beat him that year with 20 points (Zonta 27 and Da Matta 7). Anyway Da Matta is important for Champ Car because he’s a well known driver and a former Champ with F1 experience. KK understand (or misunderstand) the value of that for the series and will pushing really hard to get him a seat. In worst case, if the N/H deal not will be done and Da Matta is standing with no other options, I’m quite sure he will run over Jim McGhee, and sign Da Matta instead of, Jim McGhee,s first choice, Bjorn W. That could be good for Champ car for the first races 2005 but not for the future of the series. I’m quite confident that drivers like Sebastian Bourdais,Bjorn Wirdheim (if he ever will be there without sponsors),Justin Wilson,Allmendinger and Junqueria will outpace him the whole season. Champ Car is what is it today because of all the young talents and that is the future for the series instead of hiring some ex F1 drivers in the upper thirties.

[BootsOntheSide]

Wilson actually did extremely well at Minardi, especially as he had problems with HANS initially, and got very little testing and no power steering (Jos brought more money so got preferential treatment - something which I'm sure is not unknown in F1, ChampCars or anything else). Jumping into another team mid-season is never easy, but Justin did pretty well under the circumstances, especially as Webber had so much extra experience and a car designed more around his height than Justin's.

Zonta qualified dead last in Belgium with an embarassingly slow lap, and only moved up the order to 4th (not 3rd) through the problems of others. I guess he was very unlucky to lose what would've been a very lucky result. He was the weakest of the 4 Toyota drivers, even though he wasn't unwanted (like CdM), fresh into the team (like Jarno), or 'past it' (like Panis). If we can get CdM back in ChampCars he'll do a great job - in F1 he did a fairly good job, nothing more. Unlike JPM or JV (or Bourdais or Wilson now) he wasn't an up-and-coming sensation in a global sense when he got the NHR drive - he was a good F3000 driver (who'd've surely won races given another season) who chose a midfeild ChampCar drive (which he built from) over another F3000 year and an immediate path into F1.

[Jordi]

Da Matta drove a good F1 career, given the machinery he was in. That Toyota, aerodinamically, was ****.

[camcartfan]

I agree Jordi. Cristiano was not given a chance. F1 talent is based purely on the car driven.

[indycool]

If daMatta is asking for a lot of cash from N-H, Haas, IMO, would A) Stiffen a bit against it, or B) Ask for money from The Amigos to get him into the series, or C) Both. I don't know that KK would pony up the big bucks for him, given the offer that Salo turned down, or that da Matta would go to that team without much chance of challenging for a championship he once owned.

The three of them competing in the Rolex 24 together certainly is a sign that there's some finagling going on.

[racefanatic]

oops, sorry.

[racefanatic]

I am certain that Cristiano will not become one of those drivers who just fades away. He is very under-rated right now IMO because he had two seemingly bad seasons in F1, and I know that if Toyota would have kept him he could have helped the team grow in time. But he is an excellent driver with great potential, and he deserves some good news in the near future.

I'm really anxious for an announcement. I agree that it is good for him to be racing in the Rolex 24 with Newman and Bourdais, and hopefully he'll find his way back to Champ Car soon.