Forza Jean

[Chris Strange]

I think it would be a great shame if Jean Alesi retires to make way for Sato. Jean clearly deserves 10 times this seat over Sato, who is used as a marketing tool by EJ to secure an exclusive Honda supply for 2003. All the great champions (Prost Senna Schumi to name the more recents) fought their way up the ladder. This new trend to put rookie drivers in top teams stinks. I'm probably getting old school.......

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

Whilst I hate to dis the great Alesi ( I have been a fan since his F3000 days) I have seen Sato race a number of times this year and I rate him very highly.

Alesi is still worthy of a seat in F1 but Jordan has to look to the future - his arch enemy BAR with whom he is in competition for an exclusive works Honda deal and whom his team are neck and neck with i n the WCC cannot be given an excuse to grab the deal. I would be hot on the heels of Sato if I were Craig Pollock.

Yes I know it's a sickeningly commercial decision but Sato is worthy of the seat on talent - do not think of him as another Satoru Nakajima/Aguri Suzuki pay driver.

As for rookies, don't forget Montoya was a rookie in CART when he whacked the entire field in his debut season and should but for reliability have won five races this year in his rookie F1 season. Other superb rookies in the last couple of years include Raikonnen and Heidfeld. Stars of the future. Don't forget Alesi was the young upstart who effectively finished Michele Alboreto's and Jonathan Palmer's career so he was a young upstart once too!

I don't think Alesi has a chance of staying at Jordan next year but he should be in at Arrows with any luck - a far better prospect than eithr of the incumbent deadwood presently racing fo that team. Hopefully he will after all be paired with HH where he can show his superior talent and commitment over the German.

[Aysedasi]

Hey, IAYO - I agree with all of that. I thought I had better reply as this could be a truly unique moment! (That's a joke - honest!)

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

Originally posted by Aysedasi

"Hey, IAYO - I agree with all of that. I thought I had better reply as this could be a truly unique moment! (That's a joke - honest!)"

Aysedasi - good show! Up until now between us it has been a case of "I say tomato, you say tom(ar)to, let's call the whole thing off" as the song goes. But not anymore, surely a landmark moment in the Ten-Tenths annals of history!

[Aysedasi]

Absolutely! I hesitate to use the word "truce" at this particular moment in time, but.....

Besides, I really like tomatoes (and I don't mind how they're pronounced!).

[f1manoz]

Originally posted by Chris Strange
All the great champions (Prost Senna Schumi to name the more recents) fought their way up the ladder. This new trend to put rookie drivers in top teams stinks. I'm probably getting old school.......

No, I agree. A certain Boofhead Button comes to mind......

I think a driver should earn his seat in F1, not just be given a chance straight for a top team. Gone are the days when drivers used to serve 'apprenticeships' at smaller teams then be rewarded for their hard work with a seat at a top team.

Champions such as Rindt, Graham Hill, Stewart and Mansell all served a basic 'apprenticeship' and still became world champions by earning their drives.

Damon Hill, on the other hand, went in reverse. He started at a top team first, then went backwards, when it is usually the other way round!

[Marshal]

Originally posted by Chris Strange
All the great champions (Prost Senna Schumi to name the more recents) fought their way up the ladder. This new trend to put rookie drivers in top teams stinks. I'm probably getting old school.......

Err... Just out of interest, Senna British F3 Champion straight to Toleman F1. Prost, European Champion F3, straight to McLaren F1. Schumacher, 2nd (or maybe 3rd?) in German F3, Mercedes Sportscars, Jordan F1. Hakkinen, British F3 Champion, straight to Lotus F1.

I'd say that most really drivers have skipped steps on the ladder and gone straight into F1. Takuma Sato might be amongst them British F3 Champion, straight to Jordan F1?

[Bononi]

Jean, take the good side of it. Go to CART and become a star there... PLEASE !!!!

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

The entire notion that a driver has to serve an "apprenticeship" is nonsense. Often, the best drivers are usually plucked out of F3 or lower before they get the chance to race in F3000.

Marshal was absolutely correct to point this out with Senna, Prost, Schumacher, Hakkinen.

f1manoz, admittedly Button has had a bad year, but he is no boofhead or whatever that means in Australian. We are talking about the rookie who outqualified RS a number of times last year, I don't think he has suddenly forgotten how to drive. I would like to see your one distant, vain hope of F1 glory, Mark Webber, attempting to get within 2 seconds of any qualifying time set by Jenson Button/Justin Wilson/Anthony Davidson/Darren Manning etc etc in an F1 car.....

Good to see Sato in with a decent drive though, he is the most promising Japanese driver ever to grace the sport in my opinion....

[EERO]

Inevitabley. one man's good fortune is another's bad...

Sato could well prove to be the first Japanese WDC and Jean Alesi will be a wistful memory of what never was butshould have been.

I'm with Bononi, Alesi would mop-up in CART-and he'd have fun doing it.

[paulzinho]

Thanks Jean, your a charachter who will be sorely missed by F1. A charachter who puts on a show and someone who like me and many others wants F1 to be like it was.

If you do go to CART have fun and enjoy it, it is proper racing and your talents may be more visible and appreciated by the good old motor racing fan.

Bye Jean and good luck on Sunday.

[ljakse]

What to say?
I'll miss him.