Was José MarÃ*a López jinxed on his way to F1???

[Mekola]

Some time ago, we saw my countryman, José MarÃ*a López, leaving the European formula scene, with a deluding end of 2006 GP2 season, racing for Super Nova racing. Months after, he had a more deluding story with Ferrari, in a try with their semi-official GT2 cars that finished very very bad, enough to crash his old links with Giancarlo Minardi, a figure I respect too much in order he helped several Argentine drivers on their way in European formula scene. López at that time was severely depressed and even though to leave motorsport for ever.

You know that López is very talented but somehow erratic on his results. He has his temper, but on his day, he can be (and still could be) practically unbeatable. That you saw on 2002, when he beat Kubica getting the Italian FR2000 Championship, meant his passport to RDD, and on 2003, when he almost failed at the start but finished champion at F. Renault V6 racing with DAMS.

But in 2004, something strange happened. After successful preseason tests, that make him the most potable rival to title favourite Vitantonio Liuzzi, the mind of Enzo Coloni had a notable decision: change López's lead car engineer to the car of Jeffrey van Hooydonk. And can't understand why he did this when López was clearly the best, in papers, of the four Coloni F3000 drivers at that time (López/Lauda/van Hooydonk/Artam).

2004 F3000 campaign for Pechito was quite bittersweet, but at least he did two podiums at Montecarlo and Spa-Francorchamps, very good places to do these things. Then came 2005, entering GP2, with their good friends of DAMS, making a quite good season with some sparks of shine at some terrains, like his stunning sole race win at Barcelona.

And in 2006, the jinx entered again: Pechito wanted to sign with ART, iSport or Arden before ANY other team, but finally was Super Nova that RDD designed for him. Question again: WHY??? Generally, RDD tends to put their drivers at the best teams possible on the series, as they did, for example, with Lucas Di Grassi, who actually raced for ART Grand Prix in 2007. But López never had that chance in GP2... and with SuperNova, he did what he could. He could have won at Magny-Cours, where he did the Friday pole, but on Saturday race, on the pitstop, their own men failed and forced him to finish 3rd.

And the fruit of the cake: Hockenheim. In qualifying, he was duly "touched" by Nelsinho Piquet, that made him qualify very bottom on the grid. On the Saturday race, he did a meteoric work, a piece of art, that put him 7th on the finish line. He should be remembered for this fantastic going upwards, but, unfortunately, people tends to memory the Sunday race. Because then, López had leaded until the last lap, where, on a lapsus, Timo Glock overtook him and grabbed the victory. That day, on the paddocks, an important man pushed his thumb down to López, and, as considered by Argentinian journalist Pablo Vignone, Glock "buried" the López's way to Formula 1.

But I suspect, oh lads, that the true story of José MarÃ*a "Pechito" López is not written yet, because he was and is F1 material but a dark hand, operated by very obscure interests, doomed that could have been a brighter future for my fellow countryman in the top formula racing in the world. And if it's about money, it's completely shameful, because several international companies that are investing in GP2 Series, like Repsol, Telefónica and Techint-Tenaris (whose family is part-owner of Trident Racing) have enough economic interests in Argentina in order to support a driver from that country. Money is not enough reason, it should have been something else.

One prove that López is enough talented for F1 is that Petrobras trusted on him to do the tests with the Williams-Toyota at the exhibitions of the 200 Kms. of Buenos Aires TC2000, on years 2006 an 2007. And he did it very well, in front of his own public.

Nowadays, he's racing in the Turismo Carretera and TC2000, and doing his international outings, with an ex-Prodrive Ferrari 550 GT1, of the Argentina ACA team supported by our Automobile club. But never could get rid of that wonder, if someone could have been jinxed López on his way to Formula 1...

[sceptic]

Flavio Briatore didn't help.

I remember overhearing Flavio asking someone what Lopez' name was in the GP2 paddock.

...this was at the time when Lopez was supposedly being managed by Flavio.

[META4]

Lopez was and is definitly a very good driver, you cannot blame the team for the results he did in GP2... some Good drivers in average team do well (Caroll) and some Good drivers in Good team are out of the pace (Fillipi)

Lopez was definitly wasted by RDD as well as many other talented drivers

Many talented drivers never found their way in GP2 : Lapierre and Lopez are some good exemples

By the way Mekola Any news about an other Argentinian other good driver, Augusto Scalbi?

[Kai]

Enlighten me, what's the story behind the GT2 Ferrari?

[Jackman]

I'm sorry, but you're wrong: Lopez just wasn't good enough to go to F1, no matter how wonderful he thinks he is. There are drivers who would kill to have the opportunities he's had with RDD, and he wasted them: you can have all the excuses in the world for your countryman (and he certainly has them for himself), but his Super Nova drive was a much, much better opportunity than Kovalainen had at Arden.

I'm not even going to get into his bad attitude: just on driving alone he isn't good enough to go higher than he did, as he doesn't even make the top ten GP2 drivers list.

If you want to bemoan an Argentine who wasn't given any opportunities, you should have brought up Juan Cruz Alvarez.

[Mekola]

Jackman, you know very well that I'm not wrong, because when López tested for Arden, at the end of 2004, and for ART Grand Prix, at the end of 2005, he topped testing times, was the best man of the day, or almost.

And Pechito wanted to drive both for Arden and ART, and someone denegated his will, unlike other RDD drivers, Kovalainen and Di Grassi, who could fulfil their desires.

And seeing the 2004 and 2005 performances of Super Nova racing, it was clear it was not the best team for López in order to battle 2006 GP2 championship. Even Racing Engineering could have served him better.

How could you be so sarcastic to say that the man who hold the record at the Paul Ricard testing circuit for GP2 for more than a year is not good for Formula 1???

[andy_b]

Its all very subjective...and being devils advocate here (as I think Lopez does have talent), the whole story might not be apparent to the public. OK, lets say he's quick, and on his day, there was no argument on that score. If he lacks technical feedback, personal sponsorship or has an attitude issue. You just don't know.

When a team chooses a driver, its a big decision and a calculated risk ( regardless of talent - eg: Mr F. Alonso). It can affect the future of the team, sponsorship and his employees. Most teams have quite a bit of experience of running testers and new-hopes...so maybe they just had a feeling?

There are hundreds of drivers which this argument could be attributed to. How many 'never-has-beens' quote how they been Senna or Schumacher in FFord, F3 etc etc). I'm sure GP2 and F3000 databases are littered with future F1 stars who never made it. At the same time, we've had plenty of GP2/F3000 aces who fell to pieces in F1. I was a bit fan of Sutil in GP2, but look at whats happening now.

Often drivers like this re-appear in GT's or tin-tops etc after relaunching their career.

An example:- I know of one driver who had great sponsorship from a very big company all his way up in Europe, up to when it came to enter F1. He was one of the top drivers and beat a couple of then-future F1 champions. Problem was, he had a chip on his shoulder about being paid and that scuppered a couple of tests (where he wouldnt pay travel to for example) and ultimately F1, even though he'd shone before. That was that for the time. Lukily for him, he re-launched his career in another area and has been sucessful.

Jackman could have also mentioned Esteban Tuero as an example. He did well given his experience and the rubbish Minardi he had, but then he just disappeared back to Argentina.

[Kai]

Lopez had pace, yes. Put it on pole a couple of times in '06 if I'm not mistaken. He seemed to lack racecraft and generally fell down through the field from a good grid position. The Renault team praised him for his testing feedback and work but testing and racing in F1 are very different and I'm not sure a team (especially Renault) would sign him. I don't really buy the Super Nova excuse, Nakajima found his way to F1 with Dams, despite not winning a race, under special circumstances perhaps but still. He was dropped by RDD not only because he couldn't feature for the title but his performances as well.

[sauber11]

Testing doesnt really matter, Zuber was always faster than Timo for example
this tests were before 2007 season Test Times: Jerez - 07-11
1 Lopez BCN Competicion 49 1:32.894
2 di Grassi Art Grand Prix 56 1:32.948 0.054
3 Razia Racing Engineering 33 1:33.231 0.337
4 Senna iSport 49 1:33.431 0.537
5 Bakkerud Super Nova 53 1:33.872 0.978
6 Soucek Art Grand Prix 49 1:33.989 1.095
7 Glock Trident Racing 59 1:34.092 1.198
8 Villa Racing Engineering 54 1:34.616 1.722
9 Zaugg Arden International 41 1:35.349 2.455
...
His testing performance with BCN was very good( it was pity hi didnt get that seat), but do you really think Lopez would be that fast? Doubt so.

[Mekola]

At the F3000 / GP2 community, I believe the teams that were completely frank to López, giving the best material he needed, were: DAMS, Racing Engineering and BCN.

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by andy_b

Jackman could have also mentioned Esteban Tuero as an example. He did well given his experience and the rubbish Minardi he had, but then he just disappeared back to Argentina.

The sollution of Tuero mistery is that Esteban never could be adapted to Formula 1 world and exigences, he missed his home country, even wasn't so fluent in English to have a good comunication with his fellows. Giancarlo Minardi did for him all that he could, he is a great man and I respect him a lot for what he did for my countrymen, but at the second part of the 1998 season, Esteban though it was enough, and left F1 before the start of 1999. Minardi went personally to Tuero's vacation place and tried to convince him to the contrary, but unfortunately Esteban refused and stayed in Argentina since then. Now he could be back in Europe with the FIA GTs, we'll see if Eduardo RamÃ*rez could take his best again to shine in that form of motorsport.

At least, in F1, Esteban did a favour to Luca Badoer.

[Jackman]

Sorry Mekola, but you are wrong. Lap times at Ricard mean little - there are a number of different ways to set a new track record (just ask anyone from any team who has been there), but ultimately the lap record there is pretty meaningless in the overall scheme of things. Which is not to say that Lopez wasn't fast: he was always fast in tests, but when it came to the races, that was another story.

You can disparage Super Nova all you want, but there is an interesting fact about that team: after the initial set up period there is only one year that the team failed to take a win at this level. Can you guess who was driving for them?

Lopez might have wanted to drive for other teams, but the world doesn't revolve around him and there are other considerations to be made, namely that perhaps the teams in question didn't want to run him. Just a thought. He certainly wasn't the most popular person in the paddock: I knew him there for 2 years, I know people who've worked with him for more time, I know people who've worked with him for less, but I don't know anyone who isn't a countryman of his that is willing to say too much that is positive about the guy.

I really don't want to say much more about Lopez, because I don't really see any need to be too negative about the guy. But ask yourself one question: would you be this vehemently agressive about his abilities if he was, say, from South Africa?

[kerrmanningjarv]

Originally Posted by andy_b

There are hundreds of drivers which this argument could be attributed to. How many 'never-has-beens' quote how they been Senna or Schumacher in FFord, F3 etc etc). I'm sure GP2 and F3000 databases are littered with future F1 stars who never made it. At the same time, we've had plenty of GP2/F3000 aces who fell to pieces in F1. I was a bit fan of Sutil in GP2, but look at whats happening now.

Sutil didn't drive in GP2, did he? I thought he went from F3 Euro to Japanese F3 to Formula 1.

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by Jackman

You can disparage Super Nova all you want, but there is an interesting fact about that team: after the initial set up period there is only one year that the team failed to take a win at this level. Can you guess who was driving for them?

The team failed at the pitstop at Magny-Cours Saturday race... Remember? A mechanic whose tool can't work well, and demoted López two positions... a certain win misteriously lost by my countryman. David Sears could have been honest with López, but I suspect that the jinx against him was made anyways.

The rest of the missive... better not to reply for the moment. But I'm not against South Africans, for sure.

[andy_b]

Originally Posted by kerrmanningjarv

Sutil didn't drive in GP2, did he? I thought he went from F3 Euro to Japanese F3 to Formula 1.

LOL! yeah, I had GP2 on my mind

[Jackman]

Originally Posted by Mekola

The team failed at the pitstop at Magny-Cours Saturday race... Remember? A mechanic whose tool can't work well, and demoted López two positions... a certain win misteriously lost by my countryman. David Sears could have been honest with López, but I suspect that the jinx against him was made anyways.

The rest of the missive... better not to reply for the moment. But I'm not against South Africans, for sure.

I had to look that weekend up, because I have no memory of anything untoward happening to him over that season, and it turns out he was on pole because there was a one lap possibility to take the top spot as a result of Filippi and di Grassi getting together, and Lopez was in the right place at the right time to claim pole. In the race Hamilton and Carroll tripped over each other, taking the pressure off Lopez, but a sticking wheel nut put paid to his chances for a win.

But you want to see it as some sort of conspiracy against Lopez. Because obviously the team would do anything they could do to avoid their own driver taking a win, because clearly they don't want the money or the prestige that comes with being higher up in the championship.

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm sorry, but I thought you wanted to have a rational discussion about Lopez's career, but clearly that's not the case. I hope you enjoy it, anyway.

[Mekola]

Ok, now I know it's for your convenience. We won't talk with some kind of matters, like the state of the anti-roll bar of a certain GP2 car at the start of that season, huh?

Well, then it's end of discussion. But, in exchange, I please to the F1 rulers that they should finish with that plan that jeopardizes the formula racing career of all Argies on his way up to F1 anymore. I'm suffering that since I have memories, it means 1982.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Jackman

You can disparage Super Nova all you want, but there is an interesting fact about that team: after the initial set up period there is only one year that the team failed to take a win at this level. Can you guess who was driving for them?

Lopez might have wanted to drive for other teams, but the world doesn't revolve around him and there are other considerations to be made, namely that perhaps the teams in question didn't want to run him. Just a thought. He certainly wasn't the most popular person in the paddock: I knew him there for 2 years, I know people who've worked with him for more time, I know people who've worked with him for less, but I don't know anyone who isn't a countryman of his that is willing to say too much that is positive about the guy.

I really don't want to say much more about Lopez, because I don't really see any need to be too negative about the guy. But ask yourself one question: would you be this vehemently agressive about his abilities if he was, say, from South Africa?

Excellent points. I believe a part of the mix in being a professional race driver is not being difficult to work with and being a positive team player. There are plenty of cases of negative personalities shooting themselves in the foot and ruining a promising career.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Mekola

The sollution of Tuero mistery is that Esteban never could be adapted to Formula 1 world and exigences, he missed his home country, even wasn't so fluent in English to have a good comunication with his fellows. Giancarlo Minardi did for him all that he could, he is a great man and I respect him a lot for what he did for my countrymen, but at the second part of the 1998 season, Esteban though it was enough, and left F1 before the start of 1999. Minardi went personally to Tuero's vacation place and tried to convince him to the contrary, but unfortunately Esteban refused and stayed in Argentina since then. Now he could be back in Europe with the FIA GTs, we'll see if Eduardo RamÃ*rez could take his best again to shine in that form of motorsport.

At least, in F1, Esteban did a favour to Luca Badoer.

I don't think in retrospect what happened with Tuero leaving F1 was any mystery, it just came down to being too young, immature and inexperienced.

In recent years the fad has been to get the youngest and most inexperienced but quick drivers in F1 seats. Most have failed or are on the way to failing because they don't have the experience or maturity to deal with everything outside of the cockpit.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Mekola

Ok, now I know it's for your convenience. We won't talk with some kind of matters, like the state of the anti-roll bar of a certain GP2 car at the start of that season, huh?

Well, then it's end of discussion. But, in exchange, I please to the F1 rulers that they should finish with that plan that jeopardizes the formula racing career of all Argies on his way up to F1 anymore. I'm suffering that since I have memories, it means 1982.

Other than British veterans and their families, I think almost no one outside Argentina gives any concerning or caring for the Falklands situation from 26 years ago and it certainly wouldn't factor into selecting a driver for F1! It didn't stop Bernie E from lining his pockets with an Argentinian Grand Prix back in the 1990's!

[andy_b]

Originally Posted by Mekola

Well, then it's end of discussion. But, in exchange, I please to the F1 rulers that they should finish with that plan that jeopardizes the formula racing career of all Argies on his way up to F1 anymore. I'm suffering that since I have memories, it means 1982.

ohhhh plllleeeeassseee

[chunterer]

Can I just say that I'd prefer (as i'm sure fellow hosts Bella and Stephen would too!) that this thread not turn into a slanging match about histories of drivers nationalities and other totally non motorsport issues!!

My initial thought was that Mekola meant 1982 as in the last time there was a decent Argentinian driver in F1; Reutemann, but on reflection there has been Tuero and Fontana since, both highly promising talents whom for whatever reason like Lopez didn't make the grade in F1.

If the thread can continue in a non antangonistic mode then it can continue but if the totally off topic disputing continues then I'll have to close it!!

Cheers

[Sev]

Originally Posted by chunterer

If the thread can continue in a non antangonistic mode then it can continue but if the totally off topic disputing continues then I'll have to close it!!
Cheers

In all honesty, I don't think there's much in the way of "discussion" going on here. This thread is pure flamebait.

[azcol]

I know its probably a bit off topic but what happened to former GP2 racer from Argentina Juan Cruz Alvarez, whats the story ...he just dissapeared and never came back. What is he doing these days??? I remember he was veryfast and young in the Nissan WS.

[Jackman]

The Cruzer had one year with Campos back when they were rubbish and then ran out of budget and then had to go home: he is back at his family's potato farm. Which is such a shame, because apart from being a great guy he was properly fast and could actually overtake: he was in a podium position 8 times with that POS car and was robbed by mechanical failure 7 of them.

If there was ever a guy who deserved another shot at it, it was Alvarez.