Ralf quits Toyota!

[Rob W]

Bernd Maylander?

Definitely... did you see his rain-driving? Hamilton could hardly keep up with him.

Rob W

[RH1300S]

This little gem from GrandPrix.com is worth sharing:

"Ralf under fire - Ralf Schumacher is having a miserable time at the moment. Things are not going well with Toyota. There does not seem to much interest for his future - even in DTM - and now Ralf has People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) after him for hunting deer in Serbia. Ralf was sent a letter by the world's largest animal rights group telling him that he should have more respect for animals.

"We hope that, in the future, you will follow the fine example of your brother, Michael," the organisation wrote, "not only with regard to winning races but also with regard to being kind to animals."

The organisation added that "we ask that if you do badly in this upcoming race, as you did in Italy, you use a punching bag or another inanimate object to take out any frustration you may feel and be decent enough to leave animals out of it."

Bye bye Ralph...................my bet is Toyota will have a much better year in 2008

[modbaraban]

lol

The local news here said something like "...Ralf is leaving Toyota after a struggling season and is hoping to spend the next few years in a team with a more competative car"

[f1.redbaron]

Why is nobody asking the most obvious question?

In Ralf's absence, who's the new third-best F1 driver?
- Lewis Hamilton?
- Felipe Massa?

Oh, the suspense!

Simple! Nobody! They are going to retire that number, and nobody else will ever be able to call himself a 3rd best driver.

[mx_tifoso]

I may be right about Glock....

The German,....,is rumoured to be Ralf Schumacher's replacement at Toyota for next season

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2007/10/ ... xt-season/

He seems to be a good enough driver, he only won this seasons GP2 champ. And Toyota are in dire need of a fresh new driver that can contribute to better results, as with the amount they are spending they are not getting those expected results.

Maybe then they will be able to put some more pressure on Williams.

[Tom]

I wonder if Ralf could even finish a GP2 race!?! Its saying something when even PETA are taking the piss out of you.

[bar555]

I do not back Ralf but it is a pity he leaves and other less cabable drivers still remain (Yamamoto , Liuzzi ) At least Ralf won some races and had some good podium finishes . Of course he does not deserves his salary but that does not mean that his completely uncabable of driving a F1 car .

[Principessa]

Franck Montagny and Timo Glock are up for the job as well! And I have to say that I do not believe that you can count Liuzzi with the 'less capable' drivers. I believe he has a lot of potential, but just didn't have the good car.


Yesterday there were some rumours flying around too that Ralf would have said he might go to McLaren Joke of the day

[bar555]

Just sayING that Ralf , according to my opinion , is better than Liuzzi (technical knowledge and driving skills ) .

Liuzzi struggles because of wrong set up .I think STR02 has potential (Ferrari engine , Newey 's project , shares aero solution with RB03 ) and of course can beat Skyker b-spec . Simply Sutil is a better driver than Liuzzi and manages occasionally to beat Liuzzi because of his superior driving skill .

Look also how faster is Vettel with STR02 , who is new in the team and lacks experiancy , compared to Liuzzi

JAPAN FASTEST LAPS
Driver Time
Sebastian Vettel 1:29.057
Vitantonio Liuzzi 1:30.653

JAPAN QUALIFYING
Driver Q1 Q2 Q3
Sebastian Vettel 1:26.025 1:25.909 1:26.973
Vitantonio Liuzzi 1:27.234 1:26.948

[JimmyK]

ah yes, but wasn't that unrepresentative because Liuzzi's car was set up for the dry and Vettel's for the wet?

I don't really rate Liuzzi much, Klein did a better job when they were driving for the same Red Bull seat, yet Liuzzi now seems to get more attention.

[bar555]

The team new that the race will be wet , so why you say that Liuzzi's car was set up for dry conditions ? Even FIA informed the teams to put heavy rain tyres . I never heard that information from the team . What about qualify ???? Only a madman would set his car for dry conditions !!

[mx_tifoso]

Rumors (which I never heard of) supposably(?) linked Massa to Toyota according to Autosport.com. Massa has now negated them and says he wants to finish his career with Ferrari.

http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/62740

[HKS]

Ofcourse , we can imagine Massa without Ferrari

[bizadfar]

The team new that the race will be wet , so why you say that Liuzzi's car was set up for dry conditions ? Even FIA informed the teams to put heavy rain tyres . I never heard that information from the team . What about qualify ???? Only a madman would set his car for dry conditions !!

you cant change much at all after qualifying. Luizzi gambled it would be dry and took on a dry focussed setup. So did the Ferraris.