Trouble at Toro-Rosso

[Rob W]

I've never been a fan of Speed, from the first interview he struck me as an arrogant twat who's in F1 because of his name

Not sure who is right in this current situation but I tend to agree - the times I've seen Speed interviewed he seemed quite terse with a bit of the "we American's are better" vibe about him.

So, I'd say it's back to those awfully complex oval races for him in the near future.

Rob W

[vyselegend]

Weather we like Scott Speed's character or not shouldn't matter while judging the way his bosses try to get rid of him (and Tonio who haven't voiced yet)
Just read a bit of Franz Tost's version, from gpupdate.net

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2007/07/ ... s-drivers/

Again, I can't say who is or isn't right, but between us Scott sounded way more sincere...
See for yourself

Some reports said Speed was assaulted by Franz Tost after the race as Tost would have grabbed Speed by his shoulder to stop him from walking away. But the Scuderia Toro Rosso team boss said it was nothing like that. He told Swiss newspaper Blick: "When Speed returned from his incident on Sunday I asked him why he flew off the track. He just smiled at me and asked 'Why did my pitstop had to take that long?' and walked away immediately. At that point I grabbed his shoulder and told him that this is not the way to discuss these matters."

Tost doesn't believe there is a war going on in his team but he is pretty unhappy with the way his drivers are performing at the moment. He said: "I'd rather have none of my current drivers in our car at the moment."

I especially like the "At that point I grabbed his shoulder and told him that this is not the way to discuss these matters." Seriously who will buy that! He just expressed he percieved Scott's atitude as unresponsible and arrogant, and he want to make us believe his reaction was a "c'mon boy, it's not a way to discuss those matters" type, with an amical tap on the shoulder...

Sounds to me like an archaïc defense of someone feeling he got a little bit too far, and want to present things in an indulgent angle.

[jddh1]

@ whomever is saying that Bourdais is going to be better than Speed in F1. Have you seen him drive? I'd like to pinpoint one race in Quebec in ChampCar where he was blocked by Doornbos and he whined like a little girl after the race. Even the largely French-Canadian crowd booed him. How's he gonna do in F1 where blocking is a major part of racing?

STR is making a huge mistake by ousting Speed. Somebody mentioned that Speed driving style does not hurt the engine. Well, that's true. I hope some top team picks him up as a test driver for a year and then he can show how good he really is.

And, oh yeah, I take Speed's side on this. He has no reason to lie.

[DaveKillens]

Each side have their own story, and I'm sure that what really occured is somewhere in the middle. Speed was probably being insolant and I'm sure that somewhere Tost did lay his hands on Speed.
It's understandable that everyone in STR are stressed and unhappy. Having both cars retire at the very beginning was probably the breaking point for Tost, and he's not only unhappy with the lack of points and results, but trying to pass the blame onto the drivers.
I want to see just who will be driving for STR, and if we see new drivers but the same results, make up your own mind.

[West]

If you listen to his interviews on SPEED (after his car breaks down) he's pretty much upbeat the whole time... he never disses anybody and just tries to run his race. He seems to have matched or bettered his rivals this year too. I don't doubt any of his words; his team is shitty right now and management will blame whomever they get their hands on (literally).

It's sad that he had to be dumped into a bad team. This sport is ruthless and if you drive well in a crap car, people will still think you are a poor driver. Very few exceptions of course, but these days the performance gap is so much more obvious race by race. I actually like him now; he's grown up from last year... a lot.

As for Bourdais... I saw the end of that race w/ Doornbos... yeah the crowd did not like what he had to say... I guess F1 drivers are (or in his case, was) in a totally different league?

[KIMI the best]

West- As for Bourdais... I saw the end of that race w/ Doornbos... yeah the crowd did not like what he had to say... I guess F1 drivers are (or in his case, was) in a totally different league?

I think you're wrong West I have followed Sebastien career scince his first year in Champ Car, he really is a good driver and deserves to be at F1 and you can't judge a driver only because one action like the one at Canada. Here are some examples of great things that Sebastien have done at Champ Car:
- Pole position in his first two races.
- 3 wins in his first year.
- 3 consecutive championships in 4 seasons.
- 27 wins in 67 races at Champ Car!!!
- 29 Pole Positions in 67 races at Champ Car!!!

- Won FIA International F3000 Championship in 2002.

[Tom]

Sebastian is undoubtably one hell of a driver and he certainly deserves an F1 seat far more than Scotty boy, we'll have to see, we all have opinions and mine are that he's not F1 material but would probably fit in well with the champ car scene, heavier cars and ovals. I suppose at the end of the day Scott has to look hard at himself and consider if he thinks he's right for F1 or his contributions would be better rewarded in another series, or farming.

[dp35]

I think Scott Speed's telling the truth here.

Its been my opinion this entire season that the STR management didn't plan on keeping him, and would be happy to destroy his career rather than admit they're the problem. I believe Speed got only 2 days of testing before this year's 1st race, which was less than any other driver on the grid. That's something that can't be made up for mid-season, but nevertheless Speed's done fairly well.

Last week at Spa, STR tested Bordais 2 days, Liuzzi 1, and Speed none, although they made him attend all 3 days. Speed's supposed to race that car on that track in 2 months (if he's still around). These moves look like the team's attempting to sabotoge the driver's career.

The fact that Liuzzi hasn't done any better than Speed this year should be proof that the STR cars are garbage.

Because of his F1 experience, I think Scott Speed would do better than Bordais or Vettel in equal F1 cars, and I honestly believe that he would've scored more than 1 point at Indy in that BMW.

[PNSD]

In Champcar he has had the best team on each of his victorys and noone near good enough to beat him.

Now he has. Doornboss and Power are both just as good if not better imo and are challenging...

Also AJ allmendinger or whatever his name was, imo a much better driver.

And that tosts guy, he asked why speed crashed?

seriously, what a dumbass?!! because its so hard to miss a river going across at turn one and 6 cars go off inc yr team-mate?

stupid question to ask, and speed replied justly.

[dp35]

AJ Almindinger brings up an interesting comparison. He beat Bordais several times, more often than not, immediately upon getting into a competitive car in ChampCar (although none are better than Bordais'). Judging by that, AJA looks like he's a better driver than Bordais.

Scott Speed and AJA come from the same area, and were rivals coming up through the ranks in karting. Neither one was considered the hands down better of the two.

So if SS=AJA, and AJA>SB, then SS must be > SB. And that's without considering his nearly 2 years of F1 experience.

[ginsu]

Speed is testing at Mugello!



It looks like he survived the wrath of Tost. Tost must've felt pretty stupid
after the truth surfaced. He has confirmed that Speed will race in Hungary.

Now, hopefully Speed can turn this all around and pull out the best performance of his career.

[checkered]

It's not much

of a strecth to believe that the decision to keep Speed came from higher up, rather than Berger or Tost suddenly changing their opinions. There's a lot of "Ego-power" (if not green Eco-power just yet) in that team, if only it was properly directed instead of forming a short circuit ... a lot of tough questions to be faced before 2008.

[countersteer]

snip...probably fit in well with the champ car scene, heavier cars and ovals.

I don't think Champ Car has run an oval in the past two or three years, certainly not this year.

also... keep in mind.... SB was driving for Newman Haas, quite simply the best team on the grid. SB dominated in the Lola chassis which has been around for years. Newman Haas had it wired.

AJ Allmendinger is indeed very quick (huge loss to Champ Car when he chased the money to NASCAR). But AJ stepped into a car owned by Gerald Forsythe as a teammate to Paul Tracy who is known for his technical feedback. With Paul's set-up sheets, he was a leg up. Given that, if the car was so darn good, then why wasn't Paul spanking Bourdais? (except for the extra 50 pounds he's carrying.

Also, this year in Champ Car we have the new "spec" Panoz chassis such that Newman Haas can do very very little development. SB has more of a fight on his hands.

Finally, in my opinion, there's more to success in F1 than just being quick. A driver has to have the ability to provide technical feedback to help develop the car. Testing is limited, development is non-stop. Efficiency in feedback is huge. Jacque Villeneuve can't develop a car for crap... Schumacher understands the car implicitly. Both were/are quick. But watch which team gets faster while others keep chasing their tails. (That being said, Ferrari must be paying Luca Badoer a fortune to keep him around. Maybe Honda/Toyota should be chasing Luca as much as a technical staff.

Just my $0.02. Thanks for listening...

[m3_lover]

Is Luca another Alex Wurz?

[Carlos]

I've always thought that Luca Badoer has been a very important testing/technical resource at Ferrari - a key contributor.