Newsgroup: it.sport.formula1.moderato
Titolo: [ENG] Former champ criticises Ferrari policy

Source: pitpass
http://www.pitpass.com/news2/news.cfm?newsid=7943
Former champ criticises Ferrari policy
12-11-2003
Four-time World Champion Alain Post is the latest former World Champion
to enter the public arena and give his opinion on contemporary F1.
However the legendary French racer is highly critical of his former team
and in particular the way it's treated Rubens Barrichello.
Prost whose team mates over the years included: John Watson, Rene Arnoux,
Eddie Cheever, Niki Lauda, Keke Rosberg, Stefan Johansson, Ayrton Senna,
Nigel Mansell, Jean Alesi and Damon Hill, believes Ferrari has been wrong
to concentrate all its efforts on Michael Schumacher, and that had he
been given parity team-mate Barrichello could have beaten him.
"What annoys me most is the way certain drivers sign No 1 contracts
leaving the No 2 with nothing to do but lick their boots," the four-time
champ told British tabloid The Sun .
"There is no natural, no internal rivalry," he added. "Michael is an
exceptional driver but the circumstances have worked very much in his
favour. He has never been up against really sharp opposition either in
his own team or outside. Ferrari would never have won if they had been
grooming two drivers for success.
Although some say that following the death of Ayrton Senna, Schumacher
never really had a serious threat - other than Mika Hakkinen and latterly
Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen - Prost spent much of his F1 career
fighting some of the finest drivers ever to grace the sport.
That said, his comment that Ferrari; "would never have won if they had
been grooming two drivers for success", seem to contradict his own
argument. Whereas some teams, notably Williams, relish the idea of their
drivers going head-to-head, others take a more cautious approach.
Sometimes internal rivalry can work against the team and Prost who had
many 'run ins' (literally) with team-mate Ayrton Senna would know all
about this.
The Frenchman, whose own team went bust at the end of 2001, then poured
scorn on Ferrari's 'win at all costs attitude', citing the start of this
year's US GP at Indianapolis as an example. He claims Barrichello made a
deliberately slow start in order that he could hold up his side of the
grid and allow team-mate Schumacher - starting from seventh on the grid -
to take full advantage. Something that few others have commented on.
"The start at Indianapolis this season made me pretty sick," he said. "It
may have been the only chance they had of winning but Ferrari do go a bit
far sometimes."
When Prost joined Ferrari in 1990 it followed another 'difficult' season
with McLaren and Senna in 1989. The Frenchman was fiercely angry not only
at his team-mate's tactics but also the preferential treatment the
Brazilian appeared to be getting from the team. This was never more
public than at Monza when having won the Italian GP Prost threw his
trophy into the crowd, a move that incensed team boss Ron Dennis.
A few weeks later came the infamous collision which ended in instant
retirement for Prost while Senna was subsequently disqualified for
cutting a chicane, despite having 'won' the race. This effectively handed
the World Championship to Prost who promptly took the coveted number '1'
to Ferrari for 1990.
At this time the Italian outfit was attempting to reassert itself after
years in the doldrums. A difficult year alongside Mansell was followed by
an even worse season in 1991 driving one of the worst Ferraris ever
built. The Frenchman was highly critical of the car and indeed the team,
culminating in him being fired before the end of the season. At the time
fellow French racer Patrick Tambay accused the Maranello outfit of
shooting itself in the foot having fired the one man who could possibly
get its World Championship efforts back on track.
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 grooming two drivers for success.
Qualcosa non torna o sbaglio?
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 far sometimes."
Posto che sia vero, a Indianapolis ricordo anche una partenza
anticipatissima di Coulthard nel 2000 per passare Schumacher e permettere
ad Hakkinen di tenere il contatto....
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