Eddie Irvine speaks out
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- 30th July 2010, 13:14 at 1:14 pm #127910PTParticipant
Finally an honest perspective from one of the most outspoken former drivers – Eddie Irvine. Free from any team, he has no PR obligation to satisfy. Here it is:
http://www.autosport.com/features/article.php/id/2945
I especially liked what he told about new circuits:
“And then we’ve got all these flashy, perfect circuits that bore the shit out of everybody. Except for Singapore, which was bumpy and crazy in the first year, and they’ve even tried to anesthetize that.”
I used to watch CART races in the early 2000s and what made them exciting was the bumpy street circuits they raced in. You could watch the cars moving up and down as they raced at breakneck speeds. That’s what I liked about Singapore in its first year. You could see the up and down motion of cars. But drivers complained and it got sorted out, or as Eddie says, anesthetized.
30th July 2010, 13:55 at 1:55 pm #142897AnonymousInactiveCan’t read the whole thing as I’m not a subscriber but he’s got a good point.
I liked Singapore for the bumps aswell. The track is (or was) a real test and the race goes on for nearly two hours which is good. I wish all races would go on as long as that, except maybe for Valencia or Barcelona.
A lot of emphasis seems to be put into making the tracks absolutely perfect, which makes them “easier” for the drivers. The tracks shouldn’t be so clinical. Leave in the bumps and some gravel traps. All the tracks seem to look the same with more emphasis being put on the buildings (which, admittedly in Abu Dhabi, are beautiful!) than actual track design that may promote overtaking. The Korean track, from the track map, looks very mickey mousey.
30th July 2010, 15:41 at 3:41 pm #142898PTParticipantThe New Delhi(India) track is reported to be undulating with high and low points as in a hill circuit and include banked turns too. That should be interesting.
But nowadays you hardly get people who speak out so frankly. Here’s what he said about his transition from Ferrari to Jaguar. Apparently he was pleased then from getting off the No. 2 role at the Scuderia and move to a team leader figure at British equivalent of Ferrari:
“I got from my dad’s scrapyard in Ireland to fighting for the F1 world championship for Ferrari. I saw how a team should be run, then went to a team where I saw how it shouldn’t be run. Jean Todt made it seem much easier than it was, and Jaguar made it seem much harder than it was.”
What a change the team that was once the unprofessional Jaguar squad has undergone now as Red Bull! Irvine also says that Jaguar wanted to hire Adrian Newey back then but just didn’t offer him enough. Now it’s a different story. Newey wouldn’t want to leave Red Bull any time in the near future.
31st July 2010, 21:09 at 9:09 pm #142899sbl on tourParticipantbeing a fellow ulsterman/irishman I still wouldnt give eddies thoughts time of day
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