something to be said for baumgartner

[nameless]

i feel that zsolts performance today should at least be noted, it wasnt spectacular, you may not even say it was good but in the end he managed to get that minardi round a full race at monaco and 6 laps down. after watching them in qualifying and seeing really how bad a car it is, it is an acheivement getting that car round a lap let alone a race and just one position off the points (albeit 3 laps back).

[Knowlesy]

The finish wasn't notable for me....

The fact he outqualified bruni was! His driving style doesn't suit motor racing full stop let alone the tight twisty confines of Monaco!

Nothing short of a miracle.

Why were the Minardis four seconds a lap down on the Jordans though? That's an immense gap!

[esorniloc]

If one other car had of dropped out, he would have got a point! I wonder if he will ever come closer?

[Knowlesy]

Yoong had a similar Monaco GP in 2002, I believe he finished 7th.

[Knowlesy]

No, I'm wrong, I'm thinking of Melbourne 2002.

[Schummy]

3 laps out of 77 is something like 2.3 secs per lap. No bad for a Minardi, although race gaps are smaller than qualify gaps.

[Dani Filth]

add to that 2 SC . best lap for Zolt was in lap 2 1m21 compared to MS-s 1m14

[mirwin]

I think he did well to finish. He would have spent a lot of time watching his mirrors, and slowing to let lapping cars through.

[Yoong Montoya]

Originally posted by knowlesy
Why were the Minardis four seconds a lap down on the Jordans though? That's an immense gap!

I guess Minardi are now at the level of Forti in 1995-1996, i.e. always outside 107% of the leaders pace. Shame really.

[Kicking-back]

If Zsolt had got a point it would devalue that as an achievement for anyone else.

[Jordi]

Well, at least the Minardi is reliable. So if he had gotten a point, good for them!

[nameless]

monaco (especially today) is a race of attrition, if the car can make it to the end, and the driver can get it there without making any serious mistakes then surely it has value. it is true that there are many drivers in the world better than zsolt who could be in that car and be faster but he did what he had to do today, he was driving a car that looks a nightmare to keep out of the walls and made it to the end and so should be congratulated, i mean some of the best drivers in the world made some bad errors today.

[Raven]

He kept his nose clean and brought the car home. Despite being woefully slow that was as good a job as the sleeping pill would have asked of him. When we see him outqualifying cars with works engines in the back will be the time to sit up and take notice.

[Spudgun]

Originally posted by Yoong Montoya
I guess Minardi are now at the level of Forti in 1995-1996, i.e. always outside 107% of the leaders pace. Shame really.

My thoughts exactly before I got to your post, so I guess I don't need to mention it now. The only difference is they just need to find more aerodyamic effiency.

The Forti was just dire in all areas to the extreme. Be it, power, weight, chassis.

I recently found an old VHS of the 1995 French Grand Prix. The Fortis were truly awful.

You have to take your hat off to the Minardi team for their performance in spite of the money guzzler that F1 now is, compared to 10 years ago. And they have survived.

[Schummy]

Ummmm, I got confused. He was 6 laps down! (I thought he was only 3). And, as Dani said, race had 2 SCs, making it two 35 and 30 laps races. He essentially lost a ratio of 3 laps per 30 laps, and it is an astonishing 10%. I retire my former commentary!

He was slow, he is slow, and, probably, he will be slow. However he is about a hundred times better than me, that is!

[Phoenix1]

Originally posted by Kicking-back
If Zsolt had got a point it would devalue that as an achievement for anyone else.

I disagree, it would of shown that Minardi and Zsolt had the right head on and a reliable car at Monaco. It would of been a good achievement. Even so 9th is a great result those with budgets ten times theres where no able to get to the end.

[Don K]

Originally posted by Schummy
He was slow, he is slow, and, probably, he will be slow.

Well, many people are trying all sorts of things to make F1-cars slower.

So Baumgartner is way ahead of his time ...

[Mr V]

I have to say that i was hoping that Minardi would get that final point today, but it just wasn't to be

[Schummy]

Originally posted by Don K
Well, many people are trying all sorts of things to make F1-cars slower.

So Baumgartner is way ahead of his time ...

LOL!

[Dutton]

I was praying for a further retirement in order for Zsolt to grab that final point. It is always great to see Minardi get something for all their effort.

However, that does not suddenly make Zsolt a good driver at the level of F1.

[Armco Bender]

I could have come 9th on my tractor towing a caravan full of sheep....you only had to keep going to get a result at Monaco most years ,due to the atrittion of the other cars.
I thought Minardis were only mobile chicanes holding up the cars racing at the front of the field.

[klb]

You know, I like Minardi. I admire there pluck. At the same time I ask myself why they even bother.

[cos]

Originally posted by Yoong Montoya
I guess Minardi are now at the level of Forti in 1995-1996, i.e. always outside 107% of the leaders pace. Shame really.

Where did that 107% rule go? Zsolt was 2 seconds outside 107% of the race's fastest lap!!

[Attila]

Well guys it was not mentioned in the international press that Zsolt's car was not totally fixed after his shunt in free practice. He drove qualifying and the entire race without power steering. He had a transmission problem in the first lap and had to reastart the computer system. If you look at his performance after tha problems he had, it is very good. He clearly was the better Minardi driver this weekend and that is a excellent performance from him. He is not the best driver but he seems to be better on slow tracks.

[BootsOntheSide]

Definately Zsolt's best display in F1 yet. Regarding the safety car periods, the first was after only 4 laps, and he wasn't far behind by then, so he didn't gain much from that, and he was about halfway round teh track when the second one started, meaning that he gained half a lap back. Overall, not a big difference.

I think he'd had more track time than Bruni, and I'm not sure Gimmi had power steering either, but he still did well to outqailfy him. I was hoping for one more retirement (ideally Panis - he deserved nothign from a mediocre drive) jsut to give Minardi a point.