When does stop mean stop?

[Liz]

Well any bets on how Panis will do racing against Jacques? Now at least when Jacques curses at him in French, Panis can throw it right back at him! That should be fun.

Crate of new handbags for Britis American Racing, please!

[Super Tourer]

Well Ralf's Girl - here's the story.

In '99 I worked for a team in the BTCC. When Williams were selling their touring car team, our team owner was interested in buying all the kit. I got the job of negotiating with Williams for all the gear.

I spoke to William's office and amazingly for a company that size, everything was decided by FW. His secretary said he would call me to discuss our offer.

Whilst driving home from a meeting my phone rang, it was Frank Williams, calling me to talk about our offer and arranging for us to visit the factory to view all every item.

In the end we didn't buy it - but that's how I got to be called by FW.

[Roy2]

Dino IV
Villenueve wasn't on wets. He put on the wets after the spin. Regarding the touch, Zonta's car slid out a bit and into Villenueve's. I'm not saying that makes it Zonta's fault, but it wasn't JV's fault 100% either. Both drivers IMO did what I guess is the instinctive thing - Zonta went for the pass, JV defended (but I didn't see what happened at the turn where you say JV went wide. Did Zonta actually pass and JV attempt to repass?). It's a real shame, because had they not touched they would have been running 4th & 5th, both on slicks.

About the stop-go penalty "after all that whining...". Did the BAR team run to the race stewards and demand a stop-go penalty for Zonta? I don't think so.

You have me at a disadvantage over Koni-gate. I can see BAR withholding a new suspension from a driver who is leaving the team, but the explanation "you didn't ask for them" sounds like pure fiction to me. What or who are you quoting?

[Liz]

That doesn't surprise me that Zonta is not getting all the available bits. He hasn't been getting them all season.

[Roy2]

Re my post above: sorry, I meant both on drys, not slicks.

[Liz]

Clearly Jacques was on slicks!

[Valve Bounce]

When I was at Uni, one of the lecturers told us that the Main Roads Department changed one of their STOP sign to read POTS, and none of the motorists noticed it and kept stopping at that sign?

[Run Free]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dino IV
[B]Not even Hockenheim was really his fault [...]
Zonta was going great, stayed out on slicks and had no problem whatsoever in the stadium to keep his laptimes up to pace - probably heading for the podium at that time - when Villeneuve on wets

You are obviously entitled to your overall opinion, but you're totally wrong here.

1) Zonta himself admitted that he braked wrongly because he was "distracted by the radio call"
2) Zonta himself complained about the crash with Villeneuve
3) Last but not least, Villeneuve had THE SAME TYRES AS ZONTA, he changed to "wet" after the accident: he was ahead of Zonta ! Please, refresh your memory....

[Liz]

The early braking was AFTER the tangle with Jacques, not before it.

[Dino IV]

Roy2>
1. My mistake; both ran drys.
2. Here's the video of the incident on lap 34.
On lap 38 Zonta ran wide into the hairpin after the stop and go call. Now I don't know who issued that penalty, nor why it was issued, but so far it seems plainly ridiculous to me. Did Diniz get a 1 race ban for trying to finish Alesi's career? Weird sense of justice ...
3. The Konigate affaire was brought to the Dutch viewers by the RTL5 commentator. They do some very good pitnews-research and the Koni-thing will have been an easy item from their connection with Dutch company Koni.

Run Free>
1. Exactly the reason I gave for ending up in the graveltrap. Driver error or engineer error?
2. I don't remember Zonta calling Villeneuve an idiot for tangling up. Jacques did that the other way around.
Ricardo replied - and rightfully -:"He gave me space but not quite enough and I touched the kerb as a result. It was slippery, the car slid back out a little and my front wheel clipped his rear wheel, causing him to spin". Watch the video plz and see for yourself. Zonta doesn't mean the outside kerb but the inside one. Jacques almost ran his frontwing off. Where did he want his team'mate' to go? Onto the grass?
3. As I said; my mistake both ran drys.

Anyway, King Jacques and Royal Dwarf Pollock succeeded in their evil plans. Zonta's out.
Bonne chance, Olivier!
Not that his talent will get him anywhere past Jacques in that team ...

[Liz]

Thanks Dino IV that is what I saw. And that is what I have been hearing over the last two years.

Soon Zonta will start talking, and once people who really care about the truth start doing research, more events like the ones you chronicle will come to light.

If Zonta has a fault, is that he has been too trusting, and has believed that the people who told him lies were honest. It is the same flaw (if you modern day people call it a flaw) that Gilles Villeneuve suffered from - an ethical and honest man cannot imagine the levels some people will stoop to just to win a car race. Zonta is under the mistaken impression that F1 is a sport. If he doesn't get cynical and political, he is probably going to get killed.

Anyway, thanks, Dino, for the information.