Bas Leinders

[bella]

problem with looking and black and white stuff is that you don't see the stories behind the results. but then you end up wallowing in statistics and details.

guess i'm just questioning the level of bias.

[SALEEN S7R]

If Leinders does still want to make it into F1 Id say the F3000 route or the TWS is a better option than CART thats all Im trying to say. Im not sure exactly how old Leinders is but I belive it is around 28? He isnt getting any younger, in my personal opinon his best option would be to get into F3000 or TWS and do the best he can and hopefully get noticed by a F1 squad.

I think hes more chance of breaking into F1 through F3000 or TWS than if he went via the CART route, the CART route is all very well and good I think for up and coming young drivers, but for older drivers like himself F3000 or TWS would seem better in my eyes.

[bella]

oh yeah, i don't believe in driver comparisons till you've sorted out everything that they're up against etc and have workied out what they're good at. THEN you compare. comparing results isn't right, nor is comparing career paths.

[E46]

I don´t believe in driver comparisons

and then... What is your method??? I believe that a comparison of one year is bad but a career comparison is ve ry good! A driver can have bad luck one year, not all career

[SALEEN S7R]

Well thats not true, ask Johnny Herbert!

[Happy Hippo]

Okay Bella,

I can't tell you any details about Alex Young.
But here are some about Bas Leinders.

- When Bas became British and European champion with SWIFT he did it with a monocoque with seven (!) cracks in it they found out. SWIFT was for sale and they didn't want to make any big investments anymore. It was effectively sold after that season.

- When Bas debuted in German F3 Van Amersfoort racing ran only one car because of a very limited budget. Bas lost a lot of points and two victories because of mechanical failure. The team was coming to terms with the F3 and still made rookie errors.

- In his first season F3000 he finished only twice with 1 points finish. 8 mechanical failures. 2 crashed, none were his own fault. Serious bad luck.

-Second season F3000 ... miserale. Complained the enige lacked power halfway the season during testing they found out he was lacking speed on the straights. Engine replaced. Also the monocoque in, it's second year I believe, wans't manageble according to Bas. He drove the last two races with his temamates car because KJR refused to admit there were problems with it (and replace it). Bas best two results were achieved the last two races..Most notabley storming up from 19th to 6th in Spa and then being pushed of by Enge. Still a miserable season, no points.

I can continue on like this...

If you read this you might think he's one of the best drivers in the world if it wasn't for his darn bad luck. (sarcasm)

But does anyone care? NO. That's the truth.

It's results and what you have achieved that count, the rest is irrelevant.

Yoong maybe faster then shumacher but he just has bad luck all the time at the wrong time. (sarcasm again)

You compare with what you've got... results.
That's what everybody looks at.

That's the only thing that matters in this bussiness.

[E46]

Amen. I am agree wit you Happy Hippo.

[SALEEN S7R]

Well I dont. There are lots of things to take into consideration. Take Rubens Barichello for Instance he was doing well in 1994 beginnng to prove himself, then Senna died and it took him years to get over that seeing as Senna was effectivly his mentor.

He didnt have bad luck, he just simply wasnt in a competitive car whilst he was at Stewart, well in 1999 the car was competitive but from 1996 to 1999 he hadnt been in a competive car.

Ferrari took that into consideration when they signed him, they certainly didnt sign him because he had the best CV out of all the available drivers out there because he didnt.

I agree with Bella 100% on this one.

[E46]

One thing Saleen: Are you comparing Barrichello with Yoong??? Fantastic joke trust me.

[SALEEN S7R]

No im not comparing, if u read what I said, I was using Barichello as a example.

[DanFlag]

Don't forget Premier F1, last year it was announced he was one of the first drivers to be interested in signing for it.

[SALEEN S7R]

Yeah thats correct, along with Johnny Herbert as hes been a life long supporter of Chelsea FC and hes said hed be intrested, depending on how things go in the USA.

[NME]

Bella is right when she says it is not always what you see that is the true situation ... and i am happy that u Saleen also agree ... remenber the thread about Monteiro ? 2 Supernova cars have 2 diferent engineers ... they look the same but what happens when u have a rookie driver together with a rookie engineer in a team 100% concentrated in 1 car ? ... dont forget that Petrobras (=Supernova B) also had lots of problems with set-up.
It is impossible to evaluate correctly what drivers are really doing ... so i must also agree with Happy Hippo that BAS LEINDERS is a very very very good driver ... and Alex Yoong is not so good, but not that bad also.

Racing isnt fair ... but it is what i love !!!

[SALEEN S7R]

lol Bella said it is not ALWAYS the case, on Monterio I still belive what I said was correct. We wont agree on that though so lets not drage it all up again...

[jjjoseee]

in a recent interview bas said that his priority is to stay in the formula WS and that he have many interesting offers for the next year (in the series).

the principal reason he gave is the improvement in the horse power and in the tyres. we must remenber that he is the only driver who taste the next year spec car. next monay will be zonta and wilson who test the new spec car in interlagos after the end round of the champ.

i supose that the gain of the car for next year must be very important because the bas words after the test in valencia, one month ago. instead ricardo zonta, who one-two months ago was saying that he want be in cart next year, actually say that repeat in the category is a very serious posibility. he based this plan change in the improvement that the car is going to get for next year.
really he said this week that the category is just like cart, at the same level (of course, he said that is like cart because cart is in a bad moment, he don't say that the category is just like the cart of three, four years ago). particulary a think is not true really, and cart is even one steep up of WS, but... if cart continue receiving people as joel camathias, alex yoong or roberto gonzalez... maybe this gap will be out shortly. (as formula WS supporter i'm very pleased with walker racing becasuse eliminate roberto gonzalez of next formula WS season, really thanks mister derrick walker, gonzalez is all yours¡¡¡¡¡ and if you want also milka duno there is no problem, we are interest in pay you if you take the venezuelan driver to the cart also¡¡¡¡¡)