Schumi vs. Baricchello, fake or not?

[bernard]

I'd like to make a poll here, to see how many of you think the ferrari "battle" at indianapolis was fake? It just seemed like Barrichello slowed down on purpose in the middle of the straight, and schumi overtook him. Then when at the next corner Barrichello "almost" overtook Schumi, did you see the lines Schumi was driving? he was driving way out of the driving line, on the outsides of the corner, and this wasn't because of a braking mistake
Finally, to wrap it all up, Barrichello once again had some "issues" during the pitstop(reminds me of irvines sudden "brake disfunktions" back in the day, that miraculously only bothered him when Schumi needed to go over)
Unfortunately they didn't realise that kimi was coming from the pits and managed to overtake Barrichello. So Schumi got away.
I thin it's all because Schuacher has realised that nobody will ever value his championships as high as those of the true champions because of his lack of real competition and superior car, so they have settled it before the race that they will have a "1 on 1 battle"
This Indy incident has also been seen as fake by Frank Williams, so i have some support on a high level
It's obvious that i hate schumi, but let's not let that distract us here. What were after is the truth.

[Mikacouli]

Just fake man.
After barrichello almost touched him, it was over with the fun and there was imidiately a gap. Ferrari are loosers.

[pompelmo]

Shummy had to be given a drive-trough penalty
because he overtook Rubens before starr finish line

[crystalclear]

Schumacher was only supposed to be able to block Sato once off the start line, but he did it at least twice for the first bend. Sure its rigged between Schumacher and Barichello, would you want a battle between the two of them when they can just cruise the cars home for a safe 1 2 finish?
If there are any doubts about who is the quicker driver, they could setle it at a practice circuit or with some go karts or whatever. F1 is a show, a sort of travelling circus - publicity for the cars. The only racing that's important between Schumacher and Barrichello is to get some spectators - we shouldn't forget that Ferrari are joint owners of F1 with Bernie Ecclestone.

Ferrari might even have more to gain at the moment by losing than by winning, if they can get some interest for those boring races, where the grooved tire rules and so on mean that most of the overtaking is done in the pits.

Before the pit stops, you don't know fuel strategies and so you don't know who is REALLY winning. Once they have stopped, you know which is the faster car, and the fact that its not only the faster car, but has a lead over the competition means its all over. So its only worth watching if you think there might be an accident - that's a poor show for formula 1, that doesn't even have the excitement of qualifying anymore.

After the pit stops, the teams themselves know the pecking order too, so they are just trying to bring the cars back safely in their appropriate positions. Its rare to actually see a real race, rather than two cars that just happen to be at the same place on the track at the same time, eg cos Schumi has stopped and Montoya hasn't yet.

What is the point of Schumacher risking anything (eg a broken leg) in a race against Barichello, if he is reportedly about ½sec per lap quicker. If he is asked to cruise to bring the car in safe, then sure Barichello can keep up with him.

How Ferrari manage the politics of Schumacher bring in a superior Ferrari safe and sound is up to them, but that is all it is. Give Schumacher and Barichello the BAR and Button and Sato the Ferrari for a day if you want to see what racing is about.

The day Schumacher deliberately knocks Barichello off the track with an intentional side swipe is the day you know that Barrichello is competition.
But I think Schumacher no longer cares about racing. He knows now that there isn't much a ½sec of driver difference can do against 1½sec of superior car, and world championships are simply about being the best in the team, or sometimes just about being nominated top dog - Coulthard would regularly just track Daemon Hill without trying to overtake, and he could often (but not always) do it to Jacques Villeneuve.

Schumacher will be paraded round like an old fashion model that has lost her looks until he has a car which isn't superior, and then he'll prefer to retire as a legend than actually have to race again.

He had wanted to bring Ferrari to the top and to do the same elsewhere, to show that he had the ability. He has chosen to keep the good salary and easy life. Let's not blame him, we'd maybe do the same ourselves, even if we like to think otherwise. Theres plenty of fair criticism of Schumacher so I won't knock him for that.

[rudo7]

well guys, it looks to me as if you are completely uninformed. Has anyone of you seen the lap times (+ sector times) during US GP when Barrichello was chasing Michael? Where did you get that Michael was 1/2 sec. faster? If you had proper vision you could see that Michael struggled with his rear tyres for whole race, especialy when Rubens got so close to him after his pit stop. You could clearly see his back jumping from one side to the other when cornering from Rubens's onboards. So for me it was Rubens who was really fast in US (comparing to Michael).
And whata about that overtaking stuff? Well, after the restart, Rubens's rear was spinning out of turn 11 (that's what HE said). So that's why Michael was able to overtake him so easily by taking his slip stream on the main straight. Well it was mighty close on the start-finish line (0.0something was Michael behind), but HE WAS BEHIND, so then it was clean overtaking manouver.
And that attempt by Rubens to overtake Michael was by my opinion really good, and by seening onboard from Rubens's car, I would say that it was no way something that would Ferrari plan. They almost hit each other!!, so I wouldn't wonder if Ross went on the radio and said to both of them to back off and bring both cars in!

[hudsonhawk]

well said crystalclear. well said.

[oneBMW]

"Paraded around like an old model" ?? I beg to wonder how truly informed you are. Old models don't dominate the run-way my friend. Michael has won every race but one so far. You can pipe up all you want about the team carrying him, but thats just an excuse. The guy's madder than hell that he was questioned by the press about his will to win, and whether he still has it. This year is proving that indeed, he still has it, and that he is a bit far from being an "old model". I'm no Schumacher fan, but he finds a way to win, and that can't be disputed, like him or not.