Lauda thinks current drivers have no personality

[Conceptual]

As is evident from the blunt nature of his conversations, Lauda confirms that he still has the same number of friends today as in the past - none.

"That is absolutely true," he said. "There were no doubts about that while I was active, anyway - everyone was ready to roll over someone else's head to win."

"You have to be a loner to have success in motorsports," Lauda added.

Sounds to me a like an disgruntled, old man. Sad, considering he was a fantastic driver.
And I completely disagree with him that you have to be a loner to succeed in motorsports. You have to be selfish, but not a loner. Case in point, Valentino Rossi. A friendly guy but on the track a shark. Same with most F1 drivers.
And, to add to that, personally, I'd like to beat my friends a lot more than my enemies. I don't care about my enemies, but I want to remind my friends of how I beat them every chance I get. Perhaps it's just me.

With friends like you, who needs enemies?

[andartop]

C'mon people, it's not the drivers, it's the WHOLE WORLD. We live in a politically correct era, where nurses get sued and fired for offering to pray for a sick old lady (because the lady considers this offer offensive to her religious beliefs), what the --- do you expect F1 drivers to do?

[jddh1]

As is evident from the blunt nature of his conversations, Lauda confirms that he still has the same number of friends today as in the past - none.

"That is absolutely true," he said. "There were no doubts about that while I was active, anyway - everyone was ready to roll over someone else's head to win."

"You have to be a loner to have success in motorsports," Lauda added.

Sounds to me a like an disgruntled, old man. Sad, considering he was a fantastic driver.
And I completely disagree with him that you have to be a loner to succeed in motorsports. You have to be selfish, but not a loner. Case in point, Valentino Rossi. A friendly guy but on the track a shark. Same with most F1 drivers.
And, to add to that, personally, I'd like to beat my friends a lot more than my enemies. I don't care about my enemies, but I want to remind my friends of how I beat them every chance I get. Perhaps it's just me.

With friends like you, who needs enemies?

Ouch, Conceptual.

Yes, I like to beat my friends in sports or bets or what have you. I don't beat them up so all is good. I don't even hang out with my enemies, so why bother with them? They can kill themselves falling on a soap in the kitchen sink if they want. And with friends is all in good fun with me. I lose they taunt me, I win I taunt them.

See, what I mean is that the competitive spirit is what is needed, not some loner samurai kamikaze type driver. Besides, I don't think he got run over for a win when his car was on fire. I just think he's just a bitter man is all.

[DaveKillens]

As is evident from the blunt nature of his conversations, Lauda confirms that he still has the same number of friends today as in the past - none.

"That is absolutely true," he said. "There were no doubts about that while I was active, anyway - everyone was ready to roll over someone else's head to win."

"You have to be a loner to have success in motorsports," Lauda added.

Coming from Lauda, it's hard to believe he managed to forget the 1976 German Grand prix.

At the Bergwerk curve Lauda lost control of his Ferrari and spun through the fencing into an earth bank. The car (which was enveloped in flames) bounced back onto the circuit and on the track. Guy Edwards managed to avoid the Ferrari but Harald Ertl and Brett Lunger both hit it. All three drivers stopped and tried to get Lauda out of the flames and they were joined by Merzario who stopped his Wolf Williams after seeing the wreck.

Drivers helping another when one is in severe crisis. Heck, Merzario had a good car and stopped purely out of altruistic principles.

I respect Lauda a ton because of his driving skills. But to so easily dismiss such efforts by his fellow drivers is just plain wrong.

[donskar]

Lauda is right, though even he might not know why.

Drivers are now corporate spokesmen. Their job is to present a mature, non-controversial image to the public. They are "media trained" (I was media trined long ago and far away when I was a corp spokesman for a Fortune 25 computer company. You must look and speak and act perfectly.)

Funnily enough, in American racing (NASCAR and drag racing especially) "bad boys" can do well in the sponsorship game. And Danica Patrick's physical altercation swith other drivers have NOT hurt her.

[xpensive]

I agree with you donskar, I actually think those PR councellors got it wrong somehow. I think the F1 viewers would love to see a Keke Rosberg kind again, calling his team's developments guess-work, denouncing the new rules as pathetic and lighting up a Marlboro. All in public of course, perhaps not contracted to Ron Dennis though.

[pjobmathew]

Well i believe that Lauda is correct to an extent .

Yes drivers should show some emotions , but not something that is extreme.
We wouldn't want a driver 'X' making racist comments on Hamilton . Do we?
One bad 'act' by a driver could wreck up his and his team's image . Who wants that to happen ? Who wants others to say that he's a bad guy ?
They are just playing it safe , that's all .

[xpensive]

There has to be limits obviously, but I remember the 80s, when Alain Prost once said about Rene Arnoux that "Sometimes I think Rene's helmet is purely cosmetical".
Priceless, imagine Alonso making the same remark on Hamilton?

Piquet Sr. saying Mansell's wife was "Both ugly and stupid", was perhaps a little too much though.

[andartop]

How about bringing in Tom Clarkson to F1?

[donskar]

I agree with you donskar, I actually think those PR councellors got it wrong somehow. I think the F1 viewers would love to see a Keke Rosberg kind again, calling his team's developments guess-work, denouncing the new rules as pathetic and lighting up a Marlboro. All in public of course, perhaps not contracted to Ron Dennis though.

When offered a drive in a top line prototype, Rosberg said he wouldn't drive anything with doors -- "Doors are for bathrooms."

[xpensive]

After surprisingly winning a non-championship F1 race at Silverstone (in a Theodore or something), Keke says with a shrug after a deep puff on his cigarette; "If I needed 100 points to get a regular seat in F1, maybe I earned one today".

[Henning]

All this talk of F1 characters makes me miss Eddie Irvine