Re: JPM to McLaren for 05

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 15:13:35 GMT, "Joe Claffey Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> David Betts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> Championships are there to increase the interest for the
>> non-enthusiast or passing fan. They have phoney points systems
>> designed to keep interest alive until they end of the season. They are
>> certainly not about who is the best driver. In fact, they are not even
>> about who has driven best that season. They are a construct. Often,
>> they interfere with the purity of the individual races because someone
>> ends up driving for points rather than the win. At best, they are a
>> necessary evil.
>
> I'll agree that the points system is a construct designed to provide 
>some continuity between races. However, I don't see that as a bad thing. 
>Fans of a sport will *always* try to come up with a way to compare their 
>favorite participants. If the sanctioning body doesn't, the fans will 
>create their own.

Firstly, I'm not saying do away with the drivers' championship. I am
simply saying that you shouldn't take it too seriously and that -
unlike the constructors' championship - it doesn't really prove very
much. As for constructing your own way to compare, yes please. Don't
we all do that all the time anyway? Surely nobody ranks drivers in
their own minds solely (or even mostly) on championship positions.
>
>> All GPs are important, yes. Each is the annual championship of that
>> country and deserves to be taken seriously.
>
> I disagree that GPs are national championships. How many Australian 
>races does Mark Webber drive in? Which Schumacher is the German national 
>champion?

Sorry, but neither of those responses make a lot of sense to me. The
Australian GP is the biggest and most important race in Australia for
that year. It is something worth winning in it's own right - not
simply an element in some championship or other. That's what I mean by
a 'national championship'. Nothing to do with Mark Webber. Nothing to
do with any other races.

>> They are not all equal,
>> however. Modern GPs are sprint races on (mostly) sanitised circuits
>> and will never be as meaningful for that reason. Some, however, do at
>> least have a history. Going back a few years, there were plenty of
>> races which were just as important as GPs....and some even more so -
>> The Mille Miglia; the Targa Florio; the Tourist Trophy for instance.
>> Sports car racing was still on a par with F1 into the '70s. The likes
>> of Siffert and Rodriguez have claims to fame far above their F1
>> achievements.
>
> I'll agree that modern F1 circuits are too similar. There's Monza, 
>Monaco, and all the rest are variations on the same theme. But let's not 
>forget why many of the old circuits and races are no more - they were 
>dangerous, often deadly. How do we bring diversity in without losing 
>safety?

I'm not suggesting we go back to racing on dangerous circuits and
losing a couple of GP drivers a year as a matter of course. I fully
accept that modern GPs have to be on sanitised courses. I simply don't
think you can compare a GP win at Hockenheim with one on the real
Nurburgring....or even with a sports car win on the real Nurburgring. 

>[snip]
>
>> All I'm
>> trying to do is to put it into some sort of perspective. There are
>> actually people out there who believe Michael Schumacher is the
>> greatest driver ever because he won more championships than anybody
>> else. In fact, he's not even the greatest driver because of the number
>> of races he has won. There has to be a qualitative as well as a
>> quantitative element.
>
> Hmmm. Something like the system used to judge gymnastics? A "perfect" 
>drive is worth a 10, with deductions for each mistake? It might work, 
>but it would be *very* hard to judge.

I'm not suggesting anything like that atall, no. The only thing which
could be worse than a drivers' championship based on points for
positions would be one 'judged' on performances. You only have to look
at the nonsense Autosport came up with last season.

I'm talking about our personal feelings with regard to the greatness
or otherwise of drivers. It's not just about the number of wins or the
number of titles. It's about how they won them, where they won them
and who they won them against. The statistics obviously play a part
and can help to make a point, but they not the be-all and end-all.

David Betts ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) 

"In the end it's always a matter of more accelerator and less brake" - Frank Gardner

British Racing Green: http://dbetts.motorsport.org.uk/brg