Ralph

Ralph S. is back at it, taking swipes at his own team even on his personal site. You don't see drivers calling out their outfits like this—not usually, anyway. His brother certainly doesn't make a habit of it.
The folks over at Williams are pretty fed up with the constant griping, and honestly, it feels like Ralph could be looking for the exit soon. But since every decent seat in the garage is already taken, he might end up falling flat on his face—maybe landing somewhere like Minardi. It’d actually be a win for everyone; BMW deserves a driver who isn't constantly looking for someone to blame.

He’s got every right to call them out... the guy asks to come down to the pits and they ignore him, then suddenly they decide to page him once he's practically standing on top of the pit lane.

Ralph Schumacher isn't exactly a superstar driver anyway, so he shouldn't be too bothered about being a backmarker once he moves down to some slower teams.

Villeneuve would be a solid move for Frank...😁

mistyseal49 said:He’s totally got a point for calling them out... the guy's asking to come in, they ignore him, then suddenly they're waving him in when he's practically sitting on top of the pit lane.

So, Ralph said that while he was running lead, he was trying to get a read on how the crew was feeling about the weather and the pit strategy—but he wasn't getting any feedback at all.
But hey, that's just Ralph's side of things.
Mario Theissen, on the other hand, claims the exact opposite: they sent the signal, but Ralph just didn't respond and stayed out for another lap.

Honestly, nobody even knows what actually went down. Ralph claims he was the one who reached out first and they just gave him the silent treatment, but Williams says something completely different...😕

wearyraven41 said:Villeneuve would actually be a solid move for Frank...😁

It would be a fantastic solution if only Frank could get his head out of the sand and realize it!

😁

John Hall4 said:Ralph S. is at it again, taking shots at his own team, even going as far as posting about it on his personal website. Honestly, you just don't see drivers criticizing their outfits like this—certainly not with this kind of frequency. His brother, for one, would never dream of doing something like that.

haha
I can't help but chuckle; I mean, his brother managed to snag three championships largely because he had such a stellar team behind him, so maybe he should be handing out more critiques! It really makes me wonder what Rubens might have had to say if he actually felt he was allowed to speak his mind.

Charles Martin78 said:lol
His brother pulled off three titles mostly thanks to having a top-tier team—he should probably be thanking them instead of complaining. I’d love to hear what Rubens would have had to say if he actually felt he could speak up.

Well, looks like you fell for it. Michael never aired the dirty laundry in public, whereas Ralph does it constantly.
Ralph had a car good enough to win the championship this year.

Just a JV driver at BMW.👍

Charles Martin78 said:lol
His brother only grabbed three titles because of his team—he should probably be thanking them instead of complaining. I honestly wonder what Rubens would even say if he could speak up.

Plus, the "brother" snagged all six titles thanks to his crew (if he’d been at Minardi, he wouldn't have won a single one)—and the team took home the constructor's title just as many times because of him...

Raymond Palmer8 said:Besides, the "brother" won all six of those titles because of his team—if he’d been driving for Minardi, he probably wouldn't have even grabbed one. On the flip side, the team took home the constructors' championship just as many times because they had him behind the wheel...

Honestly, you could just argue that M. Schumacher actually holds seven constructors' world championships himself. 😁
😁

John Hall4 said:Well, I think you’ve missed the mark there. Michael was never one to air dirty laundry in public, whereas Ralph seems to do it quite frequently.
In my view, Ralph actually had a car capable of taking the championship title this year.

A joint venture at BMW.👍

The real issue, if you ask me, is that he doesn't have a teammate who’s willing to play second fiddle; instead, he’s stuck with someone who is purely out for their own glory...

At the end of the day, you have to drive for yourself rather than expecting a teammate to just hand you points on a silver platter! McLaren has never really played favorites between their drivers; they’ve always maintained that balance, whether it was Senna and Prost, David and Mika, or Kimi and David.

Blackbird said:The real issue is you don't have a teammate working for you. You have a teammate working for themselves...

To quote Nigella Lawson again: "Bernie always leaned toward Michael's insistence on having a driver who essentially played second fiddle."

1991: Andrea de Cesaris, Jordan-Cosworth
1992: Martin Brundle, Benetton-Cosworth
1993: Riccardo Patrese, Benetton-Cosworth
1994: Jos Verstappen, Benetton-Cosworth
1995: Johnny Herbert, Benetton-Renault
1996-1999: Eddie Irvine, Ferrari
2000-2003: Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari

And they were all world champions...