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Good article in Autosport on Gimmi in GP2. Revive career, that sort of thing, then they talk about Zsolt's superior finishing record - Indy, obviously, and regularly finishing in the top ten - Gimmi no higher than 14. Zsolt out-qualified Gimmi five times.
Gimmi talks about 'parking' the car at Indy:
'Paul Stoddart said that if I was racing, I would have got a point, but on the first lap I had an accident with Heidfeld at the first corner and that broke my front suspension. I tried ten times to get back but I couldn't because the steering was pulling left. The only thing I could do was switch off and walk back. I couldn't have done anything else. I'm a driver. I want to do the best and I want to have the best result. I tried to get back but I couldn't, it's clear'.
Gimmi also says things turned worse when Stoddart took over radio duties following the death of John Walton:
'It was very difficult. We lost a very important person. He was the best guy there. When we lost him before Silverstone Paul had to do the radio and call the blue flags. For him it was the first time so it was difficult. Sometimes Paul would talk during high-speed turns. It was hard because he didn't know where I was because he didn't have the experience. Sometimes, when I was fighting with Pantano I would lose a position because Paul was on the radio and he didn't understand the situation with the flags'.
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Well ... obviously drivers always blame everyone but themselves but I do have some sympathy for him. Not the last bit though - if you're fighting for position you block out all else.
Gimmi also confirms the importance of John Boy.
Comments
Paul Stoddart may be a good business man, I don't know, but in my humble opinion, the less he does about techical things, the better it would be for the team. He's not GCM and he can't pretend he is.
That being said this year the Sporting Director is Massimo Rivola. He , in my opinion, is very qualified and as he is JW's replacement will be doing the pitwall commo. His English is good so he should have no prob talking to the drivers, his understanding of racing is very good as well. He was also - as we found out from Salvo's brilliant interview that he was "brought up" in the Team. 'pert near as good as having GCM sitting there.
FORZA
Once the team realised that Salo was in fact on the same lap as Yoong and Webber, Paul took the radio and shouted instructions to Webber not to let Salo past.
Mark fought on and took glory. Better comms for Alex could have meant a historic 4, 5 and three points for Minardi.
No doubt, Stoddie has that etched in his memory, as would Yoong.
[Edited on 10/2/2005 by Dr_Spin]
One wonders if that particular blue flag would have made a difference in the end anyway, as Salo may have overtaken him in a regualr fashon before long. After all, Alex was so far behind by the end of the race that he didn't benifit from Salo's spin.
Webber was 5th!
Panda, true, Yoong finished some way behind Salo and didn't capitalise on his spin. I didn't claim that Yoong could have caught Salo and Webber had a hard job defending.
Remember in Alex's position at that time, after losing the position the objective then was to finsih. Something most teams didn't manage that day, after the spectacular flying start by Ralfie.
needless to say i didn't catch that race live...