A sad day for Italian motorsport

[Brogan]

So says Luca Filippi:

Sad day for the italian motorsport. From being the most represented country in F1 to this year that we are just going to be spectators.
We all knew this day was going to come. Nobody did anything about it, probably nobody cares about it. Sad sad day.

Italians don't have some sort of right to be in F1, over and above any other nationality. They need skill and/or money, the same as everyone else.

The comment nobody cares is a bit odd. Sponsors are interested, as witnessed by the number of pay drivers there are so perhaps it would be more accurate to say Italian companies and sponsors don't care?
Luca and other Italian drivers should be pressuring companies at home to provide the same sort of backing as others on the grid currently enjoy.

BTW, this is not meant to be anti-Italian, it's just trying to highlight that F1 is a business and just because one nation has historically been a part of it, that doesn't necessarily translate into automatic inclusion.

 

[Mezzer]

I couldn't care less if there were no Italian drivers. Now if we could get rid of certain Italian teams too ...

 

[teabagyokel]

I couldn't care less if there were no Italian drivers. Now if we could get rid of certain Italian teams too ...

What have you got against Toro Rosso?

 

[Galahad]

This time a decade ago Prost GP was wound up and French involvement in F1 rapidly diminished to virtually nothing. Right now the economic situation in Italy speaks for itself. At least the Italians have Ferrari, with international backing.

Minardi used to bring a lot of Italian drivers and sponsors into F1, even if the quality of both was often in question.

 

[Johnny Carwash]

Maybe it's shows that their isn't that many good young Italian drivers coming up through the ranks of motor sport at this moment in time.

 

[teabagyokel]

FACT: No Italian driver has won the World Championship since 1953.

 

[Galahad]

Maybe it's shows that their isn't that many good young Italian drivers coming up through the ranks of motor sport at this moment in time.

Just plucking one name at random, I thought Edoardo Mortara was a very talented young driver. He's ended up in DTM now, though maybe his chance hasn't completely gone.

 

[Clinton]

It's a sad day for Italian motorsport regardless of the fact that F1 is a business. It's also sad when a driver leaves the sport without a proper farewell.

F1 is indeed a business, but wise management of this business might incorporate the idea that respect for the sport's history including its European heritage is part of its appeal to some people, and that to increase the proportion of races taking place outside Europe may be of only short-term financial benefit.

On the other hand the F1 management can and should do little to promote drivers of a given nationality, in the interests of sporting fairness and lest the sport's competitive edge be softened. But I interpreted "nobody cares" merely as a suggestion that Italians or their government should be doing more to foster elite Italian F1 drivers, not that the F1 management should take responsibility for this.

 

[Mezzer]

What have you got against Toro Rosso?

They're as Italian as Red Bull is Austrian. And I don't mind them in the slightest, other than there should be no reason why they're not formally identified as Red Bull's second team.

 

[Fenderman]

It has always struck me as somewhat ironic that with all their financial and physical resources (i.e. company owned test tracks and factory) that Ferrari have not, apparently, run driver development programmes like those run by a certain soft drinks company and then utilised products of said programs. Maybe the gentleman should look closer to home. Of course, something may have been lost in translation since it would be somewhat bizarre, if indeed it has escaped his notice that Ferrari haven't employed an Italian driver for so very long!

 

[teabagyokel]

Of course, something may have been lost in translation since it would be somewhat bizarre, if indeed it has escaped his notice that Ferrari haven't employed an Italian driver for so very long!

They employed 2 Italians in 2009. It didn't go well.

 

[Fenderman]

Sorry, yes and I should have been more specific. I was thinking about Ferrari actually developing guys who could and would go on to race for them.

... and yes I did forget about Fisi, but to be honest I don't think he was given a fair shake. Only an opinion, mind you .


Edit: re-reading my earlier post that was quite a memory fade wasn't it?! Just shows how little attention I was paying to Ferrari that year!

 

[teabagyokel]

You're not defending Badoer though. Quite right too!

Minardi used to bring a lot of Italian drivers and sponsors into F1, even if the quality of both was often in question.

There used to be a route for Italians of limited quality into F1, didn't there? In the early 90s the Italians created a lot of these teams: http://www.f1rejects.com/teams/index.html and there was Scuderia Italia and Minardi to boot. Now that second Italian team role has become a second Red Bull instead.

Ferrari are there to employ the best at the end of the day, regardless of nationality or ability to pay. And it seems sad to say, but ask yourself who the last really good Italian driver was...

 

[Fenderman]

Heh, heh, even I'm not old enough to remember that!

 

[Fenderman]

Seriously though, I think it's because fat Italians tend to race motorcycles.

 

[gethinceri]

Like Valentino Rossi? Yeah, he's fucking enormous.

 

[snowy]

I hardly think losing Jarno Trulli as your sole representative in F1 is anything to get upset about. I would have thought it were a catalyst for celebration and relief. A little like waking up to find that rather unsightly and painful wart on the end of your nose had fallen off.

Is that too harsh?

 

[Slyboogy]

Trulli is a race winner and was a proven talent, he had several good seasons. The thing that taints his reputation is the "Trulli Train", and I can't say I can fault him for qualifying his car higher than where it should have been.

He's pretty successful for an F1 driver, and if you put him in the cars that Fisichella drove in, he would probably be the most successful Italian from the 00s.

He might only have one win and was at the back of the field the past two seasons, but it doesn't mean that he's terrible, gave Kovalainen a hard time in 2010, 2011 he got two 13th places, and we know the car did not suit him one bit.

Maybe it was time for him to leave, but comparing him to a wart? It's a bit far...

 

[Kewee]

I couldn't care less if there were no Italian drivers. Now if we could get rid of certain Italian teams too ...

Tongue in cheek I'm sure. A world title without Ferrari in the mix would be somewhat hollow.

 

[Kewee]

I hardly think losing Jarno Trulli as your sole representative in F1 is anything to get upset about. I would have thought it were a catalyst for celebration and relief. A little like waking up to find that rather unsightly and painful wart on the end of your nose had fallen off.

Is that too harsh?

YES!