Rubens on top gear

[TK421W]

i havent seen this posted on this site, so decided to give it a go.
The other day, i watched last weeks topgear on iplayer; Rubens said that he never, ever agreed to a Number 2 contract when he was at Ferrari. Then, regarding Austria, he said that he refused, and their was a big discussion, and finally he had to give away the win.

I personally find it very hard to believe that Rubens was unaware that he was meant to be a Number 2. I cant believe that it wasnt written into his contract. I was just wondering what other people think, because ive generally thought of rubens as a decent enough chap, but now he seems to want the world to believe something that, imo, is pretty much impossible.

Is he lying? was it not written in plain english (or brazillian as the case may be). Also, why say this now? or has he said it since he left Ferrari, just no one bothered to publish it?

 

[FB]

The video of this was posted in Scrutineering and these was some discussion but probably not as much as it deserved. I think Rubens made similar comments in his Autobiog a year or two ago but I've not read it so can't confirm or deny this.

Rubens was quite unambiguous in his comments that he didn't have a "No.2" clause in his contract, remains to be seen if Ferrari make any response.

http://cliptheapex.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=852&start=10

 

[TK421W]

cheers FB. at least its not just me that finds it a bit odd.

 

[Brogan]

I haven't seen Top Gear but I was aware of the comments and of course everyone has seen the video of Jean Todt on the pit wall telling Rubens to let Michael past.

I doubt there was anything in Rubens' contract specifically relating to a number 2 driver position but surely he must have been aware of his standing within Ferrari when Michael was there and what would be expected of him?

 

[cosicave]

Brogan: precisely! In a sense, that makes it so much worse in my opinion. The absolutely inexcusable thing here was that Barrichello was leading the World Championship at this point wasn't he? (Or was that another occasion where he had to 'play his true role'?).

I admit that my memory of these things is poor because I knew of the politics at the time and was disgusted by it. I think I went into a self-induced coma, until F1 and all it's puppet masters, realised they were going off the rails and the public had sniffed what had been happening since '94.

Thankfully, we appear to be coming out of the doldrums at last although
some still have their heads very much in the past; no bull! (sic).

Yeah, I know this statement invites some aggro. I'll live…

P.S. I hope you will appreciate that it took me ages to position the this text in exactly the right place!

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Surely the most significant thing about Rubens on TG was that he was fastest round the TG track, beating the Stig!

(Mind you, Hamilton's time on a wet, oily track was only 0.4 secs slower, and they say you can add about 4 secs for a wet track)

 

[Feckless]

Its also worth mentioning that Rubens is a current driver.

I dont think At&T, Allianz, Phillips and Williams' other sponsors would be too happy if RB started "being honest" Not to mention all the other owners who might give him a drive in the future.