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Eddie Irvine tells it like it is!!! (Belgium re-cap)
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“Let’s get this straight from the outset. I’m going to hold no punches in this article because the decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of the race win was bizarre! I think Formula 1 is an absolute joke now and it has lost all credibility. Lewis did as well as he could have done in relation to the law and was still penalised. Okay, so he took the legality of it to the limit but I definitely think he was on the right side of the limit.
“For starters, Kimi pushed him off the road in the first place! Lewis overtook him and Kimi blatantly pushed him off so the reason why Lewis missed the chicane was because of Kimi. Lewis let him back past by just enough so he could then pull a great overtaking manoeuvre into the next corner. I don’t know whether it was the FIA or the stewards on the day but the sport has lost all credibility and the bias is simply ridiculous.”
“If it wasn’t for Virgin Media, I wouldn’t watch F1 anymore. I’ve had enough of this bulls**t. I’m not so sure the FIA has a bias for Ferrari as such but I definitely think they are biased against McLaren. I think if it was BMW, Toyota or someone else it wouldn’t have happened. I don’t understand why teams now just don’t go and do their own thing. They don’t need the FIA and they don’t need CVC capital. They need to plan to break away on a certain date and pay a bunch of lawyers to run the company. The teams make the money and there is a board in place to make decisions as they do with the NFL in America. It’s disgraceful where it’s got to now.
“How Massa never got a penalty in the last race was bulls**t. A fudged up excuse was made for him afterwards because they couldn’t think fast enough to do it during the race! It reminds me of the Bush administration. Lazy, bad judgement, self-serving and you don’t know where it’s coming from. Who is it that is creating all this bulls**t?”
“If you look at the letter of the law, I don’t see how McLaren’s appeal can’t be successful. He has to be re-instated but then again, we are talking about the FIA and they are a bunch of idiots.
“The great shame of it was that it was such an exciting race. Hamilton was amazing and he is quite simply a better driver than any of them. He has pure class and they know it. He has a better feel, is more committed and has better judgement. I am looking forward to Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso getting into better cars and then we’ll have an amazing championship. But if this bulls**t keeps happening, I don’t know if I’ll want to watch it anyway! It is horrible to see this injustice happening. Everyone can make a mistake but this is mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake. Complete incompetence.”
“I got banned for three races because a car lost its flywheel in front of me and I swerved instead of braked. I told them I didn’t have time to brake at 200mph! They compared it to a motorway accident where if you swerve from an outside lane into another lane and cause an accident you are at fault. But at 200mph you are not supposed to be sitting three feet from the car in front of you on the motorway. In F1, that’s exactly where you’re meant to be. The FIA have been stupid before and made many stupid decisions but I have never known an organisation turn so corrupt. They should be embarrassed to take that race win away from Lewis. Lewis can’t blame the team or himself.
“Next up is Monza and I am hoping to go but I doubt the FIA will give me a pass after what I have said! But who cares, someone has to say something because it’s getting ridiculous now. I’m looking forward to Monza. Great race, great people, brilliant atmosphere but probably usual bulls**t!”
Talk to you after Monza – if they let me in!
Eddie Irvine.
Eddie Irvine tells it like it is!!! (Belgium re-cap)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Let’s get this straight from the outset. I’m going to hold no punches in this article because the decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of the race win was bizarre! I think Formula 1 is an absolute joke now and it has lost all credibility. Lewis did as well as he could have done in relation to the law and was still penalised. Okay, so he took the legality of it to the limit but I definitely think he was on the right side of the limit.
“For starters, Kimi pushed him off the road in the first place! Lewis overtook him and Kimi blatantly pushed him off so the reason why Lewis missed the chicane was because of Kimi. Lewis let him back past by just enough so he could then pull a great overtaking manoeuvre into the next corner. I don’t know whether it was the FIA or the stewards on the day but the sport has lost all credibility and the bias is simply ridiculous.”
“If it wasn’t for Virgin Media, I wouldn’t watch F1 anymore. I’ve had enough of this bulls**t. I’m not so sure the FIA has a bias for Ferrari as such but I definitely think they are biased against McLaren. I think if it was BMW, Toyota or someone else it wouldn’t have happened. I don’t understand why teams now just don’t go and do their own thing. They don’t need the FIA and they don’t need CVC capital. They need to plan to break away on a certain date and pay a bunch of lawyers to run the company. The teams make the money and there is a board in place to make decisions as they do with the NFL in America. It’s disgraceful where it’s got to now.
“How Massa never got a penalty in the last race was bulls**t. A fudged up excuse was made for him afterwards because they couldn’t think fast enough to do it during the race! It reminds me of the Bush administration. Lazy, bad judgement, self-serving and you don’t know where it’s coming from. Who is it that is creating all this bulls**t?”
“If you look at the letter of the law, I don’t see how McLaren’s appeal can’t be successful. He has to be re-instated but then again, we are talking about the FIA and they are a bunch of idiots.
“The great shame of it was that it was such an exciting race. Hamilton was amazing and he is quite simply a better driver than any of them. He has pure class and they know it. He has a better feel, is more committed and has better judgement. I am looking forward to Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso getting into better cars and then we’ll have an amazing championship. But if this bulls**t keeps happening, I don’t know if I’ll want to watch it anyway! It is horrible to see this injustice happening. Everyone can make a mistake but this is mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake. Complete incompetence.”
“I got banned for three races because a car lost its flywheel in front of me and I swerved instead of braked. I told them I didn’t have time to brake at 200mph! They compared it to a motorway accident where if you swerve from an outside lane into another lane and cause an accident you are at fault. But at 200mph you are not supposed to be sitting three feet from the car in front of you on the motorway. In F1, that’s exactly where you’re meant to be. The FIA have been stupid before and made many stupid decisions but I have never known an organisation turn so corrupt. They should be embarrassed to take that race win away from Lewis. Lewis can’t blame the team or himself.
“Next up is Monza and I am hoping to go but I doubt the FIA will give me a pass after what I have said! But who cares, someone has to say something because it’s getting ridiculous now. I’m looking forward to Monza. Great race, great people, brilliant atmosphere but probably usual bulls**t!”
Talk to you after Monza – if they let me in!
Eddie Irvine.
YOU TELL'EM EDDIE!!! 
Eddie Irvine tells it like it is!!! (Belgium re-cap)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Let’s get this straight from the outset. I’m going to hold no punches in this article because the decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of the race win was bizarre! I think Formula 1 is an absolute joke now and it has lost all credibility. Lewis did as well as he could have done in relation to the law and was still penalised. Okay, so he took the legality of it to the limit but I definitely think he was on the right side of the limit.
“For starters, Kimi pushed him off the road in the first place! Lewis overtook him and Kimi blatantly pushed him off so the reason why Lewis missed the chicane was because of Kimi. Lewis let him back past by just enough so he could then pull a great overtaking manoeuvre into the next corner. I don’t know whether it was the FIA or the stewards on the day but the sport has lost all credibility and the bias is simply ridiculous.”
“If it wasn’t for Virgin Media, I wouldn’t watch F1 anymore. I’ve had enough of this bulls**t. I’m not so sure the FIA has a bias for Ferrari as such but I definitely think they are biased against McLaren. I think if it was BMW, Toyota or someone else it wouldn’t have happened. I don’t understand why teams now just don’t go and do their own thing. They don’t need the FIA and they don’t need CVC capital. They need to plan to break away on a certain date and pay a bunch of lawyers to run the company. The teams make the money and there is a board in place to make decisions as they do with the NFL in America. It’s disgraceful where it’s got to now.
“How Massa never got a penalty in the last race was bulls**t. A fudged up excuse was made for him afterwards because they couldn’t think fast enough to do it during the race! It reminds me of the Bush administration. Lazy, bad judgement, self-serving and you don’t know where it’s coming from. Who is it that is creating all this bulls**t?”
“If you look at the letter of the law, I don’t see how McLaren’s appeal can’t be successful. He has to be re-instated but then again, we are talking about the FIA and they are a bunch of idiots.
“The great shame of it was that it was such an exciting race. Hamilton was amazing and he is quite simply a better driver than any of them. He has pure class and they know it. He has a better feel, is more committed and has better judgement. I am looking forward to Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso getting into better cars and then we’ll have an amazing championship. But if this bulls**t keeps happening, I don’t know if I’ll want to watch it anyway! It is horrible to see this injustice happening. Everyone can make a mistake but this is mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake. Complete incompetence.”
“I got banned for three races because a car lost its flywheel in front of me and I swerved instead of braked. I told them I didn’t have time to brake at 200mph! They compared it to a motorway accident where if you swerve from an outside lane into another lane and cause an accident you are at fault. But at 200mph you are not supposed to be sitting three feet from the car in front of you on the motorway. In F1, that’s exactly where you’re meant to be. The FIA have been stupid before and made many stupid decisions but I have never known an organisation turn so corrupt. They should be embarrassed to take that race win away from Lewis. Lewis can’t blame the team or himself.
“Next up is Monza and I am hoping to go but I doubt the FIA will give me a pass after what I have said! But who cares, someone has to say something because it’s getting ridiculous now. I’m looking forward to Monza. Great race, great people, brilliant atmosphere but probably usual bulls**t!”
Talk to you after Monza – if they let me in!
Eddie Irvine.
Quotes By Eddie Irvine
Birth Date: 1965-11-10 (Wednesday, November 10th, 1965)
http://www.quotesby.net/Eddie-Irvine
Quotes
During his first grand prix at Suzuka, Japan, Irvine twice unlapped himself after being lapped by Ayrton Senna; following the race, Senna punched him in the Jordan motorhome. During the argument Senna accused Irvine of almost hitting him on the track, to which Irvine responded 'A miss is as good as a mile.' After Senna's punch he yelled 'Insurance claim there!'
After his first few races, Eddie remarked in an interview, 'What a start to my Grand Prix career. I got punched by Senna in my first race, crashed in my second, destroyed four cars in my third and got banned from my fourth. People are going to think I'm some kind of nutter.'
Jordan team boss Eddie Jordan asked Irvine to participate in a photo shoot, but Irvine responded: 'Do I have to? Send out some f**ker in my helmet, they'll never know the difference'
Irvine told the London Sunday Business Post about an encounter he had while trying to enter a nightclub in Dublin.
In an interview after the Belgian Grand Prix, during which his car had caught fire: 'I saw the flames and I thought 'S**t! This thing's on fire!''
In his first year with Ferrari, Eddie was asked why his teammate Michael Schumacher's helmet was oddly shaped. Irvine replied: 'Because he's German, he's got an odd shaped head.'
ITV's Louise Goodman interviewed Irvine and called him Edmund; Irvine was rather irritated. Louise said that his mother probably called him that, and Irvine told her, 'Well, you are not my mum.'
On Michael Schumacher's crash at Jerez: 'Honestly, I think we all would have done the same. But I'd like to think I'd have made a better job of it!'
On whether he ever visited racing driver Damon Hill at his Dublin house: 'Well, to be honest, you'd have to be a pretty sad bar steward to need a racing driver for a mate. I have normal friends and have the crack with them. Well, to be honest, most of the guys in Formula 1 just don't get it.'
On crashing into Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton: 'I don't want to blame anyone, but I will say it wasn't my fault. I couldn't put the car into helicopter mode and suddenly disappear. He came out of the last corner very well and came alongside me. We braked at the same time and he turned in on me.'
After winning a race in Australia which everyone expected Michael Schumacher would win: 'I tell you what, my bookie is not going to be too pleased. I put money on Michael to win and I put money on myself each-way as well. He'll be crying a bit today.'
On becoming Ferrari's number one driver after Schumacher's injury at the British Grand Prix: 'Ferrari didn't hire me to win the world championship, but this is what they've asked for now and I'm going to try my best to deliver. To be Ferrari's number one driver is everybody's dream.'
On leaving Ferrari for Jaguar at the end of the 1999 season: 'The timing is really fantastic. I was really desperate to get out of Ferrari this season, and I am a lucky, lucky guy. I could not have coped with another year because Michael Schumacher is so damn good. He is a back-breaker. He saps you, and the effort of working and competing with him drains you.'
On his 'playboy' image: 'It's got me this far the way I do it. If you change it and get serious you are going to get depressed and you won't be as happy with your life. I have such a ball away from races that when I get to races I am actually looking forward to getting on with it. I'll be in the boat having a blast, but then on Thursday that'll stop. I'll get to the circuit relaxed and refreshed and that has got to put you in a better frame of mind.'
On his poor performance at the European Grand Prix: 'Life is strange, but F1 is simply crazy.'
On the reason behind his Australian popularity: 'Because it's full of Irish convicts'
Asked which driver was his favorite: 'Hmmm...ammm...well we're all a bunch of tossers really!'
On Ralf Schumacher: 'Ralf Schumacher had something missing from his head.'
On Jacques Villeneuve, world champion and son of famous driver Gilles Villeneuve: 'Villeneuve only got into F1 'cos of his father.'
On the national anthems played as the race winners accept their trophies: 'I couldn't give a s**t which song is played or which flag is flown. I race for myself and for no-one else.'
Miss Belgium asked Irvine in the Spa paddock: 'How can I seduce you?' Irvine replied, 'Take your clothes off.' She wasn't charmed.
An interviewer asked, 'Eddie, if you have Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher on a tower, whom would you throw out?' Irvine answered, 'Mika Hakkinen, because Michael Schumacher is already out of this championship.'
Writing in his Formula 1 magazine column (May 2001) about the Italian traffic police: 'They're a lot less anal than the British when it comes to speed.'
On his ambition to become Britain's number one driver: 'It's not significant at all. I might just as well still be doing British F3. It carries no weight at all, does it? I might sell a few more hats, but that's not what I am in F1 to do.'
On fear: 'But fear is an irrational business. The things that really scare the s**t out of me are earwigs, which used to infest our home in Ireland. I'd rather do 180mph around Monza than even see an earwig, let alone have one crawling around on me. I don't like snakes, either, but they are about the only two things that scare me, except for weddings, of course, and commitment, but that's another story.'
On his role at Jaguar in 2000: 'My job this year was to complain a lot about what was wrong. Hopefully, I won't have the need to do so much complaining.'
On reports that Madonna had a crush on him: 'She obviously has impeccable taste in men'
On his chances at another season with Jaguar: 'It will be difficult to do that badly again. If we do that badly again we deserve a good kicking.'
On journalists: 'To be honest, journalists have pages to fill and some people fill them better than others. Sometimes, it's very easy to make a headline by writing things that aren't true and some people go down that route and some people go down the route of trying to be honest, hardworking and investigate journalists. It doesn't affect me, it's great, I love being in the newspapers, it makes me more famous.'
On his status among drivers: 'You know there is no-one in the pit lane that is better than me, except for Michael [Schumacher]. I have no doubts about that.'
On reports that the Jaguar staff aren't fond of him: 'It's such incredible fiction. Honestly, J.K. Rowling better watch out. She's got someone else going for the Booker prize.'
On a third place at the Italian Grand Prix, which turned out to be his final podium finish: 'It's comforting to know that old farts like myself can still blow the pants off Formula One's young guns.'
To an interviewer, on what he said to David Coulthard that made him so upset: 'I didn't call him a fag, I actually said he should stop being a fag and worrying about what I say.'
On his retirement from F1: 'It's a sad day. I have decided not to drive in Formula One this year - or at least at the moment. In July last year I made up my mind to drive for Jordan Grand Prix. I had very strong feelings about returning to the team which started my F1 career. Unfortunately, due to the economic downturn, Jordan are forced to look for a driver who brings extra funds to the team whilst I can only bring speed, reliability and greater experience. It's a shame because I really would have enjoyed the rule changes, especially single-lap qualifying.'
I don't want to add fuel to the fire about the whole conspiracy thing, but I was reading some news this morning and found this video interesting. It's Schumacher vs De La Rosa and I think the situation is similar, although in this one Michael is leading and gets overtaken and cuts the chicane to maintain the lead. I don't actually remember this incident, but apparently Michael did not get a penalty. Do you think it's the same kind of situation as the one that happened last weekend?
I might be wrong but I think I read somewhere else that Shuy broke down a couple of laps after that incident so there was no need for a penalty or time to put it in place.
But he was wrong in not giving place back strait away so deserved a penalty for sure.
Can someone confirm ?
Formula 1 has degenerated to the same level as WWE - it's a spectacle designed to thrill the uninformed masses. I was a fan from 1976 to 2000 and attended several races in Europe. This year I watched Spa out of nostalgia. I won't bother next year. LH did not "slipstream" KR as some argue - plainly they have only a tenuous grip on the physics of motor racing. LH did bend the rules, but I would point to the incident between Michael Schumacher and Pedro De La Rosa in Hungary a couple of years ago to illustrate a clear breach of the rule quoted by the Stewards which went unpenalised.
All the talk of conspiracies in favour of Ferrari, or against McLaren misses the point. F1 is about making money, so whoever it is who stands to gain the most from an extended championship battle thereby maintaining media interest, hence sponsor interest and advertising revenue should not be allowed to influence the outcome of races. But he is, isn't he? Step forward, Bernie or should I say, Mr Barnum?
I'm clever enough to work out that F1 is now brainless artifice for the under-educated - and I daresay the team owners are a fair bit cleverer than I, so it's only a matter of time before we get the long threatened split into a rival championship. Just get on with it gentlemen, for the sake of the sport!
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