Bleacher Report - Articles by Cory Pesaturo

Hamilton: Legend in The Making Yes: But Certainly No "god"

Cory Pesaturo — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:41:24 -0500

First off, let me say that under my point system where Luck is eliminated at best judgment (some examples being Hamilton won at Spa, got second in Singapore, and Massa finished second at France and won at Hungary) Hamilton won by guess what...........one Point!!!!

So YES, Hamilton deserved the championship; although I feel that Massa was more deserving for the way he went from 100 mistakes a lap in the beginning of the season to driving perfectly, along with his biggest achievement of all - his new ability to not let his emotions get to him or his nerves.

The reason I have now backed off of my prediction that Hamilton could very well be the seventh god of Racing (Nuvolari, Fangio, Stewart, Clark, Senna, Schumacher) is because of this last drive by Mr. Hamilton. How in God’s/Allah’s/or whoever’s Green Earth...do you let Vettel, a 21 year old, in a Lesser Car, pass you when the championship is only given if you stay ahead?? Now I have been praising Vettel since even beFore his first run to eighth place in the 2006 US GP, ask any of my F1 friends.

I have especially been thinking, since the whole weekend in Monza, that maybe Vettel would soon take the glory away from Hamilton, and take that seventh spot in the “god” category. This last drive (and sub-drive by Hamilton), is certainly a major step forward in that direction, and I wonder once again, why Ferrari hasn’t been banging at Vettel’s front door every waking minute to take him for at least a test driver spot.

If that wasn’t enough, how can you Not pass that 21 year old, in a lesser car Mr. Hamilton? Mr. “Best passer on the grid” by probably every British sports writer/commentator. The championship is right there, don’t you want it? You can’t pass him? Everything you’ve ever wanted times 1000 is 1 pass away, don’t you want it? All I’m saying is do you REALLY think that Nuvolari, Fangio, Stewart, Clark , Senna or Schumacher would have let Vettel Pass ? More so, do you REALLY think that Nuvolari, Fangio, Stewart, Clark , Senna or Schumacher would have not been able to pass Vettel before the end? I could just imagine Senna specifically in that situation; Vettel would have never Ever gotten by in the first place, and Senna would have found his way though if Vettel somehow did get passed.

All these headlines of “With Championship, Hamilton will be Even Stronger” or “....Unbeatable”, “....Unstoppable”, I feel are completely wrong. Felipe Massa, with his “new” line of thinking, and his “new” driving ability, and the taste of victory of 4 seconds....will propel Him to be unstoppable.

Now I actually don’t take much note into Hamilton ’s many dumb errors, as he will fix them, and they mostly don’t have to do with his true racing ability. When someone uses those issues to argue against how good Hamilton is then you know you have someone who is just looking to down Lewis.

Also on a side note concerning McLaren’s strategy, Paul said, “Glock, did he lay down or run out of tires? The answer is quite simple, if he run out of tires, then McLaren are the worst team on the grid. Let me explain, when Heikki was running shotgun, there was only two drivers they had to worry about Vettel and Glock. If they had wanted to stop Glock, all they had to do was slow him down after his second (and last ) pit stop. The gap at the time was 22-29 seconds, Heikki could have easily slowed him down, instead he let him go as did Hamilton. Why did they not do that, why did they let him go? With so much at stake, you do not leave lose ends. It was clear from the racing, that there was one guy who was not part of all the games and that was Vettel.”

Musically -

Cory Pesaturo “The Snowman”

P.S. - is this weird......The President of the USA (Very white sport), Winner of the latest F1 championship (Another Super white sport), and Best Player in Golf (ANOTHER Super white sport),....are all Black.........wooooooooooooooow it's certainly something to feel good about, especially when you look at younger generations and their future.

The Yankees Are Lucky They Didn't Make the Playoffs If You Look at It This Way

Cory Pesaturo — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:24:04 -0400

Even being a Red Sox fan, I am so very saddened by the loss of the incredible, unforgettable Yankee Stadium.

I am more than anything a lover of history, whether it's "The Ring" and Monaco in motor sports, or Yankee Stadium in baseball. It blows my mind that money is so powerful these days, that destroying a place like this (for the sake of giving the big guns their new, more expensive, executive luxury boxes) is accepted.

Now, the reason I feel the Yankees are actually lucky that not only won't they make the playoffs, but they are out of contention with this many games left is this: Under any other circumstance, (other than having Game Six or Seven in the World Series be at the stadium if the Yankees made it that far) no person would ever have known "This" would have been the last game: Equivalent to no funeral for whoever your favorite human being is.

By "This" I mean:

A. If the Yankees were actually in a close fight with the Rays or Sox to get in the playoffs and no one knew if the Sept. 21 game was going to be the very last game or not.

B. If the Yankees got in the playoffs, and the way the Division series five-game set-up went the Yankees leave New York with the series at 2-2 to play Game Five at X's home game, and lose. Or just that they lose at home in Game Three or Four, and there is no celebration before hand, because you wouldn't want to detour the team's morale. No one would have known that was it.

C. If the Yankees had gotten into the ALCS, they leave New York to play X at home for Game Six and Seven, and the series either 3-2 or 2-3. They go on to lose Game Six (and Seven if 2-3). And that Game Five at home, whether awful or great, ends up being the last game, again of course with no celebration before hand, because it'd be like saying "Yes, we the Yankees believe we will lose and never come back here so here is our goodbye celebration."

D. Repeat scenario C, with World Series rather than ALCS.

So in a show of major respect, they should thank the heavens that they weren't in contention for the playoffs (amazingly for the first time 15 years) with about seven games left in this 2008 season, so at least the great New York fans could truly know, for sure, that when they left that stadium on the night of Sept. 21, that was the final goodbye.

Does Ferrari's Driver Lineup Pose a Big Problem?

Cory Pesaturo — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 09:57:40 -0400

Note: So you know where my opinion on this issue is coming from, I would call myself a Ferrari fan as I have said in the many comments about “Chicane-gate”. Though much more importantly, I am a Formula 1 fan.

Ferrari may have very well “air gunned” themselves in the foot. They have re-signed Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa for not one year, but TWO years.

The decision completely boggles my mind for three main reasons: Kimi, Felipe, and the “No. 1 driver team vs. the No. 1 and No. 2 driver team” issue.

Felipe Massa

Last year, I would say Massa only had three bad drives which were Malaysia (showed awful blocking skill), Europe (bad under pressure), and Hungary (simply a bad drive, but no big deal). BUT: now in 2008...

Australia: Just an atrocious drive starting with turn 1.

Malaysia:- He ruins an easy Ferrari 1-2.

Turkey: Yes a win, but he passed zero cars and got passed by one, Hamilton: how about pulling to the inside to block so Hamilton can’t pass you in the tight left-hander (even if Hamilton got close on the right-hander, the final corner in that left-right-left section was left again, so he could have kept the position for at Least a few more laps if not until the pit stops)

Monaco: Kubica was faster and Hamilton much faster.

Silverstone: Let’s just say this was the single worst performance since the days of De Ceseris!

Germany: I don’t care how the car is handling, You continually lost time to Nelson Piquet Jr.!!?? And for god sakes, have you learned yet to move to the inside for a block? (referring to Hamilton’s pass)

Kimi Räikkönen

Well, this one is simple: He Doesn’t Care Enough!

Which is actually is a good thing when you’re under pressure, because pressure, doesn’t affect someone who doesn’t care. A good race example is Brazil last year, where Kimi was under incredibly enormous pressure and drove perfectly for the win.

More impressive is the fact that I almost feel as if Massa did drive 100 percent and didn’t just “let” Kimi take the lead as Ferrari probably told him to, since the most incredible set of circumstances that had about a 5 percent chance of happening was actually going to take place, with the only piece of the puzzle left being Massa sneakily giving Kimi the lead.

A perfect driver example would be Montoya, who did well, but could have done much better.

The issue with all this is:

If you want Kimi to drive specifically well for a particular race and he doesn’t feel like it, he won’t, which we have seen this year, along with the whole middle portion of last year.
If you want to talk to Kimi about important set-up issues, you won’t get great info out of him, because he doesn’t care enough and just wants to go back on his yacht.
He’s talked about retirement at different times, and as Schumacher said: if you’re even thinking about retirement, you need to get out, because in F1 you need 110 percent concentration 100 percent of the time.

I will say driving wise, when Kimi does care, I’d argue that he’s the best driver in the world at this point, and has been since Schumacher retired (Although the talented Hamilton is almost there as he gains more experience every time he steps into a car).

The “No. 1 driver team vs. the No. 1 and No. 2 driver team” issue

Ferrari of all teams should know: a team is a great success when there is one main driver, and one driver helping him and the team out. One attacker, one defender, One completing one objective, one completing another.

When both drivers are fighting, you get emotions going all around, tangling and tripping over each other. It destroyed McLaren last year; it made Massa furious last year.

Prost and Senna wanted to kill each other; Mansell and Piquet wanted to kill each other. I could write a whole article on A. how haveing 2 great drivers doesn’t work, or does work externally but doesn’t at all internally, and B. how a No. 1 and No. 2 works perfectly because everyone knows their mission and everyone has a known objective: like a massive clock with hundreds of gears all working off of each other.

So what would I have done? Well I obviously would have to get rid of one of them because of this the No. 1 driver issue, although I don’t know everything about each driver so I can't say which one I'd choose.

It’s apparent that Schumacher and Massa have a strong connection, so I know Ferrari would have to dig deep to say “Felipe, we’re trading you.” With Kimi, you would probably have to force him into retirement.

It’s just there are a couple of young drivers that haven’t been picked up by the big teams yet. They will be the future great drivers, and Ferrari is not jumping at the opportunity to grab “Their Hamilton” or “Future Schumacher.”

I’ve been saying since the beginning of 2007 (and I have proof of it) that Vettel is the guy Ferrari should be trying to get, and then I was talking 2009.

Now by the time a position opens, Vettel will be with McLaren or BMW Sauber, because he’ll be done doing his time in the "lesser" teams after 2009.

That’s what bugs me the most: not just keeping Felipe and Kimi for 2009, but also for 2010! Who knows which great young drivers may pop up next year, and Ferrari won’t be able to take advantage of them either.

I guess Ferrari only likes experience. Let me say though, that Frank Williams didn’t take a man named Ayrton Senna after an absolutely unbelievable test session in 1984, because Williams didn’t like inexperience, no matter how good the driver (apparently).

The only good thing that I can see about this timing, is that Bruno Senna will have had two years in F1, and will be ready (if he drives as well as I think he will) to go to one of the big three.

Ferrari will hopefully jump on it, especially with his connection with friend Gerhard Berger, who used to be a Ferrari driver, and the fact that he will have a Ferrari engine behind him in 2009 with Toro Rosso. (Although as Bill has said, he may be with McLaren as a test driver in 2009 and a driver in 2010. I think that'd be a Big money maker for a year, "Come see Hamilton and Senna!", but it could get ugly like 2007 as well, depending on how well Senna drives)

Overall, I just think Ferrari is in big trouble, with Massa’s heavy Brazilian/Italian emotions, and Kimi’s non-existent emotions.

Let's Get a List of All the FIA Incidents With McLaren Together

Cory Pesaturo — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:28:37 -0400

Alright Everyone Let's Get to It!!

Write down every single incident that you can remember...

Let me just write these, as I have to run right now....

1989—Sazuka, The Famous Senna Incident

2007—That Whole Disaster

2008—Malaysia, Both Cars Penalized for Blocking. Lost five positions on the grid at the start of the race.

2008—France, Lewis runs wide to to avoid a collision, on a pass he was going to make anyway. Gets a Drive Through Penalty.

2008—Spa, This Thing!!

And yes—I'm mainly a Ferrari Fan, but I want true competition, true sport, or it's not fun.

We Should Admire the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix

Cory Pesaturo — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:12:11 -0400

I feel that many Formula One fans (and wikipedia’s article on this race) completely overlook what took place at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Let us, fans or not of Michael, not feel pain and sorrow towards how Michael Schumacher’s career ended on that day. To be honest, it could not have ended better.

Why you ask?

Because instead of watching Schumacher pass nine drivers to win a race in which he started 10th, we were able to witness the behind-the-curtain Schumacher, the Schumi that demonstrated how he can “dominate” in the way he can. This seems to always have been hidden away, because many times he will start in first place, stay in first place, and finish in first place.

When you think of why Senna is thought of as a legend, it is his ability to fly through a pack with a lesser machine. When you think of why Schumacher is thought of as a legend, it’s because of his statistics, and you think—“should we Really take Schumi as a God of motor sport when all he did 90 percent of the time was just get a pole and lead the race?"

The 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix was one of those races (such as some of his memorable Spa drives) when this was proven wrong.

When the contact with Giancarlo Fisichella occurred, and the tire failed (unfortunately for Michael, at the beginning of a lap where immense time would be lost getting back to the pits), and every driver passed him, we all thought, “Oh No! He will finish in 10th or worse!"

But that was not what Mr. Schumacher had in store for the world. We watched him plow through the field to gain 55 seconds on Jenson Button, and get right on his gear box (and I use Button (who finished third) as a mark instead of Fernando Alonso because one could argue that Alonso was being very conservative in his driving, although Button was pushing as hard as he possibly could).

If Michael hadn’t had the two distinct three-or-five-second hiccups during his super stride to the front of the field, a podium position was without a doubt. To me, this is surely one of his greatest drives, and with it being: A) His final race, and B) The fact that he went to Ayrton Senna's grave that weekend (and was in tears because of his great respect for Senna), it was an inconceivably emotional one as well.

This, added to the fact that the amazing drive did not get him on the podium nor the championship, made it a very historical/melancholy day for true race fans. If that all isn’t enough, he got the Fastest Lap of the race with two laps left, and I can’t even describe to you what I felt at that moment.

That day we were able to witness once again how, as I call them “plain statistics”, can only represent a small factor in true greatness, as he didn't win anything at all; a podium, the race itself, the constructor’s championship, or the driver’s championship. I admire Formula One fans particularly for this reason, because as the greatest example goes, Ayrton Senna's "plain statistics" can't come close to matching Schumacher’s in some category’s, but he is still regarded more than any other driver, as the “Best of All Time”.

This is because we saw him race, and don't need to know the statistics behind it. Another example would be the sometimes mind-boggling Gilles Villeneuve, where even though he had a mere six wins and zero championships, many put him in their top-three list, because we watched what he could do with an automobile.

With his driving, Schumacher also showed us that “it doesn’t matter who won what, Ferrari is still the head team, and he is still the best the world has to offer even though he’s retiring. Even the man who took Schumacher’s spot, Kimi Raikkonen, was brilliantly passed in the closing laps (yes, he went for that inside pass on the marbles!) when he thought his fourth place was fully secured.

Lastly, Renault was so very worried that week about "illegal tactics" that Ferrari might use to win both championships. With all the power that Ferrari had “bribe” wise, between multiple teams and different drivers, from Ralf Schumacher, Michael’s brother, to Kimi Raikkonen, a future Ferrari driver, they could have “done” something.

But did they?

Not at all.

In fact, Giancarlo Fisichella and Renault were, if anyone, the driver and team who pulled the "illegal tactic" when Giancarlo got too close to Michael, after Michael had cleanly made the pass on him (although you could play that particular incident off as a racing incident, but most are well aware that Fisichella, if presented with an opportunity, wanted to carry out “something” concerning a definite Schumacher demise to help his team Renault and teammate Alonso).

Notice when Michael charged back to Fisichella at the end of the race, Fisichella got quite petrified, missed the corner and went right off the track! For one, he couldn’t believe that Schumacher had come back from almost utter destruction to pass him with no yellow flag help, and after his long limp back to the pits staring from turn two all the way around the circuit at a dreadfully slow speed.

“Giancarlo, Michael is coming up on you, this is for position....yes this is for position....”

So in the end, let all of us not be downed and distraught by the "plain-statistical" results of that race. For it was a grand finale to the end to one of the greatest dynasties in sports history.

Now we must see what the next portion of Michael Schumacher’s career is in Formula One. For now, instead of being the man who sits down in the driver’s cockpit of the Ferrari to win races, he is the man who walks 'round the prancing horse machine, vigorously scribbling important notes, in hopes of gaining maybe one more thousandth of a second on the competition...and I think F1 fans are very pleased to see he hasn’t left the sport at all.

Musically—

Cory Pesaturo