Thoughts about Scott Speed?

I listened to his conversations and didnt feel that. He seemed like a decent kid. He was forthright about his mistakes too in his interview with Peter Windsor.

He has to deliver on the track though. I am not impressed by his qually or race performances. Liuzzi has shown him a clean pair of heels for most of the season.

 

I believe him to be for real, but he is in F1 a bit too early. Driving a back marker will give him experience, but he will then be remembered as only a backmarker, not good for his career.

 

The next American F-1 star is Graham Rahal. 2 wins at Cleveland and flew to France last night to test F-2. Back to run Indy Pro series Thursday at USGP. 17 years old. He said he would run 2 years in F-2 and if it didn't lead to an
F-1 ride he would come home to race. At 19!

Someone gave Scott Speed a Maserati to use and an interviewer ask him about Fangio and his Maserati wins. He didn't know who Fangio was.

 

Matt Varsha seems to have shown some flashes of brilliance as well.

 

Although I would love to see Speed succeed, he does say some very stupid things. The Fangio aspect was just one of them. Hope he does well, but I think the two guys from the USA who can get it done will be Marco and Graham.

 

Agree with most above, he's somewhat of an asshat, if not a total asshat. His driving is decent for the circumstances; it's his comments and attitude that leave a bit to be desired (and give me doubts about his further success). He's just too happy, not positive, but delusionally happy - to the point where one has to wonder about his mental strength. I don't get the impression that he is smart enough to put the perpetual gaity on as a marketing front, and I'm not sure that it would be a worthwhile move from that perspective anyway. In other words, it appears that is really how he is.

What's more amazing is that Redbull spent millions with their driver search program and this is the best they could come up with. It's almost as if they tried to find a comic book character.

 

Agreed with every single word.

I'm happy to have an American in F1 as it *might* help the sport here, but that's about it. The guy comes across like a total dork. If I hear him complain about traffic one more time, "somebody's head is gonna roll". With such a small grid he doesn't even know what traffic is. Try 30 cars at Monaco.

And going head to head with DC was a dumb move. He is not getting respect, but rather destroying it.

I wish Almendinger could be persuaded to take a different career path. Watching him in Cleveland was refreshing. Compare that to the stupid move Speed made in Silverstone. Night and day.

 

F1 will NEVER succeed here until *ALL* of the major news (sports) organizations give it air time - ALL the time. Fifteen seconds twice a month isn't gonna do it. Soccer is the same way, except we saw slightly more of it over the last month due to the World Cup going on.
It will take about 60 seconds of air time 2-3 times a week on ALL of the sports shows for 4-5 years to build it up, and I just don't see that happening.
That is one reason nascar got HUGE - 20 years ago you didn't see much of it, now we can't seem to avoid it.

 

Good timing on this thread. My problem with Speed?

When giving interviews, he pretends English is his second language. Saying things like "we have a competitive package" or "we should make a strong result" sounds like something Schumacher or Kimi would say. It's understandable that if your native tongue is German you'd create those sentences. But an American kid? Come on! He's trying too hard to be Euro.

He'd be more credible if he said, "Yeah, in practice the car just rocked. If it continues to feel this good we should have a great race"

or how about saying something like "this team works really hard, and I hope I can finishin the points"


Those are the kinds of things an American might say.

 

Well, I think Speed is alright, but a little dorky. Overall he is ok as a driver but needs further improvement. I don't think there is anything else I should bash him for.

 

I think the guy is doing his best with a mediocre machine! his comments are a bit non American, but again his audience is all over the world, so the guy has been coached by Red Bull on how to handle the media, press etc... so I think he is actually doing a great job coming from a non racing family.

If Rahal, or an Andretti make it to F-1 I would expect them to be much better as drivers and as personalities...they ought to since they have Racing drivers in their family.

Scott Speed is in his 1st year of racing... and that he is getting the attention he is says alot for the guy... you never even saw or heard from Michael Andretti when he was in F-1... I dont know if he is a World Champ, but I'm sure in equal cars would give Button, Fisi, Rubins, Coulthard, et al a run for their money!

 

I was watching "Windtunnel" this morning and it had a Mr. Patrana on talking about his rally experiences and hopes. I have never seen this guy in an interview before, but have heard of him. He is a very charismatic, relaxed and NATURAL type of guy. His answers were well thought out and some were pretty clever. He is having a blast doing what he does. He is doing what he does because he loves doing it, and he has thought well and hard about the dangers of his sport and his future. I am a fan of his now. He doesn't seem 22 years old.
Scott Speed was on in the next portion of the show. Oh my, what a contrast. This guy lost me as soon as he opened his mouth. He sounds a bit thick. His eyes seem a bit distant and empty. I dunno, I might be being a bit harsh, but he doesn't seem all that bright or marketible. I have to wonder why Red Bull chose to have him in their car. AJ is so much more personable and fun. He is a talented driver aswell. They should have them trade places, see if Champ car really is less of a team sport, as Scott Speed implied, or outright said.

 

You clearly don't know a whole lot about Scott Speed if you question his mental strength. When he was rising through the ranks he was diagnosed with ulcerated colitis. Basically, his large intestine stopped working. He lost control of his bowels, had to wear diapers, and dropped 30 lbs from an already thin frame. All the while, he was living on a foreign continent away from his friends and family and still trying to race. The symptoms are behind him now but he still takes medicine daily for chronic disease that he has.

Doctors told him to quit racing and have part of his intestine removed so he could try and resume a normal life. He choose to fight it and keep racing. Still not tough enough for you?

 

i had no idea about his sickness and now like him even more

 

I spend a fair amount of time on the race track and can't imagine stepping into my car wearing a diaper and fatigued from my body's inability to absorb nutrients. Hell, I can't imagine going into my cushy office job like that much less driving at speeds where a loss of concentration or a slow reaction could cost me my life. To me this proves he has mental and physical toughness to make it in this sport.

I'm curious, do you race yourself? What in your mind makes you a 'tough racer'?

 

Scott strikes me as someone who has just enough talent to make it as a mid grid kind of driver in F1, if he gets lucky with the team and equipment. Much like Michael Chang in tennis I think he'll be doing the most with what he has but it won't be enough to really be at the top like MS or Alonso.

 

I wish him well. The only fault I find with him is that he's not beating Liuzzi. Now that's a problem ....

 

I need the old fashioned gameshow wa-wa-wa-waaaaahhhhhh.

He sucks

 

Agreed. He is more than a dork. His prior "illness" doesn't make him a racer nor should it influence positive thoughts about his F1 career - there's many folks with problems in this world. I couldn't believe what he did in an interview recently on tv with Peter Windsor in Europe - he tries to be the cutesy american and gives the peace sign - well the idiot gives it backwards and that certainly doesn't mean peace. He lives in Europe, you'd think he'd be knowledgeble about certain things. In my opinion, he's only a pawn in a chess game and his use is/was to encourage people in america to watch F1. Poor excuse for a marketing attempt. Hopefully he won't have a contract renewed as there are so many other better ones out there deserving of a seat. He reminds me of the kids I see at the High School - bunch of arrogant, can't communicate in a mature manner or use proper english, juveniles that need a lesson in how the real world works.

Carol

 

He should be forced to change his name to Scott Unspeed

 

you guys are saying this cause he's , at least for the moment , slow and
uncompetitive.

if he was in some good machinery and fighting for pole , one would probably
say that his 'dorkiness' is just character.

to me , standards in F1 are so high that if you can do mid-pack , keep the
car on the road and score an occasional point , great job.

imho and cheers.

 

Wow, I had not realized that this site was visited by so many people qualified to assess professional driving talent by watching it done on TV. I am sure that Red Bull is kicking themselves for not having such a group on board when they were in a position to pick their drivers.