View Full Version : da Matta sacked!
Dirty Sanchez
08-04-04, 02:37 PM
Although there has yet to be any official announcement... word out of Brazil suggests that this is the case. da Matta done. Enter Zonta. Wow... getting fired from a bottomfeeding team mid-season is not something I would want on my driving resume... :shakehead
LINKAGE (http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns13322.html)
Glad to see Zonta get some seat time... it should be just the thing to steam Villeneuve just that little bit more. :rofl:
Audi_A4
08-04-04, 05:20 PM
Although there has yet to be any official announcement... word out of Brazil suggests that this is the case. da Matta done. Enter Zonta. Wow... getting fired from a bottomfeeding team mid-season is not something I would want on my driving resume... :shakehead
LINKAGE (http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns13322.html)
Glad to see Zonta get some seat time... it should be just the thing to steam Villeneuve just that little bit more. :rofl:
geez, I hope not. I really like DaMatta
From the August issue of F1 Racing, "Bluntly, my sources within Toyota tell me that the team's bigwigs are now of the view that if da Matta were likely ever to become a star of the future, a' la Fernando Alonso or Kimi Raikkonen, then he would have started blowing Panis away by now." Panis goes on to describe that to be fast you have to confident and to be confident, it helps to be experienced...
So Panis, at 38 years old, with one win in 150 GP's keeps his job while a talented driver with potential and a Championship in a very competitive series gets the boot... :thumdown: ...not to mention he drove a sc***** car. :shakehead
jonovision_man
08-04-04, 08:12 PM
So Panis, at 38 years old, with one win in 150 GP's keeps his job
I'll be surprised if Panis keeps his job, sounds like Ralf and Trulli in at Toyota. The annual Toyota cull. :)
Panis has had a pretty decent career given the hardware he's been given, his reputation as a solid mid-fielder is not undeserved. He's decent.
I'll be surprised if Panis keeps his job, sounds like Ralf and Trulli in at Toyota. The annual Toyota cull. :)
Panis has had a pretty decent career given the hardware he's been given, his reputation as a solid mid-fielder is not undeserved. He's decent.
I'm talking about a mid-season sacking. If I were Toyota, I'd sack Panis as a race day driver but retain him with a healthy check to help in the development of the car for years to come and possibly as a drivers coach. His experience would be very helpful. da Matta's situation is lack of F1 experience and a crappy car. With confidence I think he could run up front. Changing drivers every year seems the Toyota corporate way...keeps the blame off the company.
jonovision_man
08-04-04, 09:07 PM
I'm talking about a mid-season sacking. If I were Toyota, I'd sack Panis as a race day driver but retain him with a healthy check to help in the development of the car for years to come and possibly as a drivers coach. His experience would be very helpful. da Matta's situation is lack of F1 experience and a crappy car. With confidence I think he could run up front. Changing drivers every year seems the Toyota corporate way...keeps the blame off the company.
Oh, I see. I really can't see da Matta getting fired before end of season. I guess stranger things have happenned, but it doesn't add up for me. He hasn't been that bad.
Oh, I see. I really can't see da Matta getting fired before end of season. I guess stranger things have happenned, but it doesn't add up for me. He hasn't been that bad.
From the link...
Zonta in for da Matta?
We are getting reports in from Brazil and from Germany that Panasonic Toyota Racing's Cristiano da Matta will not be seen in the team again this year and that his place will be taken in the races ahead by the team's third driver Ricardo Zonta.
jonovision_man
08-04-04, 09:20 PM
From the link...
Zonta in for da Matta?
We are getting reports in from Brazil and from Germany that Panasonic Toyota Racing's Cristiano da Matta will not be seen in the team again this year and that his place will be taken in the races ahead by the team's third driver Ricardo Zonta.
I know... note the question mark in "Zonta in for da Matta?" :)
When it's on Atlasf1.com I'll believe it.
I know... note the question mark in "Zonta in for da Matta?" :)
When it's on Atlasf1.com I'll believe it.
Yea, with all the rumors going around lately about Shorty, it wouldn't surprise me to see a quick hook,especially when one considers the loss of face to Honda this year....someones head is going to roll.
chop456
08-05-04, 04:44 AM
Ouch.
Sounds like Toyota didn't like the "I want a decision" talk.
http://f1.racing-live.com/en/headli...805095553.shtml
Toyota announced this morning that Ricardo Zonta will replace Cristiano da Matta from next weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix and partner French veteran Olivier Panis with Ryan Briscoe being promoted to the role of Friday tester.
Cristiano da Matta's future with Toyota is anything but certain but a release from Toyota stated that he 'will continue to be employed as a Toyota driver for the remainder of the year and could consequently still be called upon to partake in any driving or marketing-related activities for the Panasonic Toyota Racing team.'
The shock decision to drop da Matta follows a less than sparkling performance at the German Grand Prix in which the former CART Champion qualified in a distant 15th position only to retire the new TF104B following a tyre failure. Cristiano da Matta's only points scoring result of the season was a sixth place at the Monaco Grand Prix.
"We revised our original plans after we reviewed the results of the last three Grand Prix," Team Principal Tsutomu Tomita stated in a press release. "Ricardo Zonta consistently performed very well, as indeed he also did in the first half of the 2004 season. We believe it is fair to offer Ricardo the chance to show his potential in full race conditions, before we enter into the final step of our driver evaluation for the 2005 season."
"We decided to retain Olivier Panis as a race driver for the rest of this season, based on the fact that he is the driver who has secured the team's best race result of the year so far (fifth at Indianapolis) and has collected the higher number of championship points (five). Cristiano da Matta will remain a Panasonic Toyota Racing driver until the end of 2004 and could still be called upon to undertake activities accordingly."
After winning the CART title in 2002 with Toyota power, da Matta moved to Formula One the following season. With Ralf Schumacher on board for 2005 and no race role for da Matta at Toyota, rumours suggest that the Brazilian has become disillusioned with the German- based team.
Dr. Corkski
08-05-04, 05:04 AM
CdM is already 30, if he had any more potential left he would have shown it by now. There is a reason why Fisico got back into a top team, it's because he did more than what was expected of him. Yeah, the Toyota is pretty much junk, but the fact remains that he was only able to match an average driver well past his prime. I suspect there was more to it than just performance alone.
With both basically being lame duck drivers, it makes more sense for Toyota to keep Panis over CdM. They know what they are getting out of Panis and he is a much better bench mark for comparison to Zonta than da Matta would be.
jonovision_man
08-05-04, 07:35 AM
I said I'd be surprised, and I am! He really hasn't been that bad, bad enough to replace in 2005, not bad enough to fire mid-season. Must have been something he said. ;)
Would this be happening if Honda wasn't doing so well??????
Anteater
08-05-04, 10:27 AM
Pretty nasty story on da Matta's website:
http://www.damatta.com/news/webnews.php?id=463
I am so sorry to hear this news. Da Matta is pure racer, and it must have frustrated him terribly to have such poor results in the Toyota. But as I said in another thread, this racing is a hard business. Hope we haven't seen the last of him in F1, but it's not looking too good for him (as others have mentioned above). :(
jonovision_man
08-05-04, 10:36 AM
Pretty nasty story on da Matta's website:
http://www.damatta.com/news/webnews.php?id=463
I am so sorry to hear this news. Da Matta is pure racer, and it must have frustrated him terribly to have such poor results in the Toyota. But as I said in another thread, this racing is a hard business. Hope we haven't seen the last of him in F1, but it's not looking too good for him (as others have mentioned above). :(
Ha ha, from the story:
The Brazilian started to demand results and was not welcomed by Cologne
In other words he started to be pissy about the performance and people got sick of listenning to him...
sundaydriver2
08-05-04, 12:14 PM
The Toyota car is a POS. With all the cash those idiots are spending, you would think they would have a car that is even a little competitive.
Shorty is better off with another team if he can find one.
Shorty is better off with another team if he can find one.
suddenly, there's a seat open at BAR.
pineapple
08-07-04, 08:14 AM
That's got to hurt to be dumped mid-season and in such a publicly nasty way. Sounds like Cris wanted them to concentrate more on the suspension when Toyota wanted to focus on the aero.
Toy could have at least released him from his contractual obligations so he could at least drive in other series like ChampCar, but that would have been expecting too much. I just hope this experience hasn't soured him too much.
Anteater
08-19-04, 11:01 AM
Some more info on da Matta here:
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=30860
Can't stand even the thought of him in the I*L. CdM may be taking the "high road" with regard to his treatment by Toyota, but I really hope he's done with that outfit!
As for what Toyota F1 accomplished with their new improved lineup last weekend: same [stuff], different day. :shakehead
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