fjaka je napisao/la: eto, da je barem promašio desetljeće pa kroz devedesete vozio za benetton ili williams

The nature of his arrival

Buying his first seat with Arrows in 1983, Boutsen performed solidly vs Marc Surer for a number of seasons, often in uncompetitive machinery before getting a slightly lucky call-up to race for the works Benetton Ford team in 1987. He Outscored Fabi on points, despite Fabi looking faster at times in qualifying, and Fabi was dropped for 1988. During Fabi's final race for Benetton, frustrated with not securing a seat for 1988, Fabi repeatedly blocked Boutsen, ignoring team calls and blue flags whilst being lapped. After the race Fabi told Boutsen to "come back and see me when you have a pole position". Boutsen went on to finish 4th in the standings in 1988 with a string of podiums, comfortably seeing off Nannini, he was the obvious candidate to fill Mansell's seat as an accomplished, reliable, fast driver, with good development skills, albeit lacking that final edge in terms of outright speed. He then suffered a bad testing accident pre-season in Brazil when his suspension collapsed, which chipped the corners off 5 vertebrae and badly affected his physical form, stamina and energy levels for over a year.

1989 FW12C
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The first Williams to be mated to a Renault engine, it was a positive start to the partnership, finishing 2nd in the constructors championship, but a long way behind the all dominant McLaren Honda's. Patrick Head felt the team should have made a better car, but the task of adapting the previous seasons' car to the new engine was a big one, and the new FW13 wasn't available until 4 races before the end of the 1989 season.

1990 FW13/ FW13B
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Introduced with 4 races left in the 1989 season, the FW13 was described as impossible to qualify by Boutsen. It would finish 4th in the following 1990 championship despite Renault introducing a new lower mounted V10, with McLaren, Ferrari and Benetton all finishing ahead of Williams. The perception was that Williams were lacking a thrusting team leader. Someone had to go…

Complicating the picture, Patrick Head stated that the car was an abject failure- they had hastily commissioned a new windtunnel and according to PH it was rushed and done really badly. They explored a high nose concept in the windtunnel, only to retest it and find that the 150 pounds of extra downforce they had found had suddenly vanished, so they decided against continuing with the high nose concept. This would prove the catalyst for PH to start looking for a decent aerodynamiscist for 1991, though that would be too late for poor Boutsen to reap the benefits.

Best Moments

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Brazillian GP 1989
A testament to how consistently competitive Boutsen was despite his injury, Patrese qualified 2nd and took the lead at the start following a collision, whilst Boutsen qualified 4th and was running in 2nd until he suffered engine failure on lap 3. Boutsen had a miraculous knack of disappointing Frank even when running in second.

Canadian GP 1989
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Qualifying 6th, (Patrese 3rd) the Williams drivers were racing line astern in damp but drying conditions in 2nd/3rd until, in time-honoured Williams fashion, Williams decided to split the strategy and Boutsen pitted for slicks… just as it started raining. With Prost retiring and Senna making the same strategy error, Patrese was left in a dominant lead. Boutsen dropped to P10 before, mostly off camera, carving his way back up through the field, and when Patrese pitted for fresh wets, the order was Senna, Patrese, Boutsen with Boutsen hauling Patrese in before engaging in a thrilling inter team battle, sliding sideways alongside each other and Patrese even put Boutsen onto the grass at high speed at one point.

Dramatically at the end of the race, Patrese suffered a damaged undertray allowing Boutsen through into 2nd before Senna's engine failed, gifting Boutsen the win- the first of his career and the first of many for the Williams/Renault partnership with Patrese making it a Williams 1/2.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESU9f0SXVs8[/youtube]

stick with it- the last 2 minutes are brilliant! Senna could not believe he had lost that race walking back to the pits, and felt he had been robbed during an intra McLaren fight for the title. Enjoy the champers Thierry! One for the RAM / SAM score perhaps

Australian GP 1989
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Another wet race, another win, Boutsen may have lacking raw aggressive speed in the dry during his first season, largely due to his testing accident, but he was always thereabouts, and his delicate skills in the wet earned him a victory FW described after the race as "masterful". Started 4th ahead of Patrese after Prost refused to race, he swiftly dispatched Nannini before trying everything to pass an understandably determined Martini running in 2nd in the Minardi. with Senna sprinting away, it could have been very easy to get into a collision, but he kept his cool despite some savage blocks, and found a way past within 3 laps.

Thierry Boutsen
"When we started with that car the FW13, I could hardly qualify it. It was handling so badly, and yet a few races later I won in Adelaide. That was a big achievement, a really big achievement''




British GP 1990
4th on the grid, 2nd in the race, with Patrese qualifying 6th and running slower throughout. Boutsen had a quiet afternoon and benefitted from several retirements, but he was the lead Williams driver at an aerodynamically demanding track despite racing a car Head described as an abject failure. What more can you want?

Hungarian GP 1990
Scoring his first pole, (thereby earning his right to "see Fabi" again) Boutsen held off a line of cars headed by Senna, having not pitted for fresh tyres during the race. Whilst Patrese was passed before pitting for fresh rubber, Boutsen held off Senna, Nannini, Mansell and Berger to record his third win for Williams, preventing Senna and McLaren from winning despite their superior pace- definitely one for the RAM / SAM matrix! Gilles Villeneuve is often remembered for his classic victory fending off a train of cars in a Ferrari that couldn't corner for toffee- this was a comparable feat. Ok- Hungary was hard to pass on, but one single slip would have cost him the win, as he did not enjoy the same power advantage Viileneuve had, and he had considerably less grip on his tyres than the opposition which seemed dead set on eliminating each other behind him. Still- Boutsen was less enigmatic or spectacular so perhaps this comparison with Gilles is highly unfashionable? Perhaps it will be remembered less fondly because it looked less desperately entertaining? Perhaps it's because the wrong man did it?

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Thierry Boutsen
"In Hungary, lets just say I took a big risk to go to the end with the same set of tyres. I ended the race with no rubber whatsoever on the left rear tyre. Also, the brakes were totally worn out at the front. I couldn't have done 2 more laps so it was very marginal. But I made it and kept Ayrton behind me. I was very proud of it, because I went against all the advice from Patrick who didn't think it was possible.

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Once I had finished on the podium and done all the media interviews, I went back to the Williams motorhome. It was empty- everyone had gone. Maybe I was the wrong one to win that day because they had just told me I would not be a part of the team for 1991. I had no idea why everyone had gone. At the time I was totally @#$%& off."

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indeed throughout 1990, there was little to choose between Boutsen and Patrese with them often swapping who qualified and who finished in front during races. It was a good intra-team fight, even after Frank had fired Boutsen for 1991.

The nature of his departure

The second season into the works Renault partnership, Williams had slipped back from 2nd to 4th in the championship despite benefitting from a lower mounted engine. Although there was little to choose between the two Williams drivers, and Boutsen was getting the better of Patrese with increasing regularity as he recovered from his testing accident, there was no doubt Mansell was faster than both of them. There was also the perception that despite PH's misgivings over the car, the engine was strong and that it was the superior quality of rival drivers that were making the difference in the championship. By Hungary, Williams had sorted a contract with Mansell and Boutsen was the one nominated to get the chop. This was after Alesi, who Williams had signed a contract with, turned Williams down to race for Ferrari for 1991. Clearly, Williams was unenamoured by Boutsen as a driver unable to lead the team effectively, and was lining up drivers left right and centre to replace him. IMO, Patrese looked no more or less convincing. Boutsen landed a drive with the struggling Ligier team for 1991 where he failed to score a point. After another season with Ligier and one last chance with Jordan where he struggled to come close to Barrichello, his career came to a close, scoring just 2 more points. It was an ignominious fall from grace.

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Summary
With Three wins, eight podiums, and more points earned across two full seasons than his very experienced teammate, Boutsen didn't do a lot wrong. He was an ever growing threat to Patrese as he recovered from his injuries, yet his efforts were always cast in a dim light in is managers' eyes. He was inevitably thereabouts in both qualifying and the race and all this during two seasons in sub-par pre-Newey machinery. For those claiming the FW13 was a championship contender left in bad hands, PH's comments flatly contradict this view.

I struggle to understand why Boutsen got such a bad rep as underwhelming. In contrast to Mansell, Prost or Senna, the argument holds water, but compared to the rest of the field, Boutsen did a fine job. Who else on this list currently could have held a candle to Mansell, Prost or Senna during this period? I suspect this "disappointing man" image was perhaps an attempt by the media to explain why Williams were dropping a guy who was regularly winning races and doing a pretty decent job. Or maybe he just looked and sounded boring in interviews together with his bad outdated hairdo? Perhaps Gunk who was watching back then can add some greater insight. I wasn't watching F1 back in those days, but I think Boutsens' greatest crime was not looking as fast and exciting as Mansell in the car who's shoes he was trying to fill. Patrese didn't have a great reputation either at that stage, but he proved in 1991 vs Mansell that he was no slouch despite his many years, and Boutsen was nip and tuck with Patrese throughout his career at Williams, with an 8-8 head to head in qualifying in 1990, outscoring Patrese when he got himself sorted in 1990, and with 3 wins to Patrese's 1.

Objectively, Thierry Boutsen did a lot right with his opportunity at Williams and set the Williams Renault partnership off on the right foot with regular wins, helping to put Williams 2nd in the constructors championship which was a lot better than the 7th they managed the previous year with Judd power. His indifferent start to 1989 was due to suffering a long term injury courtesy of testing Williams' active ride system that went on to achieve so much success. I haven't read the word "ungrateful" mentioned anywhere, but to sack him for looking unexciting when he was suffering from debilitating spinal damage all season in service to the cause was pretty shabby treatment by any standards despite scoring more wins than his teammate and outscoring him. So too was the failure to celebrate an excellent win with him in Hungary simply because he was being dropped, and for having the chutzpah to override PH's advice.

In many ways, with his analytical development abilities, his role during 1989 and 1990 integrating the Renault engine, giving their new engine partner cause for optimism, and developing the active ride suspension was all vital in setting up the success of the FW14, and for that he was rewarded by being the fall guy. I think Boutsen was surprisingly effective, and reminds me an awful lot of Heidfeld in terms of quietly getting the job done where it counted at the chequered flag and peaking at the right moments during a tough time for the team. Williams were never going to win the championship in those two chassis, but these two years were a crucial learning and development period and to squeeze three wins out during this period was all that could have been expected. I'm shedding any prejudice I have heard and read about him, railing against my hero SFW, and thinking of sticking him top- for now at least. That win in Hungary was arguably better than Maldonado's in 2012- it was only his finesse behind the wheel that made it possible. He was faster than Patrese and made his tyres last. His win in Adelaide was a stand-out example of car mastery, and to suffer 5 chipped vertebrae testing the active ride that Mansell cashed in on with Newey's chassis? I think Williams owe Boutsen a considerable debt. He was no Mansell / Senna / Prost, and he lost his seat as a result, but if that was his biggest failing, then that is faint criticism. He was a highly accomplished professional operating at a consistently high level and contributed a lot that deserves proper acknowledgement. I don't think Berger, Patrese, Piquet or Alesi had anything on him in terms of effectiveness across a championship year and I don't think he was far behind the elite 3 either. I wonder how he would have fared with Williams active ride in 1992? He was no muscles from brussels, but he was a big man, and may have made a better fist of it than Patrese.

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