Lauda - Richards: Can they do the job?

[freeze]

Here are 2 men with the same attitude coming in their new responsabilities: The success will be because of ME, ME and ME alone...
Everything was Rahal's and Pollock's fault. But here we are, one week before the Canadian GP 2002 and these 2 teams are worst then ever. BAR came to Montréal with 12 pts last year and everyone was up in arms with the poor results so far? How do they feel now?

Is there anything to say about Jaguar... nothing bright at the horizon.

How long BAT and Ford (especially with the 10's of thousand of lay-offs in north america alone) tolarate such failure?

[Mr V]

Originally posted by freeze
Everything was Rahal's fault.

i honestly believe that had Rahal stayed at Jaguar, as opposed to the Rat, Jaguar would be in a better "condition" than they are now, there has been talks of Eddie's side of the garage and Pedro's side of the garage don't talk to one another! The Rat seems to thrive on this sort of thing, after all, he hasn't seemed to have done anything about it, Bobby Rahal would never have stood for it!

Originally posted by freeze
Everything was Pollock's fault.

quite proberbly to be perfectly honest, Richards has come in, basically said, in a very "nice" way, that he won't pay JV his wage demands in the future, and JV has responded to that. (Austria is a prime example)

[Sato san]

MR V...totally agree about THE RAT ,

but i think to a certain point Pollocks hands were always tied when he held the reigns as BAR . I think David Richards will do the job and find success , where as i think The Rat will fail in his attempt at Jaguar and wish he'd left well alone when Bobby was starting to get things moving in the right direction.

[Mr V]

agree with what your saying about Pollock, it wasn't until he was "removed" that we realised how "tied" his hands were, but my point was that with regards to JV, no other driver under Pollocks employment would have enjoyed so much "freedom", now that Richards is at the helm, JV isn't so "secure" and will have to knuckle down more, which can only be good for himself and the team!

[Jay]

I don't think David richards has had much of a hand in this year's BAR004. Remember, he took his post at the same time the car was presented. Also, BAR have made several other moves on the personnel front, namely acquiring former Williams engineer Geoff Willis.

I think what is more important is that BAR have been making steady progress since Melbourne began, and continue to do so. We'll have to see their new package (which the new team had a hand in) to see if they are really going anywhere.

[Mr V]

agreed with what your saying about the car Jay, but as soon as he came in he made changes to design personnel etc. basically, he's changing everything that Pollock built! and that can only be good for all concerned. although we can't see the "fruits of his labour" so to speak at the moment, i think he'll move the team further forward than The Rat will do at Jag.

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

Originally posted by freeze

Everything was Rahal's and Pollock's fault.

How long BAT and Ford (especially with the 10's of thousand of lay-offs in north america alone) tolarate such failure?

Rahal yes, Pollock no. Rahal was hopelessly out of his depth technically and politically in F1. He handed Lauda an absolute dead one which they are still trying to recover from. Over the time I have been a member here it has never ceased to amaze me how many forumers confuse someone with whom you would like to have a beer, with someone who could run a winning F1 team. You cannot compare employing hundreds of people, running a race and test team, flying around the world, being viewed by more people than any pthr sporting event save summer Olympics and Fottball World Cup, having a 150m annual budget with....

....running a CART team, bnot building or designing or developing a car OR engine, buying a British off the shelf chassis essentially the same as everyone else's car, employing a couple of dozen people an winning a few races in a domestic championship.

Pollock on the othr hand did the genius job of creating the team from nothing, and sticking two fingers up at the establishment who said it could not be done. Another thing tht amazes me is th downr people have on BAR! Face it folks, were it not for Pollock, THEY WOULD NOT EXIST AND WE WOULD BE DOWN TO A SMALL HANDFUL OF TEAMS.

Dave Richards may well be better but repsect is due for CP.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by I Ate Yoko Ono


Rahal was hopelessly out of his depth technically and politically in F1. He handed Lauda an absolute dead one which they are still trying to recover from.

what have you been watching? Rahal didn't hand The Rat anything, Ford brought The Rat in alongside Rahal then Sacked the American after alot of politics! i don't think that Jaguar have progressed much since Rahal was sacked, do you?

[Sato san]

Originally posted by I Ate Yoko Ono


Rahal was hopelessly out of his depth technically and politically in F1. He handed Lauda an absolute dead one which they are still trying to recover from.

totally disagree ,
Rahal was doing a much better job than THE RAT has done , He was on the verge of signing Newey , who was going to Jag until Mclaren begged him to stay . I think Bobby was right on the money , and was turning the ship around .

[calais]

yoko, pollock deserves no respect at all for the way he created BAR. in my opinion, it was created with the sole purpose of making himself and his protege very rich, and bugger the team.
a team boss is supposed to negotiate a drivers contract with the team's best interests at heart, not this iron clad joke of a contract that is only in JV's interests and is the envy of all of the drivers. fancy 25% of your team budget going to one driver??? especially when they have had to lay off staff.
as for the rat, he is out of his depth.
bring back rahal!!

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

Originally posted by Sato san


totally disagree ,
Rahal was doing a much better job than THE RAT has done , He was on the verge of signing Newey , who was going to Jag until Mclaren begged him to stay . I think Bobby was right on the money , and was turning the ship around .

No. no my original comment is 100% right and your post proves it. He was NEARLY on the verge of signing Newey....but DIDN'T. And there it is. He didn't really have a hope. He was out manoevred, outperformed politically and other than the Newey humiliation made no attempt to add, improve or change anything at Jaguar. All he did was embarrass himself and the team before shuffling of stage. My argument is that he should never have been there in the first place.

My other earlier comment about Rahal still stands. He may be a nice guy to go for a beer with but that does not necessarily mean he is going to be any good at running a winning F1 team. What experience does he have?! None!

At least the Rat is a proven winner and multiple champion in F1.

It's like I said before - You cannot compare employing hundreds of people, running a race and test team, flying around the world, being viewed by more people than any pthr sporting event save summer Olympics and Fottball World Cup, having a 150m annual budget with....

....running a CART team, not building or designing or developing a car OR engine, buying a British off the shelf chassis essentially the same as everyone else's car, employing a couple of dozen people an winning a few races in a domestic championship.

As for the jealous souls who would like to be as rich as JV or CP, your attitude is self destructive for F1. Here is a well funded team with good manufacturer links which has a future in the sport.

Unlike the embarrassing Minardi, Arrows or possibly even Jordan. Respect is due. F1 isn't just about supporting Ferrari and Minardi you know.

[f1manoz]

All I can say is that Rahal would be doing a better job than Niki Lauda at the moment IMHO (which some people seem to be forgetting that they only have opinions )

As for Pollock, I partly blame him for the mess that is the BAR team. If he'd shown more leadership qualities with the infrastructure of the team, perhaps things wouldn't be so bad there.

[calais]

BAR a well funded team????
is that why richards has had to lay off staff, and is publicly slagging JV's outrageous contract???
respect is due???
they came into F1 with the biggest start up budget of any team and scored zero points in their first season.
ZERO!!!!!
this year tells a similar story. the "embarressing minardi" has 2 points. 2 more than BAR, who once again have ZERO.
as for rahal, he has a lot more motorsport management experience than lauda. all lauda had in that respect was his "consultant" job with ferrari a few years back.
what did that involve?? turn up to the races and look pretty on the pitwall???

[Mr V]

Originally posted by I Ate Yoko Ono



At least the Rat is a proven winner and multiple champion in F1.

but that doesn't automatically make him a good team leader Yoko, his will and desire to succeed may have made him a multiple champion in the car, but not nessessarily a good boss outside of it! he didn't exactlly do alot for Ferrari in the early nineties when he was employed as "advisor" and he's not doing much more at Jaguar!

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

Originally posted by calais
BAR a well funded team????
is that why richards has had to lay off staff, and is publicly slagging JV's outrageous contract???
respect is due???
they came into F1 with the biggest start up budget of any team and scored zero points in their first season.
ZERO!!!!!
this year tells a similar story. the "embarressing minardi" has 2 points. 2 more than BAR,

Calm down everyone.

BAR ARE well funded - I agree JV has a good contract but the fact he is paid what he is shows there is enormous funding there if it can be unlocked.

Respect is due to CP becasue he was a teacher and a ski instructor who set u, from scratch, with NO prior motorsport team management experience of ABNY kind, a major F1 player, and one I don't doubt will be around longer than one or two other grid fillers currently racing. Only jealousy or sheer bitterness would deny CP some respect for his achievments there, even if ultimately Dave Richards will do a better job.

Re Minardi being embarrassing, I was referring to their off track behaviour re the cost of competing more than anything else. I cannot deny they have two points (although if you are honest it was a freak result and have largely been at the back of the grid ever since). But, I have to admit, they do currently have two points more than BAR.

When I say embarrassing, I was referring to their behaviour off track, ie "it's just not fair", "we don't have any money", "this sport is too expensive becasue we can't afford to compete", "I want the money someone else earned and can't survive without other bankruptcies meaning I inherit from their misfortune or I will go bankrupt myself", etc etc when they shouold just say "fair dos we underestimated what it took" . PS has talked himself into financial ruin IMO.

[calais]

i admit stoddart's comments are a bit over the top, but i see it more as a ploy to fastrack the money that he thinks he is entitled to.
i'd be looking at jordan's attitude since he found himself in a bit of financial bother. constantly moaning about how expensibe F1 has become, becoming the new FIA pinup boy by agreeing with everything they propose, all in the "best interests of F1"
translation- "in the best interests of my wallet"

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

My god I think we are almost agrreing on something here!

EJ did take his eye off the ball its true. For the record I think BAR are the better long term bet for Honda (they obviously realise this too if rumour is to be believed).

Jordan reached a certain level and have been treading water/going backwards ever since. And yes,I think Jordan are in a bit of financial trouble (hence redundancies).

One hopes they won't have to pay too much for Mugen power as it may be their death knell. Paying through the nose for engines that were a year behind spec was the downfall of Prost after all.

[calais]

i too think that BAR are a better bet for honda, but only since richards has taken over.
i cant but feel that honda was involved in the decision to get rid of pollock, seeing as his sacking coincided with the extension of the honda deal

[freeze]

There is no direction on that team. In all departments.

How many technical designers/directors had left Jaguar? Let's see - Gustav Brunner, Gary Anderson, Habady, Geof Willis, Henri Durand, Sergio (???) and may be more. Let's not forget the Newey saga.

And isn't it the time of the year where each team are starting to throw ideas on the drawing board? Who is the leading man in that department today? Ah yes, the rallye guy!

Good luck Niki