Villeneuve Fires Back at Richards

[Guy Goddard2]

If JV says he joined BAR to develop it into a winning team and still wants to finish the job then he must have realised taking so much from the budget would slow that process.
Richards is looking at it long term and saying to JV "do you want a winning car or the money and trawl around at the back of the grid".
He choose his freindship with Pollock and money over his career. In a top car he could still be up there but there's no going back now for him.



Regards


Guy

[Mania]

Originally posted by Guy Goddard2

Richards is looking at it long term and saying to JV "do you want a winning car or the money and trawl around at the back of the grid".

If Richards is so concerned - why doesent he cough up his own salary? Since he's interested in buying into the team, will he be willing to refuse a slary from BAT? Or is that going just a bit too far?

Jacques is right when he says it was BAT who agreed to pay him the large sums that he gets. Pollock may have negotiated a sweetheart deal for JV but it was BAT who signed the contract.They should honour it or discuss compensation in private instead of attempting to play cheap publicity tricks on a former World Champion.

[BBKing]

They say that Villeneuve is making something like 18 US millions a year. That multiplied by 4 would be 74 million that BAR has as a budget. Either Ritchards is a liar or there have been too much bull**** about BAR's mega-budget. Certainly that would not be 1/4 of Ferrari's budget.

[Liz]

It may be 1/4 of their development budget though.

When you think about it, BAR have wasted a lot of BAT's money on useless and handicapping fripperies. After all, what price carbon fibre toilet seats, forty story motor homes, and gold plated contracts? This IMO has always been like a company moving into lavish offices and hiring huge numbers of support staff before they put anything into the factory or have any product to sell (like the numerous ex-dotcom companies did). Perhaps Mr. Richards knows that the BAT money is coming to an end and he wants to show them that he can use it economically so they don't leave him with nothing to work with. And let us face facts, spending $18 million US per year on a driver who produces nothing but lip service is a little bit over the top.

However, judging by what happened to Frenzy, Verstappen et al. those contracts are not unbreakable. Doesn't Mr. Richards have a fax machine, then? Can he spell "You are fired"?

[Mania]

Come on Liz, Jacques has done a lot more than lip service. Maybe his motivation isent what it used to be but you cant blame him since he's been stuck driving a lousy car for 4 seasons now.

He's still got what it takes - Austria was a shining example.
All he needs is a car that is worthy of his ability.

[Jordi]

What they should cut first then? Motorhomes and toilets or a Champion racer?

[Nicholas]

Originally posted by BBKing
Either Ritchards is a liar or there have been too much bull**** about BAR's mega-budget. Certainly that would not be 1/4 of Ferrari's budget.

That's what's been confusing me. If it was true, then BAR would be rivalling Minardi and Arrows for budget size. But if it wasn't, do you think Villeneuve would have said something about it?

[Gt_R]

Perhaps, JV in a BAR is a wasting of his talent...but JV doesn't seem to be trying a lot does he? He seems to be a shadow of himself...despite occasional times when he showed his past sparkle...

JV's a good racer... but is he a good developement driver? What BAR now needs is not a star driver who drains their limited cash, but a good driver who works hard to try bring progress. Panis is doing as good a job as JV for a lesser pay...and i think fairly, Richard thinks it is more useful replacing JV due to high pay, not lack of talent, and replace him with another driver who can put the car on the grid, another 2 team test-driver, and invest more money in developement for the same price JV takes...

[PoweredByHonda]

Originally posted by BBKing
They say that Villeneuve is making something like 18 US millions a year. That multiplied by 4 would be 74 million that BAR has as a budget. Either Ritchards is a liar or there have been too much bull**** about BAR's mega-budget. Certainly that would not be 1/4 of Ferrari's budget.

BAR's budget doesn't include the money Honda spends for the engine, which is in the stratospheric region of 100 Million+ a year. Add that up with trade support, TV money it amounts to quite a healthy budget of over 200 million a year. I think what Richards is talkin about is JV's takin 1/4 of BAT's money injection into BAR, which I think is in the region of 60-80 million dollars a year plus the subsidiary on BAR's debts.

All those years of wasted money, it was all Malcolm Oastler's fault. It's not JV's fault that Oastler designs cars that are lemons and 5 years out of date. Whether a driver tests it or not, if the car's been designed to be a ****-BOX, it will still be a ****-BOX even if you test it for ages.

[freud]

Craig Pollock has hampered JV's carrer in two ways:

1. By pushing him into joining BAR & refusing Williams 2 year contract (1999-2000)

2. By having a personal feud with Ron Dennis and worst possible PR with the Mclaren Mercedez team.

If CP wanted to build his own team, he should've first concentrated on developing the car for 2 years and see the result. Only then he should've persuaded JV to join. And I would say that roots of Richardson & Villeneuve break-up lie with the feud between Pollock and Richardson. JV is in Pollock's group who is in paddock with JV all the time. Obviously that is very unpleasing for Richardson. JV and Richardson just cant get along... Pollock will do JV a world of good if he manages to get the Renault contract for him.

[calais]

it seems to me the only way JV can be competitive is if he is handed a well sorted, competitive car on a silver platter. like the 97 williams and his players reynard in CART.
and then to try and rally the team to focus soley on him, like he did at williams and BAR, to the detriment of HHF and zonta. the difference between JV and TFG/senna is that they can take a shi*box and do wonders with it. JV cant!!!!

hey freud, whats the problem between pollock and dennis????

[kwd]

Agree with you there Calais, although I was a huge supporter of Jacques in CART, [was at 95 van indy gold seats watching Jacques waving his arm in the air on the main straight when his tranny was going]. I still don't feel he has really proved anything to me by driving the Williams/Renault to victory in 97. Villeneuve made the statement that 'I am the man Schumacher truly fears' on his official web before the Canadian Gp. If he wants a battle with MS why has he stuck around BAR so long.I'm sure Pollock would have got him a competitive drive.

[Gt_R]

Calais, agree with u there (surprised huh? )

JV given the right stuff can do some pretty impressive things... but what seperates the great from the exceptional...is what they can do when things don't go their way. Witness Senna, witness Gilles, witness Schumacher.

[Amaroo Park]

If I was JV I would shut up and try and prove that I am worth a mega salary. But maybe he should take a pay cut and stay with the team. Can anyone rember a Team that Richards hasn't had SOLE control over that hasn't won races.

[Jordi]

Originally posted by calais
it seems to me the only way JV can be competitive is if he is handed a well sorted, competitive car on a silver platter. like the 97 williams and his players reynard in CART.
and then to try and rally the team to focus soley on him, like he did at williams and BAR, to the detriment of HHF and zonta. the difference between JV and TFG/senna is that they can take a shi*box and do wonders with it. JV cant!!!!

Oh yeah, there weren't at least 8 or 9 more Reynards in the CART field... his was the only that was good...

"Try to rally the team to focus solely on him" If Jacques does it it's a detriment to HHF and Zonta, if Senna and TGF do it it's just OK then??

And when has Schumacher driven a car that has never scored a point? You can't compare! Senna and Schumacher never drove cars that broke in 10 races, that went pointless in all the season by the two drivers!!!!

[Gt_R]

Let's be fair...u want to talk about how Schumacher tries to make the team back him only, u have to accept that JV does the same.

Let's not compare JV to Schumacher or Senna for now..its really pointless to get there when all we can do is simply look at how JV fares with his teammate who earns 20% of his pay cheque...

[calais]

jordi, as you may well know i am not a fan of TFG, but JV is really not in the same league.
look at the 93 mclaren that senna drove. it had a ford v8 that could only be compared to this years honda when you compare the power it had compared to other teams. he won 5 races in it. he also made the cra**y lotus do things it shouldn't.
TFG drove underpowered benettons for a few years and did more with them than JV will ever do in the BAR.

[kwd]

Just for the record Jordi, I still like Jacques but have always been ferrari, would like to see him in a competitive drive and maybe some these questions would be answered, Sure wouldn't hurt f1 would it?

[Jordi]

Yes kwd, that's why we shouldn't compare Jacques to TGF or Senna, when he's driving a car that hasn't scored a point, for the 2nd year, mind you.

Bernie, give Jacques a F2002 and we will see if he really, really, really deserves what he earns!

[EERO]

Originally posted by BBKing
Either Ritchards is a liar or there have been too much bull**** about BAR's mega-budget.

Mostly BS. The reality of it is that BAR have one of the smaller budgets on the grid. Honda's 100 Mill is split between BAR and Jordan. Given the funds that BAR have available(and they are declining each season) Jacques has eaten up an undue percentage of them.

Again, I am no fan of TGF,but his performance in '96 and '97 in a Ferrari was inspiring. JV, three and a half seasons into BAR is still a backmarker.

Hwe may be a brilliant driver when things are gouing his way, but he doesn't have the wherewithal to pull a team up by its bootstraps.

[Super Tourer]

What we are looking at now is the hangover of yet another poor managment decision from the previous leadership at BAR.

Pollock put JV into an almost impregnable position with his play and pay contract, which I am sure DR and all his people have been over with a microscope, looking for an out, which they obviously haven't been able to find. Hence we have seen Richard's appealing to JV as a driver and shareholder of the team, trying to put the team's best interest's first.

Pollock's position as manager of JV and team boss has created this position. He negotiated a mega deal for JV, whilst in the position of his manager and team boss at the same time, therefore earning himself more commission, giving a fair chunk of the teams budget to JV and being paid to run the team....quite how this got by the BAR board is surely another example of the financial sloppiness that prevailed in the team at the time.

Somebody mentioned why not fire JV. They could, but under the terms of the play and pay contract they would still have to pay him. JV is in a watertight position that cannot be changed without somebody parting with a lot of money. In the end the smart thing to do, would for JV to take a lesser salary against an increased stake in the team, therefore if it is eventually sold to Honda, Prodrive or whoever he still wins. But is up to JV to concede, he can't be pressured into it.

In the final analysis, JV doesn't need the money but in my view that's never been a good enough reason to reduce your price, if you are in a strong enough position.

JV will stay at BAR for 2003 and if thing's don't improve markedly I would imagine it will be his last F1 season. He only want's to drive for William's or Ferrari and I cna't see either of those seats becoming available to him. Unless MS retires.......

[Rache]

JV should take a pay cut......50%?? If he wants to save the team?

Hmmm let's see, could I live on £5million per year? May be tough, I'd only have to have one luxury apartment and one speedboat, hmmmm not sure if I can deal....Am I supposed to shop at Tescos or something? Surely not? One can't possibly SURVIVE on a paltry £5 million per year!!! The interest on that alone would be enough to live on 50 times over!

If he insists on NOT taking a pay cut then he should get his arse out and about and do more PR for the sponsors who are already ****ed off with lack of exposure. You are cutting your own throat JV!!