Jim McGee Comments

[StickShift]

I think when you cost Bjorn Wirdheim an F1 ride, you owe him something...

[Kicking-back]

How did they cost him an F1 drive?

[StickShift]

Wirdheim was in the Red-Bull fold at the very beginning. However, he decided to leave the team for greener pastures in North America (he had just tested for PKV the week before) when Mateschitz pretty much confirmed to the media that the team would be running their own Red-Bull backed drivers. Not long after Wirdheim left the team, Purnell and Pitchforth convinced Mateschitz that they needed a driver who knew what he was doing. They ended up getting Coulthard; for a seat that would've gone to Wirdheim had he not left the team.

Now, I agree that it was Wirdheim's decision to leave the team. But I don't think for a moment that he would've left Red-Bull so hastily unless some team had guaranteed him a seat over here.

You can label some of the blame on Bjorn for missing the Red-Bull oppurtunity. But PKV leaving him rideless in Champ Car is a pitiful joke.

[enemy-ace]

The only guarantee is a signed contract. Everything else would be nothing but pure speculation. Let's see how it all unfolds, hopefully he'll end up with a good drive.

A little off-topic, I find it kind of sad that Dominguez might be going to F1 while a more talented driver, IMO, Wirdheim is struggling to find a seat.
The politics of racing.

[Öbus]

Originally Posted by StickShift

Wirdheim was in the Red-Bull fold at the very beginning. However, he decided to leave the team for greener pastures in North America (he had just tested for PKV the week before) when Mateschitz pretty much confirmed to the media that the team would be running their own Red-Bull backed drivers. Not long after Wirdheim left the team, Purnell and Pitchforth convinced Mateschitz that they needed a driver who knew what he was doing. They ended up getting Coulthard; for a seat that would've gone to Wirdheim had he not left the team.

Now, I agree that it was Wirdheim's decision to leave the team. But I don't think for a moment that he would've left Red-Bull so hastily unless some team had guaranteed him a seat over here.

You can label some of the blame on Bjorn for missing the Red-Bull oppurtunity. But PKV leaving him rideless in Champ Car is a pitiful joke.

And above that Christian Horner,now team principal in ReBull Racing,is also BW's manager and was responile for the negotiation with PKV. He did that before he was approched by RedBull for the job as team Principal. If Bjorn had stayed in RBR I'm shure Christian had let him stay in the team at least as a testdriver.

[Snrub]

W've also read that there was suppose to be a final evaluation between Dalziel and Wirdheim. From what we know, saying that he gave up a F1 ride for a CC ride is not technically correct. Perhaps you could argue he gave up a F1 ride for a good chance at a CC ride. I think most would have a little trouble believing he'd do that.

[mac]

I think you'll find Red Bull's insistance on keeping Klien and bringing Vitantonio Liuzzi into the fold played the biggest part in frustrating Wirdheim, and him leaving the team.

[carsten66]

The only facts we know are the ten confirmed drivers ... at the moment and 8+ seats are waiting for their drivers. And I don't remember that any team offered Wirdheim (or Dalziel etc) a drive, all we heard about was testing...