Ego
Another day another announcement. McLaren issued a statement this morning declaring that by mutual agreement Juan Pablo Montoya would be leaving the McLaren team with immediate effect so that he can spend some time with his family. Montoya's place will be taken by test driver Pedro de la Rosa. Oh dear.
Chipo says this is all about egos. She is right. You can clearly wok out the sequence of events. Montoya must have been reprimanded by the McLaren bosses after the calamitous United Sates Grand Prix (when he caused an almighty crash and took out his own team-mate). This must have seriously upset him. So much so that - in an echo of his impulsive decision to quit Williams and join McLaren - he got on the blower to his old American boss and agreed a move to NASCAR. Montoya did not bother communicating his intentions to his bosses at McLaren first. This pissed team boss, Ron Dennis, off mightily. Dennis, whose ego is matched only by Montoya's, instructed his expensive London lawyers to find a "get-out" in the employment contract between McLaren and Montoya. "I never want to see that bastard again!" he spat. The lawyers did as required and Montoya was quietly told not to bother coming back to work. Bland statements of irritating banality - clearly drafted by McLaren's PR people - were ostensibly issued by both sides this morning.
The immediate effect of all of this on Montoya will be a dent in his bank balance. He will have to forfeit half his $13.2 million McLaren salary but that still leaves him with more than $7 million - which is more than sufficient for the remainder of 2006, methinks. Since Montoya no longer has a driving contract with McLaren, he may suffer some collateral harm when advertisers seek compensation for unmet commitments during the remainder of 2006. This is likely to be of little or no consequence - the person crying into his beer today is the manager of Montoya's insurance company.
For McLaren, a team with more money than focus, this whole affair looks terribly messy. They should never have contemplated employing Montoya in the first place. If the irascible Colombian should have known better than to join as stuffy an outfit as McLaren, the Woking boys knew this even better. In a season when they should have been challenging Renault for the world championship, the team looks lost. Money by the truckload and no sense of direction. No wonder Kimi Raikkonen cannot wait to get out.
Fernando Alonso, why, oh why did you sign with McLaren?
What all of this demonstrates is the crude nature of the Formula One circus. Personalities, egos and conflicts are what make the headlines rather than driving prowess and interesting races. When you fill cars with fancy toys (launch control, traction control etc) which detract from pure driver skill and race them in drab, soulless circuits (Hungary, Bahrain…) what have you got in the way of entertainment except some colourful individuals and a bit of pompom waving totty?
I think Kimi Raikkonen has got it about right. The thing to do is get slaughtered in titty bars…
Gitau
11 July 2006
Chipo says this is all about egos. She is right. You can clearly wok out the sequence of events. Montoya must have been reprimanded by the McLaren bosses after the calamitous United Sates Grand Prix (when he caused an almighty crash and took out his own team-mate). This must have seriously upset him. So much so that - in an echo of his impulsive decision to quit Williams and join McLaren - he got on the blower to his old American boss and agreed a move to NASCAR. Montoya did not bother communicating his intentions to his bosses at McLaren first. This pissed team boss, Ron Dennis, off mightily. Dennis, whose ego is matched only by Montoya's, instructed his expensive London lawyers to find a "get-out" in the employment contract between McLaren and Montoya. "I never want to see that bastard again!" he spat. The lawyers did as required and Montoya was quietly told not to bother coming back to work. Bland statements of irritating banality - clearly drafted by McLaren's PR people - were ostensibly issued by both sides this morning.
The immediate effect of all of this on Montoya will be a dent in his bank balance. He will have to forfeit half his $13.2 million McLaren salary but that still leaves him with more than $7 million - which is more than sufficient for the remainder of 2006, methinks. Since Montoya no longer has a driving contract with McLaren, he may suffer some collateral harm when advertisers seek compensation for unmet commitments during the remainder of 2006. This is likely to be of little or no consequence - the person crying into his beer today is the manager of Montoya's insurance company.
For McLaren, a team with more money than focus, this whole affair looks terribly messy. They should never have contemplated employing Montoya in the first place. If the irascible Colombian should have known better than to join as stuffy an outfit as McLaren, the Woking boys knew this even better. In a season when they should have been challenging Renault for the world championship, the team looks lost. Money by the truckload and no sense of direction. No wonder Kimi Raikkonen cannot wait to get out.
Fernando Alonso, why, oh why did you sign with McLaren?
What all of this demonstrates is the crude nature of the Formula One circus. Personalities, egos and conflicts are what make the headlines rather than driving prowess and interesting races. When you fill cars with fancy toys (launch control, traction control etc) which detract from pure driver skill and race them in drab, soulless circuits (Hungary, Bahrain…) what have you got in the way of entertainment except some colourful individuals and a bit of pompom waving totty?
I think Kimi Raikkonen has got it about right. The thing to do is get slaughtered in titty bars…
Gitau
11 July 2006
posted by Gitau at 2:45 pm
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