Red Bull S...!
Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 10:45AM
For a team owner and sponsor as media and marketing savvy as Red Bull the management of the race incident at Turkey has been unbelievably bad. A different story every day and different people putting them out. The first thing you learn about emergency or crisis situations, along with the response the problem itself, is that only one nominated spokesperson talks to the media. You agree on a message, the sooner the better but give yourself time to work it out, and stick to it. As soon as this happened Christian Horner should have put a clamp on the drivers and the team. Instead we have had Webber is to blame, the Mechanic did not pass on the message to save fuel, Mark did get the message and that is why Vettel caught him, Webber's rear tires were going off, Webber moved over on Vettel, etc, etc. Today we have a nice photo of Mark and Sebastian being friends again. Does anyone remember "Days of Thunder?"
We also see today that Red Bull is negotiating to extend Vettel's contract, which runs through 2012 already, to 2015. I said the other day that he is obviously the team's future, but what message does that send to Webber who is on a one year contract and no one seems in a rush to sign him for next year. Now, I don't know that Mark is not the one delaying this, and who could blame him? Are we going to see a repeat of last year when the World Champion took his Number 1 plate somewhere else?
That raises the question as to where would that be. As I wrote a few weeks ago, the silly season seemed to have started early, with all the rumors about Massa. I said at the time that it did not seem to make a lot of sense for Ferrari to bring in someone else, or why anyone would want to go there to be Alonso's number 2. Given the cars erratic performance I say again, why would anyone want to go there unless they are star struck by the name? It seems Ferrari are going to retain Massa, so what are the other teams and drivers likely to do? McLaren appear on the surface to have it perfect, so I cannot see either of those guys moving. Mercedes also looks set, unless Nico gets tired of hiding in Schumacher's shadow or Michael gets tired of being beaten, but not likely at the moment. Ferrari looks like Alonso/Massa, and Renault and Kubica are doing nicely thank you, with Petrov doing well for a rookie, so I do not see a change there. Force India have Sutil and should be happy to do so. Not sure Adrian is, but where can he go? Webber's seat would suit(il) him nicely, but will it be open? Luizzi is probably in trouble, so Di Resta may get a seat before the year is out.
Williams may let Rubins go at the end of the year, but not sure Hulkenburg will be ready to lead. I love Sir Frank and Patrick Head and what they achieve, but they are not likely to be back at the front soon, so not sure who would take that seat. Torro Rosso's two drivers are both improving and at times getting amongst the bigger teams, so I would expect them to stay. Sauber is in trouble, de la Rosa will not last, but Kobayashi has some periods of good driving, and he is still learning so will probably survive, depends on who takes over the team. Then there are the three new teams, so none of the top drivers are going there yet, especially Webber. So where does that leave Mark? Maybe looking for a big paycheck in his final seasons? Nah, that's not his style.
If the drivers are not moving it seems some of the designers are. Lotus continue to steal personnel from Force India, so why would they bother to steal their design as Force India has alleged in a court action? This has been going on a while now, and there is obviously some story there, just not sure what it is. If Lotus stole Force India's design from the wind tunnel, then presumably it was this year's car, so why is Lotus not as fast as Force India?
We also see today that Red Bull is negotiating to extend Vettel's contract, which runs through 2012 already, to 2015. I said the other day that he is obviously the team's future, but what message does that send to Webber who is on a one year contract and no one seems in a rush to sign him for next year. Now, I don't know that Mark is not the one delaying this, and who could blame him? Are we going to see a repeat of last year when the World Champion took his Number 1 plate somewhere else?
That raises the question as to where would that be. As I wrote a few weeks ago, the silly season seemed to have started early, with all the rumors about Massa. I said at the time that it did not seem to make a lot of sense for Ferrari to bring in someone else, or why anyone would want to go there to be Alonso's number 2. Given the cars erratic performance I say again, why would anyone want to go there unless they are star struck by the name? It seems Ferrari are going to retain Massa, so what are the other teams and drivers likely to do? McLaren appear on the surface to have it perfect, so I cannot see either of those guys moving. Mercedes also looks set, unless Nico gets tired of hiding in Schumacher's shadow or Michael gets tired of being beaten, but not likely at the moment. Ferrari looks like Alonso/Massa, and Renault and Kubica are doing nicely thank you, with Petrov doing well for a rookie, so I do not see a change there. Force India have Sutil and should be happy to do so. Not sure Adrian is, but where can he go? Webber's seat would suit(il) him nicely, but will it be open? Luizzi is probably in trouble, so Di Resta may get a seat before the year is out.
Williams may let Rubins go at the end of the year, but not sure Hulkenburg will be ready to lead. I love Sir Frank and Patrick Head and what they achieve, but they are not likely to be back at the front soon, so not sure who would take that seat. Torro Rosso's two drivers are both improving and at times getting amongst the bigger teams, so I would expect them to stay. Sauber is in trouble, de la Rosa will not last, but Kobayashi has some periods of good driving, and he is still learning so will probably survive, depends on who takes over the team. Then there are the three new teams, so none of the top drivers are going there yet, especially Webber. So where does that leave Mark? Maybe looking for a big paycheck in his final seasons? Nah, that's not his style.
If the drivers are not moving it seems some of the designers are. Lotus continue to steal personnel from Force India, so why would they bother to steal their design as Force India has alleged in a court action? This has been going on a while now, and there is obviously some story there, just not sure what it is. If Lotus stole Force India's design from the wind tunnel, then presumably it was this year's car, so why is Lotus not as fast as Force India?
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