Emmcee 0 Report post Posted November 14, 2014 Wow this has come out of left field if its true that is. http://www.gptoday.com/full_story/view/507766/Sainz_emerges_as_a_contender_for_second_McLaren_race_seat/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Insider 0 Report post Posted November 14, 2014 Embarrassing for serious Macca fans. Taking sweets from babies for Nando's retirement plan. Why don't they try Harrison Newey? He's only 16 but maybe his Dad will fix the car. Never seen anything so desperate from a top team. To be fair, if I were Jenson I'd be off now. If they drop both JB and K-Mag they will lose huge amount of credibility plus a huge chunk of their fan base. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jem of the Shire 0 Report post Posted November 14, 2014 That's the weakest story I've seen in ages, and GPToday does publish a lot of cr4p. The entire basis for it is that Eric Boullier hinted that he's talking to spanish sponsors, even then he didn't mention Sainz's sponsor. And that's it! Non-story would be an understatement. Sean I believe mclaren have already taken a significant dent in their fanbase in recent months Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted November 14, 2014 I've gotta admit Ron and Eric are doing a fantastic job at generating so much press for such a poor team/car - the should be bankers!. Sadly they have no way whatsoever of matching the hype. They've spent the last six months banging on about potential drivers and have barely addressed the technical shortcomings. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Insider 0 Report post Posted November 14, 2014 I am surprised the Bahraini majority shareholders are allowing Ron to continue. He was given a brief to bring major sponsors on board before the season's end and he has failed dramatically. Boullier is a clown. I worked with people like him at Renault - 100% yes men. At least Whitmarsh had the team and drivers behind him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted November 14, 2014 Ohh gosh, whitmarsh had no backbone not only that, came accross as an absolute tool. I agree boullier and Dennis have failed but whitmarsh would have been worse. There basically at rock bottom, why not give Gerhard Berger a go. Can't do much worse can he? Afterall he ran toro rosso when they were at there best and I think Gerhard was partially responsible for that. Signed some good drivers in liuzzi and Vettel. I think button staying on would be there safest option, but I think he has done a deal with WEC or he has a contract on his coffee table just waiting for his John Hanc#ck. Mark webber said on Jensons twitter page "just sign the sportscar contract and been done with it, it will be mega competing with or against you" sounds like he has more than one option there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jem of the Shire 0 Report post Posted November 14, 2014 If I was new to F1 I'd think Ron was a tool as well, and they've done themselves quite a bit of damage PR-wise with this driver fiasco. But, Ron's record as team boss (and I know he isn't technically TP any more) is pretty incredible and when mclaren have slumped they have a history of getting right back to the top quite soon. Ron may not have brought a sponsor yet but he's bagged a major engine partner, and there's rumour of Santander rejoining. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Insider 0 Report post Posted November 14, 2014 Ohh gosh, whitmarsh had no backbone not only that, came accross as an absolute tool. I agree boullier and Dennis have failed but whitmarsh would have been worse. There basically at rock bottom, why not give Gerhard Berger a go. Can't do much worse can he? Afterall he ran toro rosso when they were at there best and I think Gerhard was partially responsible for that. Signed some good drivers in liuzzi and Vettel. I think button staying on would be there safest option, but I think he has done a deal with WEC or he has a contract on his coffee table just waiting for his John Hanc#ck. Mark webber said on Jensons twitter page "just sign the sportscar contract and been done with it, it will be mega competing with or against you" sounds like he has more than one option there. Whitmarsh was a tool but he signed Jenson, [who took them and himself to 2nd in the WDC/WCC with two DNFs and 43 points ahead of Lewis is his second season there], defended the team against ridicule and shielded the drivers from criticism. If they hadn't gone radical with the car, [Ron's idea] I am sure JB would have been close to another WDC. Ron turned the board against MW to regain the reins of the F1 team and **** it up completely. None of this will end well. Unless the 30H is a zipper right out of the box and Jens gets to p**s on Merc's parade, I don't see the point in him being there for one or two more frustrating years. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrisbaneAndy 0 Report post Posted November 14, 2014 Hmmmm, Ron Dennis bringing Honda back to F1 as an exclusive PU supplier to McLaren is not my idea of c#cking things up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Insider 0 Report post Posted November 15, 2014 Hmmmm, Ron Dennis bringing Honda back to F1 as an exclusive PU supplier to McLaren is not my idea of c#cking things up. That deal was done by Whitmarsh, Andy and five years in the making. Anyway, I'm talking about the race team itself. For all his pontificating about people making a bigger effort, they are still nearly a second of the pace. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted November 15, 2014 I doubt whitmarsh would have the links to Honda that Dennis would have from the previous relationship they shared in the senna/Prost era. I can remember Dennis quite cosy with the Japanese Honda reps. Iam I wrong? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrisbaneAndy 0 Report post Posted November 15, 2014 No, you are not, but when you want to perform a character assassination on someone, the facts do not matter. McLaren are improving, Button's performance at Interlagos demonstrates that. Did Whitmarsh engineer that, I wonder? The one thing that Whitmarsh seemed to lack was strength of character. Ron Dennis has that in spades. My belief is that McLaren has has lacked strong leadership in recent years. My expectations for the future are high, for one reason only, Ron Dennis. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rodders47 2 Report post Posted November 16, 2014 I'm not sure everyone working for McLaren would agree with you on that one Andy, Ron Dennis can be a very hard master to work for, from what I have heard. What does strike me as being strange is this secret driver line up? Like why? or is it that they don't have a driver line up yet? does seem strange to me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2014 Maybe Ron Dennis has no say over it, it might be coming from Honda themselves, could be part of the deal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrisbaneAndy 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2014 There is probably some truth in that, Honda want a superstar. I agree, Rodders, he is almost certainly not popular, a very hard man. I like that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Insider 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2014 Until the boardroom coup last year, Ron had no sway over the F1 team. He did manage to have the team fined $100m on his watch previously and lose all their WCC points into the bargain. Hard man or idiot? Of course he had contacts at Honda and he may have been the middle man for a while but Whitmarsh sought the link and I have it on good authority. On the other point, Honda have publicly stated that the driver choice is entirely McLaren team business. I have nothing personal against Mr Dennis, I just think he's a poor man manager. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrisbaneAndy 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2014 Those statements are inaccurate. The vendetta against Dennis is very sad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2014 Yeah whats all this hate towards him? Yeah I think he is an idiot but he is damn good at his job. All the championships, he made Mika hakkinen and kimi Raikkonen. Edit - and if he does have to be replaced, why not give Gerhard Berger a go? Can't be worse than whitmarsh. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrisbaneAndy 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2014 McLaren were well and truly in the doldrums when Dennis joined in 1980 and took over. Four years later McLaren won the WDC and WCC. McLaren have won approximately 24% of the Grand Prix they have ever entered, despite a dry spell under Whitmarsh. He turned McLaren into an international brand, developed some fantastic drivers, as WebRic says, and is worth half a Billion dollars. What an idiot! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maure 1 Report post Posted November 17, 2014 Years, years back, Ecclestone was asked about RD's inferiority complex and he replied with something to the effect of "in his case, he really is inferior". And that was before RD was caught lying to him and everyone else in 2007 and then tried to blame everyone around him for it. There is a reason why RD is generally both despised and pitied at a personal level around the circus. He is a critically flawed man with very, very serious limitations. This is not to say he has no qualities. It is that those qualities are in no way whatsoever redeeming. None. Regarding Sainz, he's been doing well enough. No reason for him not to test... for RBR, btw. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted November 17, 2014 Well that's it isn't? Who will pilot the third car? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrisbaneAndy 0 Report post Posted November 17, 2014 Jealousy is such a negative emotion. The villains in that case were Stepney, Coughlan and Alonso. Once Dennis knew of the breach, he reported it to the FIA, who responded by fining McLaren $50M (not $100M, it was revised). The former two were responsible for transferring the information, very clumsily, I might add. The latter threatened to blackmail Dennis, whose response was transparent and honest. The only thing that Dennis did wrong was trust his employees. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted November 17, 2014 He would've know about the Ferrari data. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrisbaneAndy 0 Report post Posted November 17, 2014 If so, why did he report it to the FIA when he found out? If that had been the case, Mosley would have hunted him down and had him banned from the sport. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maure 1 Report post Posted November 17, 2014 Evidence. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites