www.davidcameron.it/bar/bar-resurrection-interview-with-david-richardsThe days of entrepreneurial management in Formula One are over. In the past men like Ken Tyrrell and Walter Wolf, self made men who succeeded in the outside world and who had a passion for motor racing, were able to come to the sport and succeed with a combination of street cunning and money, but those days are gone for good. For a recent example of this truism you need look no further than the ignominious decline of the formerly talismanic Jordan team, led by their charismatic ring leader Eddie Jordan through good times and, latterly, bad. Jordan was always seen as a fun place to be, the rock and roll team that thought it could succeed by turning up and out-promoting the rest of the teams rather than looking at the processes of the successful and emulating them.

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From the air Malaysia looks like the largest palm plantation in the world. From the track to the airport to the outskirts of the city there is nothing to see but freeway and row after endless row of palm trees for as far as the eye can see. On the ground the environment changes as you close in on the city, becoming darker and greener as the jungle seems to take over with large buildings interspersed sparsely among the greenery, like the few remaining teeth in an old man's head. The heart of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, is amazingly modern; only the constant herds of Malays on noisy, buzzing motor scooters, holding enormous political flags in one hand and patting on the cars with their other, differentiates the city from so many others around the world   Continue 

Craig Pollock made three notable deals in his period at the top with BAR. First, and most controversially, he brought Jacques Villeneuve into the team. From a public relations point of view it was shrewd, although controversy rages to this day about the integrity of a team principal appointing a driver he personally manages. The second beneficial deal was to steer Honda's return to the sport in which they had so notably succeeded during the eighties and early nineties, although Pollock was unable to reap the rewards of this deal during his stewardship. The third, and some might say most successful, deal was to appoint Geoff Willis as technical director at BAR shortly before his removal as team principal.

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Christian Klien was a busy man in Melbourne. Being new to the circus will always bring a lot of attention - everybody wants to get to know the new guy in town, to be able to package up his strengths and weakness and proclaim loudly 'this is who he is', and with Mark Webber under constant bombardment by his home media in his first year as the official lead driver there was always going to be a lot falling onto the Austrian's shoulders.

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"It's glorious here," he responded. "I think there's something wrong with you for leaving, quite frankly. I think they probably kicked you out for looking like a tramp, and you're just being disparaging as revenge." I had grown a beard and long hair in the off season; I looked like Formula 3000 in comparison to John One, and he was friend enough to mock. John One is Welsh and wears it like my Australianism, like a negative into a positive in the face of soft ridicule.
"Have you seen the average Australian male? We're all scruffs."
"Which explains the low birthrate here."   Continue

Giorgio Pantano is a very happy man. It might seem a statement of the obvious to say that someone who has achieved a lifetime ambition would be pleased with himself, but compared even to the other drivers who have found a seat in the big game this year (Christian Klien and Gianmaria Bruni) he seemed almost goofily ecstatic. Pantano (pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable; PAN tano) looked to be in a blissful state of disbelief all weekend in the Melbourne paddock, a permanent smile creasing his face as he looked at anyone who walked near him, and a had a hello for anyone who returned his glance. Considering his past, he's earnt the right to be pleased.

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