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Minardi chief Paul Stoddart ran his Formula One team by remote control at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday after being grounded by illness in Australia.
The Australian aviation entrepreneur was halfway through a week-long course of antibiotics in Melbourne as his drivers prepared for the fifth round of the season at the Circuit de Catalunya.
"It hasn't been the best of weekends," Stoddart told Reuters by telephone. "It's the first time I've missed a race in five years and one of only a handful I've missed in 10.
"I've been doing an awful lot of faxes, phone calls and e-mails. We're okay. I'm just frustrated more than anything else."
Team manager and sporting director Massimo Rivola and chief engineer Andy Tilley provided the leadership with guidance from team founder Gian Carlo Minardi.
"I've been speaking to the drivers each day but it's completely different on the telephone," said Stoddart.
The Australian was in Melbourne last week promoting his new budget airline. He said doctors had advised him not to fly to Spain but he would be back for the Monaco Grand Prix on May 22.
"I'll be in Monaco if I have to swim," he said.
I like the part with help from GCM - but the question begs, was GCM in Spain or not? If not why?
Comments
from the Minardi vs Jordanski thread: ;)
Anyone else hear the rumour that Eddie Irvine is thinking about buying Minardi? I first read about the rumour on F1-Live, which I know anything from them doesn't mean much, but on f1racing.net it says Irvine was at the paddock for Imola and Barcelona. Must be some reason he has been at the paddock for 2 races, as long as he has the money I'm all for it.
Thanks for the correction and it is good to see that PS sent the MAN to Spain!
NO FACE to be in a race that lasted only inches of a 62 lap race. :hehe:
Confucious say: Man with hand in pocket, feel cocky all day!
Just love those Chinese sayings.
It is only allowed to blame Stoddart for Minardi's ills.
Everyone else is on the "To be Canonised' list.
Mind you, way back in the late eighties when the Americas Cup was being contested in Fremantle, WA, there was a joke running around about the Italian team and why they were so easily beaten. It went like this:
How can you tell the Italians are going to tack?
They throw their cigarettes over the side.
[Edited on 11/5/2005 by Lease]
2 days.
Leadership.......well there are many styles I guess.
[Edited on 11/5/2005 by MCSF]
He delegates the daily shit to other people under him !!!!;)
[Edited on 11/5/2005 by Minardus]
who owns TOIT?
If we take a new engine in Monaco and finish the race, it will have many mileage and needs to be run at the next race.
If we keep the Barcelona engines for Monaco, they will be "fresher" because of our cars only doing ca. 10 laps in Spain.
They don't have some much mileage and have more possibilities to stay in one piece during the Monaco GP!!!!
Maybe we could get Irvine to do a few laps in the new car?
Would be worried if Irvine was to buy the team, as he well maybe loaded but not enough to take us to the next level and would probably require more sponsorship than we have now which is not going to be easy to achieve.
On the engine front Minardus you make a very good point, but surely it is risky as if others fail and we are on for points then our engines blow we will rue it!
Shame Sato and BAR ain't there that would have been about four cars out already!! Remember last year!
So, the less mileage on it, the better to use it the next GP as well !!!!!
He has several flaws but without Stoddie there would be/will be no Minardi. That is the bottom line.
I doubt anyone would say such a thing about Mr. Minardi.
Identify the objective
list the steps to achieve the goal
accomplish the task
What I won't cop, is this constant sniping that Stoddart is in some way his inferior, or that he is holding the team back. Nothing that I have read, or heard, paints Mr. Minardi as anything other than an Italian version of Stoddart. Or if you prefer, the other way around.
So the shop-floor boys made a pun to Ger? Maybe they should carry better short-term memories. A recent quote from Luca Zama (original, and continuing team member) "I think that he (GCM) can be too passionate. His language is not so technical. I think in some discussions he trusted some engineers too much!" Bit similar?
Lionise GCM by all means for his passion, committment, and some great past results. He deserves it. Compliment the team for their dedication to the tasks at hand. Even recall the brilliance of some past team members for their innovation and cutting-edge technical capability.
But if you lot are going to slag Stoddart as you continue to do, then understand that you are wasting your time. At the end of the day, he's just the head clown in a circus of buffoons in comparison to the rest of F1.
So get real guys. Minardi has neither the money - NOR THE TALENT to compete very far up the grid. They're fun to support, but they would do no better without Stoddart in the current climate and team configuration.
Lets have creative criticisms and not just slagging.
Let me just get that part straight.