Discussion
Oh and I nearly ran EJ over a couple of years ago in Monaco. I was pulling out of a side street and EJ was on a pushbike crossing the main road but not looking where he was going. The bike was going forward but his head was fully turned to the side. A bit of a metaphor for his character I think!
spunkytherabbit said:
So just take EJ with a pinch of salt. Along with his continued relevance.
Didn't he break the Lewis to Mercedes story way before anyone else? He still has good connections. Like Joe Saward, he talks his mind.Eddie is definitely a character. And a team boss of the 90's with wheeling and dealing in the background...
I'd love to have a dinner with him and Bernie, but I wouldn't want to work for either of them.
cuprabob said:
Vaud said:
I'd love to have a dinner with him and Bernie, but I wouldn't want to work for either of them.
You would end up paying the bill 
Vaud said:
Didn't he break the Lewis to Mercedes story way before anyone else? He still has good connections. Like Joe Saward, he talks his mind.
Eddie is definitely a character. And a team boss of the 90's with wheeling and dealing in the background...
I'd love to have a dinner with him and Bernie, but I wouldn't want to work for either of them.
Oh god I agree and I read the guys book too. Yes he did break the Lewis to Merc news. He, Bernie and Flav would make an amazing dinner party and I would LOVE to attend. That particular lie and the gravity of it too really stuck with me though. It doesn't take away from his legacy or his time in the sport. Like Bernie though, and Flav I guess too, the relevance now isn't what it was and EJ lack credibility and integrity at times as a result. That's what I don't like and the Massa lie is a big example of that.Eddie is definitely a character. And a team boss of the 90's with wheeling and dealing in the background...
I'd love to have a dinner with him and Bernie, but I wouldn't want to work for either of them.
spunkytherabbit said:
But he also lies through his teeth about what he claims to know to make himself either 1) still look relevant or 2) more informed than he is. Remember, before jumping to his defence, when Massa got hit by the flying suspension spring, Jordon stood there live on TV and said 'A little bird has just told me he has a bit of a knock on the head but is okay' and DC stood there and called him out RIGHT there saying he'd not seen a single person say anything to him. Jordon stood by his lie and turned out Massa was unconscious in the car on the circuit.
So just take EJ with a pinch of salt. Along with his continued relevance.
To be fair its live TV and the F1 paddock is like the women's toilet with rumours bouncing all over the place and Eddie is well, Eddie. Others will disagree but to me he's a loveable idiot!So just take EJ with a pinch of salt. Along with his continued relevance.
Remember, Eddie broke the story that Schumi was making a comeback with Merc and most people thought Eddie was coming out with BS.
tigerkoi said:
I don’t know if anyone else noticed Jonathan Neale briefly interviewed at the track on either C4 or Sky (I flick between as Sky seems too smug lately and today everything was “let’s-promote-our-pal-Jenson-as-a-telly-presenter-day-today” nausea).
I took it as an interesting cameo as I didn’t think he was much of a go-to media person these days, but happy to be corrected. I guess because it’s Silverstone that most of the team would be there?
Anyway, my perception was that his views were straight and direct, ending with something along the lines of, “...we’ve got a lot of work to do, we need to show humility and do our talking on the track.”. Or words closely to that effect.
As the COO of the wider group, likely responsible for the more back office-y but important stuff that makes the whole company tick-tock I thought it interesting that he was also fronting off to the media (multiple voices now) with a perceptibly lesser Brown presence today and with words that effectively come across as ‘we need to publically shut up’. My guess is the dynamic amongst the top couple of layers there is very fluid.
<snip>
I share your impressions about Neale. It has been a while since I watched the Amazon documentary about McLaren in the lead up to the 2017 season, but wasn't there a scene in which Neale addressed the factory staff apologising about the performance of the car? I found that pretty interesting, I half-expected Brown to do the addressing. I took it as an interesting cameo as I didn’t think he was much of a go-to media person these days, but happy to be corrected. I guess because it’s Silverstone that most of the team would be there?
Anyway, my perception was that his views were straight and direct, ending with something along the lines of, “...we’ve got a lot of work to do, we need to show humility and do our talking on the track.”. Or words closely to that effect.
As the COO of the wider group, likely responsible for the more back office-y but important stuff that makes the whole company tick-tock I thought it interesting that he was also fronting off to the media (multiple voices now) with a perceptibly lesser Brown presence today and with words that effectively come across as ‘we need to publically shut up’. My guess is the dynamic amongst the top couple of layers there is very fluid.
<snip>
Perhaps, the original approach was a bit 'too many chefs' and the wrong man is in the hot seat now. Time will tell.
It's just a huge shame for McLaren, this year and next would have been the ideal time to catch up to the top teams with the regulation changes next year, if only they had started this year on the front foot.
Vaud said:
Didn't he break the Lewis to Mercedes story way before anyone else?
Yes, and the VW buy-out of Red Bull one, and the Mercedes pulling out of F1 at the end of the 2017 season one...Most of us can make guesses and get some of them right. My source (guess) tells me Riccardo has resigned for Red Bull but they aren't announcing it yet to keep the other teams guessing, and that Ferrari have made the decission to replace Kimi with Leclerc for next season.
Edited by //j17 on Monday 9th July 13:44
tigerkoi said:
I don’t know if anyone else noticed Jonathan Neale briefly interviewed at the track on either C4 or Sky (I flick between as Sky seems too smug lately and today everything was “let’s-promote-our-pal-Jenson-as-a-telly-presenter-day-today” nausea).
I took it as an interesting cameo as I didn’t think he was much of a go-to media person these days, but happy to be corrected. I guess because it’s Silverstone that most of the team would be there?
Anyway, my perception was that his views were straight and direct, ending with something along the lines of, “...we’ve got a lot of work to do, we need to show humility and do our talking on the track.”. Or words closely to that effect.
As the COO of the wider group, likely responsible for the more back office-y but important stuff that makes the whole company tick-tock I thought it interesting that he was also fronting off to the media (multiple voices now) with a perceptibly lesser Brown presence today and with words that effectively come across as ‘we need to publically shut up’. My guess is the dynamic amongst the top couple of layers there is very fluid.
A few years ago I remember a post-Canadian GP interview when he said he was aware of McLaren's corporate image and wanted to move away from it. A shame we don't here more from him then again if an F1 journalist quotes from a source at McLaren...I took it as an interesting cameo as I didn’t think he was much of a go-to media person these days, but happy to be corrected. I guess because it’s Silverstone that most of the team would be there?
Anyway, my perception was that his views were straight and direct, ending with something along the lines of, “...we’ve got a lot of work to do, we need to show humility and do our talking on the track.”. Or words closely to that effect.
As the COO of the wider group, likely responsible for the more back office-y but important stuff that makes the whole company tick-tock I thought it interesting that he was also fronting off to the media (multiple voices now) with a perceptibly lesser Brown presence today and with words that effectively come across as ‘we need to publically shut up’. My guess is the dynamic amongst the top couple of layers there is very fluid.
//j17 said:
Yes, and the VW buy-out of Red Bull one, and the Mercedes pulling out of F1 at the end of the 2017 season one...
If my memory serves me right, Eddie said that Mercedes were going to.lose the Petronas sponsorship imminently.Edited by //j17 on Monday 9th July 13:44
I do.like Eddie but in small doses
Car-Matt said:
If McL can qualify better there would be a case for them challenging for 4th in the constructors based on yesterday. Good race pace and able to overtake a Haas at Silverstone at the end for P8. Not bad for a team in huge turmoil and no wind tunnel correlation. It shows the potential is there if they eventually get their shizzle together.
thegreenhell said:
They dropped from 5th to 7th in the WCC over the last two races. They really need Vandoorne to start picking up points as well as Alonso if they want to challenge for 4th, or even scrape 5th.
I think both of you are being optimistic. Mclaren should be able to keep Toro Rosso and Sauber behind, and should be able to overhaul Force India who are in a dire financial situation and have already sprung the white flag for 2018 car development.However I see no compelling evidence to suggest that Mclaren will be able to outscore Haas or Renault for the remainder of the season. Haas have on the whole underperformed this season with lots of points thrown away in Australia and only one point scoring driver until Austria but are looking strong mid-season, Renault have a useful points margin and Sainz has settled in and is performing.
I believe Alonso is flattering the car, particularly on Sundays, in a way Stoffel is not able to. The car doesn’t appear to be improving compared to the competition.
Tough weekends for Mclaren coming up in Belgium and Italy. The mixture of circuits in the second half of the season are no more favourable to Mclaren than those in the first half.
Someone I know very well was watching the qualifying with a Mclaren technician. While watching the Williams not doing brilliantly and one of the commentators saying that something along the lines of "that's the problems you face when you hire pay drivers," the technician said something very interesting...
"Hopefully that's not a trap we'll fall into next year..."
Are they really that desperate?
"Hopefully that's not a trap we'll fall into next year..."
Are they really that desperate?
cuprabob said:
//j17 said:
Yes, and the VW buy-out of Red Bull one, and the Mercedes pulling out of F1 at the end of the 2017 season one...
If my memory serves me right, Eddie said that Mercedes were going to.lose the Petronas sponsorship imminently.Edited by //j17 on Monday 9th July 13:44
I do.like Eddie but in small doses
Dr Z said:
I share your impressions about Neale. It has been a while since I watched the Amazon documentary about McLaren in the lead up to the 2017 season, but wasn't there a scene in which Neale addressed the factory staff apologising about the performance of the car? I found that pretty interesting, I half-expected Brown to do the addressing.
Perhaps, the original approach was a bit 'too many chefs' and the wrong man is in the hot seat now. Time will tell.
It's just a huge shame for McLaren, this year and next would have been the ideal time to catch up to the top teams with the regulation changes next year, if only they had started this year on the front foot.
Completely agree - you guys know more than me but (going by the documentary) seeing them wait for the Honda engine and with camera crews watching the grand reveal, trying to fire it up before the Barcelona Test seemed from the outside to be too ‘just-in-time’ and without any slack in the schedule. You’d hope that say 1/2 or 3/4 through the 2nd season a shadow team would be stood up to start thinking/work on anything to bring in timelines for the 3rd season as much as possible. But it seems like everything, the whole operation was still running into year 3 with Honda and the teams metabolic rate was still at “steady, we know what we’re doing, we’ll do that, then this, Honda fly over on this date, then following week we fly out.”. In any other place with two years of significant underperformance already, submit a plan like that with no give or ability to accelerate and you’d be shot. Perhaps, the original approach was a bit 'too many chefs' and the wrong man is in the hot seat now. Time will tell.
It's just a huge shame for McLaren, this year and next would have been the ideal time to catch up to the top teams with the regulation changes next year, if only they had started this year on the front foot.
On Neale, yep, he did address the troops. I think Brown not doing it is likely to timelines. The doc seems to track early events after the ousting of Dennis, so Brown was still just the ‘marketing guy’ and Neale more than likely entrusted by Ojjeh and Al Thani to be the resident adult as the dust settled. I think. Bloody painful programme to watch though. I’m staggered that any corporate would allow that to be the representation of them on watching final edit. Could have been a reason why the Comms guy (Bishop) left.
Stan the Bat said:
cuprabob said:
//j17 said:
Yes, and the VW buy-out of Red Bull one, and the Mercedes pulling out of F1 at the end of the 2017 season one...
If my memory serves me right, Eddie said that Mercedes were going to.lose the Petronas sponsorship imminently.Edited by //j17 on Monday 9th July 13:44
I do.like Eddie but in small doses
THANKS to everybody for the discussion, very interesting. Found this online article from a couple of days ago.
It is worth reading as it confirms what some of the discussions on here.
Today's press conference with Zak Brown, Vijay Mallya, Guenther Steiner and Claire William
NEWS STORY
06/07/2018
https://www.pitpass.com/62290/British-GP-Friday-Pr...
It is worth reading as it confirms what some of the discussions on here.
Today's press conference with Zak Brown, Vijay Mallya, Guenther Steiner and Claire William
NEWS STORY
06/07/2018
https://www.pitpass.com/62290/British-GP-Friday-Pr...
The Hypno-Toad said:
Someone I know very well was watching the qualifying with a Mclaren technician. While watching the Williams not doing brilliantly and one of the commentators saying that something along the lines of "that's the problems you face when you hire pay drivers," the technician said something very interesting...
"Hopefully that's not a trap we'll fall into next year..."
Are they really that desperate?
Would a technician be that close to any decisions? Or just passing comment? "Hopefully that's not a trap we'll fall into next year..."
Are they really that desperate?
Vaud said:
The Hypno-Toad said:
Someone I know very well was watching the qualifying with a Mclaren technician. While watching the Williams not doing brilliantly and one of the commentators saying that something along the lines of "that's the problems you face when you hire pay drivers," the technician said something very interesting...
"Hopefully that's not a trap we'll fall into next year..."
Are they really that desperate?
Would a technician be that close to any decisions? Or just passing comment? "Hopefully that's not a trap we'll fall into next year..."
Are they really that desperate?
Although they are in a bad place, they are nowhere near as bad as Williams. Look how quickly Fred Vasseur and money seem to have turned Sauber round.
tigerkoi said:
Stan the Bat said:
cuprabob said:
//j17 said:
Yes, and the VW buy-out of Red Bull one, and the Mercedes pulling out of F1 at the end of the 2017 season one...
If my memory serves me right, Eddie said that Mercedes were going to.lose the Petronas sponsorship imminently.Edited by //j17 on Monday 9th July 13:44
I do.like Eddie but in small doses
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