Posts 
Atom Date: July 10 2007
[ 
Mood: Embarrased ]
Mood: Embarrased ][ 
Currently: Reading The Science of Discworld by Terry Pratchett et al ]
Currently: Reading The Science of Discworld by Terry Pratchett et al ]Warning! Long post alert!
What has been suspected for a long time by many in the forums was confirmed this morning - Christijan Albers will not finish 2007 with Spyker. Granted, I thought Ralf Schumacher would be out of Toyota before this happened, but given Alber's recent well-publicised problems, including the now-infamous fuel-rig aero test.
That said, it appears that nothing Christijan did on the track contributed to his dismissal. According to the official statement, Michiel Mol decided on this course of action because "it enables Spyker F1 Ltd. to safeguard its strong financial footing needed to fulfil its technical and commercial goals." In other words, this is all to do with money.
Talk about washing your dirty linen in public!
Spyker are almost certainly telling the truth when they say money talked. For one thing, it is rarely in a team's interest to say in public that they cannot afford one of their drivers. It puts sponsors and suppliers alike on edge, and two things any team needs are confidently generous sponsors and suppliers. If sponsors worry that their investment is going to sink without trace, they are liable to abandon ship at an early opportunity. Suppliers that cannot assume payment of their services are less likely to extend the credit that teams often need to get from one month to the next.
In fact, I suspect that a sponsor lacking confidence may have been ultimately responsible for Christijan's exit. The sponsor in question is believed to be Mingya European Resort, which F1-Live.com thinks is over $1m in arrears. Obviously, this figure is unlikely ever to be confirmed, but it should be noted that this company is a Spyker sponsor as well as an Albers sponsor. This leads me to believe that Spyker sacked Christijan to wake Mingya up to its responsibilities.
This theory is not the only reason why I believe money rather than underperformance sealed Albers' exit. Spyker is F1's lowest-income team, even though it is a manufacturer squad. Recently, Spyker announced the car company could be de-listed from the Dutch stock exchange as a result of the current restructuring. This restructuring is necessary because Spyker is a very small manufacturer with a precarious financial balance. In fact, unconfirmed rumours persist to the effect that Spyker F1 is propping up the road car operation. While I sincerely hope this is not the case, my gut feeling tells me this situation may indeed be the case.
If this rumour is only slightly true, there would be a lot of pressure for Spyker F1 to raise more money than it actually needs for itself. Since Spyker F1 intended to be funded largely by Spyker Cars, this is a serious problem. Imagine, for example, what would happen if Toyota F1 were asked to send money over to the Toyota Motor Company instead of receiving the expected money from there. You would probably see the team principals pull out and sell the team off pretty sharpish (ensuring that they themselves either went with the company or got a profitable nest egg for retirement purposes out of the deal).
It is a mark of the Spyker management's tenacity that they have not gone down that route. However, the team cannot run on fresh air, and sacrifices are being made as a result. Though sacking Albers probably wasn't as much of a sacrifice as Mol believes it to be.
As for replacements, I believe the monetary basis for Albers' dismissal itself reduces the possible candidates to three - van der Garde, Karthikeyan and Klien. Of the three, van der Garde has tested for Spyker despite a start-of-season tussle with Super Aguri over the guy signing two contracts. Jean Alesi may famously have done the same when he signed for Williams and Ferrari for 1991 (Ferrari sent Williams a car in apology when Jean eventually chose the latter), but this does not mean van der Garde is as fast. However, he seems destined to find this out the hard way, by being slower than Sutil in a Spyker...
Karthikeyan would probably be able to muster more money than van der Garde, but he's at Williams as secondary tester and he doesn't appear to have made recent contact with Spyker. However, this could be because he knows the team well from his Jordan stint in 2005 and doesn't have to be obvious to get the initial negotiations done. Remember he came out of the blue to get the 2005 drive as well. Whether Frank Williams would allow this without financial compensation is another matter, and Spyker F1 is probably not in a position to pay a transfer fee. Maybe next year, Narain...
As for Klien, he's been spotted at the Spyker factory, and something tells me this wasn't for a social chit-chat. In fact, it could have been for a seat fitting, in which case he might already have the seat subject to financial considerations. However, I have my doubts as to whether he has the necessary backing to do the rest of the season. A test at Spa this week, however, is entirely possible, so don't be surprised if you see him there then. This will put more pressure on van der Garde to meet or exceed Spyker's demands if he wants his "charmed life" reputation to remain intact. What this will do to Klien's long-term Honda prospects remains a mystery - and given Honda's reluctance to allow Anthony Davidson to do more than test for other teams, Klien may not get a choice about his seat for the rest of the year.
I will probably write more on Albers later on. However, my fingers are getting tired, so I think I'll just let you read this post and comment on it
What has been suspected for a long time by many in the forums was confirmed this morning - Christijan Albers will not finish 2007 with Spyker. Granted, I thought Ralf Schumacher would be out of Toyota before this happened, but given Alber's recent well-publicised problems, including the now-infamous fuel-rig aero test.
That said, it appears that nothing Christijan did on the track contributed to his dismissal. According to the official statement, Michiel Mol decided on this course of action because "it enables Spyker F1 Ltd. to safeguard its strong financial footing needed to fulfil its technical and commercial goals." In other words, this is all to do with money.
Talk about washing your dirty linen in public!
Spyker are almost certainly telling the truth when they say money talked. For one thing, it is rarely in a team's interest to say in public that they cannot afford one of their drivers. It puts sponsors and suppliers alike on edge, and two things any team needs are confidently generous sponsors and suppliers. If sponsors worry that their investment is going to sink without trace, they are liable to abandon ship at an early opportunity. Suppliers that cannot assume payment of their services are less likely to extend the credit that teams often need to get from one month to the next.
In fact, I suspect that a sponsor lacking confidence may have been ultimately responsible for Christijan's exit. The sponsor in question is believed to be Mingya European Resort, which F1-Live.com thinks is over $1m in arrears. Obviously, this figure is unlikely ever to be confirmed, but it should be noted that this company is a Spyker sponsor as well as an Albers sponsor. This leads me to believe that Spyker sacked Christijan to wake Mingya up to its responsibilities.
This theory is not the only reason why I believe money rather than underperformance sealed Albers' exit. Spyker is F1's lowest-income team, even though it is a manufacturer squad. Recently, Spyker announced the car company could be de-listed from the Dutch stock exchange as a result of the current restructuring. This restructuring is necessary because Spyker is a very small manufacturer with a precarious financial balance. In fact, unconfirmed rumours persist to the effect that Spyker F1 is propping up the road car operation. While I sincerely hope this is not the case, my gut feeling tells me this situation may indeed be the case.
If this rumour is only slightly true, there would be a lot of pressure for Spyker F1 to raise more money than it actually needs for itself. Since Spyker F1 intended to be funded largely by Spyker Cars, this is a serious problem. Imagine, for example, what would happen if Toyota F1 were asked to send money over to the Toyota Motor Company instead of receiving the expected money from there. You would probably see the team principals pull out and sell the team off pretty sharpish (ensuring that they themselves either went with the company or got a profitable nest egg for retirement purposes out of the deal).
It is a mark of the Spyker management's tenacity that they have not gone down that route. However, the team cannot run on fresh air, and sacrifices are being made as a result. Though sacking Albers probably wasn't as much of a sacrifice as Mol believes it to be.
As for replacements, I believe the monetary basis for Albers' dismissal itself reduces the possible candidates to three - van der Garde, Karthikeyan and Klien. Of the three, van der Garde has tested for Spyker despite a start-of-season tussle with Super Aguri over the guy signing two contracts. Jean Alesi may famously have done the same when he signed for Williams and Ferrari for 1991 (Ferrari sent Williams a car in apology when Jean eventually chose the latter), but this does not mean van der Garde is as fast. However, he seems destined to find this out the hard way, by being slower than Sutil in a Spyker...
Karthikeyan would probably be able to muster more money than van der Garde, but he's at Williams as secondary tester and he doesn't appear to have made recent contact with Spyker. However, this could be because he knows the team well from his Jordan stint in 2005 and doesn't have to be obvious to get the initial negotiations done. Remember he came out of the blue to get the 2005 drive as well. Whether Frank Williams would allow this without financial compensation is another matter, and Spyker F1 is probably not in a position to pay a transfer fee. Maybe next year, Narain...
As for Klien, he's been spotted at the Spyker factory, and something tells me this wasn't for a social chit-chat. In fact, it could have been for a seat fitting, in which case he might already have the seat subject to financial considerations. However, I have my doubts as to whether he has the necessary backing to do the rest of the season. A test at Spa this week, however, is entirely possible, so don't be surprised if you see him there then. This will put more pressure on van der Garde to meet or exceed Spyker's demands if he wants his "charmed life" reputation to remain intact. What this will do to Klien's long-term Honda prospects remains a mystery - and given Honda's reluctance to allow Anthony Davidson to do more than test for other teams, Klien may not get a choice about his seat for the rest of the year.
I will probably write more on Albers later on. However, my fingers are getting tired, so I think I'll just let you read this post and comment on it