With F1 in it’s mid-season break, VegasInsider caught up with former Williams and McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya who commented on the situation at Ferrari and who should shoulder the blame.
Here’s a summary of what he said:
- Everybody blames Mattia Binotto but he’s not the one
“Mattia (Binotto) is not the guy with the strategy. Everybody blames him, but he is not the one.”
“I don’t think he would be the one saying, oh let’s put the hard tyre on. That is why you have strategists, and that is why you pay top people to make those decisions.”
“In Red Bull, it is not Adrian Newey, or Christian Horner making the decisions. It is the strategists that are making the decisions.”
- The TV makes us think Mattia Binotto, or Toto Wolff or Christian Horner have the final say in everything – it’s not
“But, it is not Mattia’s fault. It is whoever is in charge of strategy.”
“You know, that is the problem, in all these sports, you know, they look at Toto on the TV, they look at Christian Horner on the TV, and so on. They look at Mattia, but they are not the guys making the final decision of what tyre goes on the car.
“You know, they run the team as a whole.”
“It is like when you own, I don’t know, let’s call it a soda company, and you are not in charge of putting the cap on every bottle. And if a couple of caps come out wrong, you are going to get blamed for it, but it doesn’t mean you did it.”
- I don’t think Mattia Binotto will rejig his strategy team midway in the season
“Yeah, long-term, it is his responsibility. During the weekend it is not.”
“But, the people that are there are his responsibility 100%, or whoever he assigned to be responsible for.”
“No, I think they will have a good talk about it, I don’t think he is going to change the personnel mid-season.”
“I think the big thing there for me, is how they are going to address it, and how it is going to change.”
“I think they need to stop being so timid with their decisions and be a little more aggressive.”
Montoya was speaking to VegasInsider, and you can find the entire interview here.
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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