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RENAULT TO “BUILD TEAM AROUND KUBICA”
Posted on | May 11, 2010 | by | No Comments
Over the weekend I had a chance to chat at length with the new owner of the Renault F1 team, Gerard Lopez, who is a fascinating character. One of the world’s leading investors in technology companies, he was a founder investor in Skype and is bringing some fresh thinking to this sport.
I will post separately on the wider topics of our conversation, which include his plans for Renault, how he is helping F1 engage with the internet and mobile phones and a whole new business model for an F1 team.
But the eye catching headline from the chat was what he said about Robert Kubica, who is a possible Ferrari target for 2011.
Kubica is having a strong season in the Renault, with 44 points on the board in only the fifth fastest car. He had a second place in Australia, fourth in Malaysia and fifth in China.
Recently there have been a lot of rumours suggesting Ferrari is lining up a move for Kubica as a possible replacement for Felipe Massa. He is known to be a favourite of Sergio Marchionne, boss of Ferrari’s parent company FIAT.
I spoke to Kubica’s manager Daniel Morelli at the weekend and he said that they have not yet been approached by Ferrari, but I got the impression that they were expecting some contact and should Ferrari make an offer, this would give Kubica quite a tough decision,
When I spoke to Lopez, I asked him how he was going to hold on to Kubica and he made it quite clear that he would build the Renault team around Kubica, in much the same way as Ferrari was once built around Michael Schumacher,
“He’s a racer, he lives for racing not politics, ” he said. “Robert has a unique opportunity to build a team around him. Few drivers have the talent that he has to do it and few teams would do it with someone.
“If he feels that the team is going in the right direction to become world champions, which is our intention, then he has no reason to go somewhere else. We both know what we are talking about (partnering Alonso at Ferrari). He would start a 100 metre dash, 200 metres behind the line. I don’t know if he’s interested (in going to Ferrari) but he’s a young driver, so he has plenty of time. If we can provide him with a car and a platform to win then I think there is a high probability that he stays.
“Our objective is to ensure that he contributes as much as possible. In his previous team (BMW) one of the big issues with Robert was that he couldn’t communicate as he wanted because he feared the backlash. Here he is being motivated and pushed to speak as much as he can. It’s a good fit. I’ve never seen him smile as much as he does now.”
Renault proved as recently as 2006 that it has the ability to win races and championships and most of the people are the same, with the obvious exception of Pat Symonds and Flavio Briatore, who left the team after the Singapore crash scandal.
Lopez has noticeably restored the self confidence of the team after the scandal,
“The thing I’m proudest of is that this team has regained confidence to act as a constructor,” he said. “This team is proud to be Renault. It thinks for itself and acts for itself, it’s proud of itself and all that with the Renault name. I knew we could do it, but I didn’t know how quickly it would happen or how much.”
Lopez said that he encountered negativity in the early stages after the Singapore scandal when going in to see companies, “But it’s our job to make sure that we got rid of that,” he said. “The talent was always there. We arrived from the outside and people know us from other sectors and know what we do. We said that we want to do the same thing at Renault and they got it straight away.”
Drool1 a écrit:Il se sent bien chez Renault bob, tout est fait pour lui, si l'auto continue de progresser il restera!
Aller chez Ferrari c'est quand meme un gros risque , et puis il est jeune, il a encore le temp devant lui avant de se precipiter comme ca.
Il peut tres bien rester 3 saison chez Renault et aller ensuite chez Ferrari si ca le branche, d'ici la Alonso sera meme peut etre plus enclin a avoir un coequipier rapide si il a deja gagné des titres chez ferrari
Puis c 'est clair que si on perd Kubica c'est mort quoi, Ferrari a part racheter nos pilotes ils savent rien faire
Felipe Massa pourrait rejoindre Renault en 2011, selon le journal finlandais Turun Sanomat.
Nicolas Todt, le manager de Massa, a affirmé être en négociation avec deux écuries. Ferrari, son actuel employeur, mais aussi Renault, selon les informations de Turun.
Massa est chez Ferrari depuis 2006 mais son contrat arrive à terme avec l'année en cours. Dominé par Fernando Alonso en 2010, il pourrait être remplacé par Ferrari à l'occasion d'un échange avec Robert Kubica.
L'actuel leader du Championnat Mark Webber est lui aussi pressenti pour être le futur coéquipier d'Alonso.
"J'aime beaucoup Ferrari, où je suis apprécié et où je connais du monde", a déclaré Massa. "Mais il est toujours encourageant de savoir que d'autres écuries sont intéressées. L'objectif est de continuer avec Ferrari et si cela ne marche pas, on regardera ailleurs."
Source : ESPN F1
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