Motorsport Off Topic Thread

chrismscotland said:
There's folk leaving teams and moving all over the place at the moment; Audi joining has had an impact, Aston suddenly having cash to burn, etc.
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Didn't Newey point out that Redbull were becoming the butt of all jokes on the grid because of Horner and was partly the reason he left? Also I don't want to put two and two together but that seems like the reason for this other chap leaving after 20 years too. Why would he leave when he is at a top team and has been there for 20 years. I understand with Newey because of his position but not this guy.

It is also pretty obvious that the Verstappen family are becoming increasingly tired of all this too and he can go to anywhere he wants really.
 
adam cool dude said:
Everyone is leaving.
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So they should fire Toto too then. They haemorrhaged staff.

People change jobs, doesn’t mean you can’t replace them with equally competent people. Most of the people leave are getting promoted, which is a huge opportunity. Doesn’t mean the team they’re leaving is the problem.

The reason they’re sought after is because their current team has been/is good.
 
I think you have to bear in mind the context around this. He's moved to a position as 'Sporting Director' from 'Head of Strategy'. Red Bull have recently lost their Sporting Director (Jon Wheatley going to be Team Principal at Audi) and chose to restructure and replace that position with 'Head of Racing' and promote Gianpiero Lambiase to it.

This somewhat implies that Will Courtenay was unlikely to have much more of a career progression pathway at RBR.

I've seen it happen numerous times at work near the top of the 'promotion pyramid' - a new senior position appears as someone retires or moves on like 'Head of Department', a few internal 'Senior Managers' in that department go for it, some of the people who aren't successful then often leave shortly after because they see the door is effectively closed for their progression now for several years.
 
Kenai said:
I think you have to bear in mind the context around this. He's moved to a position as 'Sporting Director' from 'Head of Strategy'. Red Bull have recently lost their Sporting Director (Jon Wheatley going to be Team Principal at Audi) and chose to restructure and replace that position with 'Head of Racing' and promote Gianpiero Lambiase to it.

This somewhat implies that Will Courtenay was unlikely to have much more of a career progression pathway at RBR.

I've seen it happen numerous times at work near the top of the 'promotion pyramid' - a new senior position appears as someone retires or moves on like 'Head of Department', a few internal 'Senior Managers' in that department go for it, some of the people who aren't successful then often leave shortly after because they see the door is effectively closed for their progression now for several years.
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Come on, that doesn't fit into the Christian Horner being the root of all evil narrative that seems to exist around here.
 
Kenai said:
I think you have to bear in mind the context around this. He's moved to a position as 'Sporting Director' from 'Head of Strategy'. Red Bull have recently lost their Sporting Director (Jon Wheatley going to be Team Principal at Audi) and chose to restructure and replace that position with 'Head of Racing' and promote Gianpiero Lambiase to it.

This somewhat implies that Will Courtenay was unlikely to have much more of a career progression pathway at RBR.

I've seen it happen numerous times at work near the top of the 'promotion pyramid' - a new senior position appears as someone retires or moves on like 'Head of Department', a few internal 'Senior Managers' in that department go for it, some of the people who aren't successful then often leave shortly after because they see the door is effectively closed for their progression now for several years.
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Yeah I see it with retirement as you said but this isn't that. This is people at the top leaving in numbers.
 
adam cool dude said:
Yeah I see it with retirement as you said but this isn't that. This is people at the top leaving in numbers.
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It was an example to illustrate the point that people leave when it becomes clear there's no immediate progression pathway.

In this case, I think that's exactly what has happened.

Jon Wheatley left for a promotion to Team Principal (that would have needed Horner to leave Red Bull to achieve there).

His vacant job was restructured into something else and someone else promoted to that position.

What does that tell Will Courtenay about his chances of promotion to a more senior position at Red Bull? They've just become vanishingly small.

Newey is the odd one out because he's pretty much just got bored and wants to do something different, current politics potentially contributing to his decision.

Has anyone else particularly senior left Red Bull other than these three? I may have missed others.

Edit - as @Mesai points out, if we're saying the ship is sinking because of a few senior departures, Mercedes F1 is halfway to the bottom of the sea by now surely?

In the last couple of years they've lost their Performance Director, Driver Development Director, Chief Aerodynamicist, Chief Technical Officer and Chief Strategist, not to mention Lewis Hamilton himself.
 
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Kenai said:
Has anyone else particularly senior left Red Bull other than these three? I may have missed others.
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Not that I'm aware of; they tied down the rest of the senior technical guys like Pierre Wache, Paul Monaghan and Enrico Balbo.
Wheatley going isn't a huge surprise; recently teams seem to have been more readily willing to hire for other teams for Principal Roles with Audi, Williams, Ferrari and Alpha Tauri having done it in the last couple of years.
 
adam cool dude said:
Didn't Newey point out that Redbull were becoming the butt of all jokes on the grid because of Horner and was partly the reason he left? Also I don't want to put two and two together but that seems like the reason for this other chap leaving after 20 years too. Why would he leave when he is at a top team and has been there for 20 years. I understand with Newey because of his position but not this guy.

It is also pretty obvious that the Verstappen family are becoming increasingly tired of all this too and he can go to anywhere he wants really.
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Did you listen to the podcast interview when he said that? He clearly stated it was when he first moved to Red Bull and they were trying to root out the bad apples from Jaguar.
 
Kenai said:
It was an example to illustrate the point that people leave when it becomes clear there's no immediate progression pathway.

In this case, I think that's exactly what has happened.

Jon Wheatley left for a promotion to Team Principal (that would have needed Horner to leave Red Bull to achieve there).

His vacant job was restructured into something else and someone else promoted to that position.

What does that tell Will Courtenay about his chances of promotion to a more senior position at Red Bull? They've just become vanishingly small.

Newey is the odd one out because he's pretty much just got bored and wants to do something different, current politics potentially contributing to his decision.

Has anyone else particularly senior left Red Bull other than these three? I may have missed others.

Edit - as @Mesai points out, if we're saying the ship is sinking because of a few senior departures, Mercedes F1 is halfway to the bottom of the sea by now surely?

In the last couple of years they've lost their Performance Director, Driver Development Director, Chief Aerodynamicist, Chief Technical Officer and Chief Strategist, not to mention Lewis Hamilton himself.
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Mercedes most likely is halfway to the bottom and I would be surprised if they make it to the pointy end again any time soon. Mercedes are a bit in that no mans land like Williams was post 1998.
 
SDK^ said:
Diecast legends is good for new stuff
www.diecastlegends.com

Diecast Models - Minichamps - AUTOart - Norev - Spark

The world's number one seller of collectible model cars in both 1:18 scale and 1:43 scale. Huge stocks of diecast and resin model cars from Minichamps, Spark, Tecnomodel, Spark and many more
www.diecastlegends.com www.diecastlegends.com

Many of Hamiltons cars from previous seasons are long out of manufacturing now (Cars are always limited runs), so eBay, or other used market places, are your best source.
Prices can also be high : £300+ for each 1/18 model, or £120+ for hard to find 1/43 cars.

I bought a 1/43 car for all of Hamilton F1 seasons (from the test car in 2006 up to 2024) and it cost about £950
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maybe i dont need one for every year :p

1:43 scale £70!

i was thinking more like £20 per car. i know the detail wont be there.

looking at the Bburago
 
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