rffp wrote:Second, they both deserve to have their butts kicked! These guys snatched the berths of possibly more competent entrants who could actually give a better chance to Bruno Senna or even spare us from seeing drivers being pulled out of the motor-netherworld.
I'm sorry, but you're missing the point here. Campos aren't failing because they were never prepared in the first place. Campos are failing because they grossly over-estimated the he public's desire to see a Spanish team and the corporate desire to sponsor one. They set an operating budget of forty-eight million Euros, and have failed to meet it. Lotus have an operating budget of fifty-five, so do you seriously expect me to beleive that seven million Euros is the difference between success and failure in a sport where teams have spent four hundred million dollars in a season and walked away from it with just ten points to their credit? And if so, how do you explain Virgin's position, given that they're shaping up just as well as Lotus is despite pledging to work on "less than forty million Euros"?
Adrian Campos wanted a Spanish racing team, which seems sensible given that the country is undergoing the throes of Alonsomania. But it's called Alonsomania - not Spanishdrivermania - for a reason: they care about Alonso. There are three Spanish drivers on the grid this season, but Jaime Alguersuari and Pedro de la Rosa both got the meanest fraction of press coverage that Alonso does. Campos expected Spanish support, and has gotten virtually none. The only major deal we know of is an arrangement with the Murcia regional government to establish a permanent base in the region, and it's only worth three million Euros. There is simply no interest from Spanish sponsors, especially considering that Spain has not endured the global recession very well. To make matters worse, Campos signed Bruno Senna for free in the hopes that his name could attract Spanish and Brazilian sponsors, but no-one has bitten. Even Senna's personal sponsor, Embratel, is unwilling to lend their name to the team.
Campos is not failing because the FIA chosethe wrong team. In fact, on paper, Campos was probably one of the strongest candidates: Campos himself is a former driver - no other prosective principal was - and he has run a highly-sucessful team in the open-wheel racing series considered second only to Formula One and he comes from Spain, which, as stated, is experiencing its own Formula One rennaisance. But the team has been constantly and consistently mis-managed. Not only did they over-estimate the publi and corporate support for the team, err in signing Senna for nothing, but they have failed to secure the likes of Vitaly Petrov and Pastor Maldonado despite both drivers having over ten million Euros - a good 20% of the team's operating budget - at their disposal. They didn't "steal" the grid slots from anyone. Campos won a place on the grid on their merits, but have since proven to be unwilling or unable to handle the corporate reality of the sport.
) of respect after all.
