Comunicati Stampa - Formula 1 is a team sport, part 1

Formula 1 is a team sport, part 1

Season 67 will mark my 40th as an MRC F1 team manager. Through this process, I have experienced lots of situations, feelings, and emotions. I have been lucky to share time (sometimes more, sometimes less than I had wished) with lots of other players. And I have had some of my best and worst moments in this game.

Most of you will know me as the Pegaso guy. The one who is constantly promoting the Flying Horse in one way or another, attempting to honour what I consider the biggest chance Spain ever had of having a competitive car brand. Sadly, I have to tell you that the hopes and dreams of one of the most brilliant and fascinating engineers of the 20th century were burdened by the last dictatorship we have had. For them, Wifredo Ricart's creations were nothing more than a political propaganda machine designed to counteract the isolation they had caused themselves.



However, I started as the Ferrari team manager for my first nine seasons. Let's be clear: that was nothing other than a disaster. I inherited the leadership of a sinking boat after a French-Slovak civil war, which the latter won, and in a very Slovak way, they taught me how to manage an F1 team. Once they left, with a Spanish ownership majority and a few real-life Tifosi in our team, we considered that Ferrari didn't deserve to be at the bottom of the grid, and we sold the name to maxodent, who I consider JordanF1's biggest nightmare ever.

I consider myself a lover of democracy, and even if JordiMontané, felson, and I had control of a majority of the team, the team's shareholders chose the new identity. You all know the result of that vote. Funnily, and in contrast to the story I've told in previous paragraphs, the Pegaso brand allowed us to escape isolation from the rest of MRC, at least, through beltmann. The results spoke for themselves: we were actually feeling competitive for the first time, and that was shown in season 39, where we achieved our first pole, our first podiums, and our first-ever race win thanks to Marc Vilanova. I also felt that was reflected in the state of our finances, which I still conserve. For those curious, this is how F1 team budgets looked in the early days of Season 40.



That season also marked the beginning of the new engine composition: instead of just one 'big' component, it was split into the four real-life components. With a high budget, it was a great chance to keep progressing. However, I don't know what was in my mind at that time, but Pegaso completely bottled it. We completely underestimated costs, and we had a terrible engine, which we had to redevelop from scratch, only to get just A- quality. That made us lose momentum, three seasons and, worst of all, it made me lose a lot of my motivation.

But this can be better explained if I correct myself from saying "us". And that is because I was the only man in charge of the Spanish team, which had too many shareholders who didn't know what their purpose was. At some point in the season 41-49 engine cycle, the main project of our community, which took us three years to achieve, was just becoming a burden and a lost cause for me. I just kept doing the same things running the team, but I didn't like what I was doing. Everyone was busy, and even if some tried to help me, I couldn't find a proper way for them to do it.

Although, in retrospect, I guess I was just mentally blocked.

Part 2 is coming out later today.