F1 Fanatic

The rumor around the paddock is that Mr. Michael, currently of the circle Williams, will be making his way to McLaren; to be announced soon. What do you folks think?

It’s the hottest rumor in the paddock right now; along with Costa to Mercedes; especially if you ask those who have paddock connections. And no matter how dominant or how pathetic 1 team is; it can never be attributed to a single man. Ever. It sounds cliche, but in Formula 1 it really is the case.

I certainly don’t think he was the (only) problem at Williams; same way I don’t think Adrian Newey is the (only) reason Red Bull is so dominant at the moment.

scarbsf1 mentioned it first – retweeted someone who tweeted him about it, then seemed to confirm it a few hours later.

either way, looks like mclaren will announce a new staff member today. he first thought it was chris dyer (also leaving ferrari), but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

and i think costa to mercedes is a done deal – it’s just waiting to be confirmed.

as for what i think, sam needs mclaren more than mclaren need him, imo. i’m not sure what role he’d fill there, unless they need an additional man to help distribute the workload pat fry handled previously.

Unless he’s taking a much much more junior position, I don’t see it as likely.
I don’t see McLaren as the kind of team that brings on people who have been stood down from their previous role due to lack of performance. They are able to attract the best from other teams.

Sam Michael will probably end up at one of the newer teams.

I suspect he’ll be a great insight to the workings of the Williams gearbox this year too

Williams’ problems began when they separated from BMW. That started a chain reaction of unfortunate events through which they;
- lost Mark Webber,
- took on Kazuki Nakajima,
- should’ve won the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008 after the whole Piquet debacle, but Renault weren’t stripped of that victory,
- invested a large amount of money into flywheel KERS in 2009 which I don’t think they ever used,
- had Nico Hulkenberg get a brilliant Pole Position in Interlagos last year and then promptly dropped him for a guy with less talent but more sponsors and
- generally struggled for money and sponsorship after the financial crisis.

To point the finger at Sam Michael for Williams’ downfall is just plain unfair.

I don’t think it would’ve made any difference because we only found out it was fixed a year later, but I still think they should’ve stripped Renault of the victory and given it to Rosberg if not purely out of symbolism.

I find it quite interesting that they’re keeping Sam away from technical design. His job is sporting and not technical.