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Sam Michael will join McLaren as sporting director from 2012 onwards, it was announced on Tuesday. Michael resigned from his current post as Williams’ technical director in May and his last race with the British team will be the forthcoming Singapore event later this month.
Interesting..he came to F1 and built a decent rep but I sense he had pretty much zero support/average people behind the scenes to work with at Williams. McLaren will be a very different experience
In comparison to McLaren, Williams now seems like quite an old fashioned operation.
That came out of the blue.
Some people would point squarely at Michaels for Willams' demise/doldrums. At least he's not the day-to-day stuff so it seems Michaels' strength is managing a race weekend.
Maybe losing manufacturer-backing, resulting in a lack of budget and not-so-good drivers has a bit more to do with that.Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
Not me. It looks like he was highly rated around the paddock and thats born out by the fact that he was snapped up pretty quickly by McLaren. If he was thought by those in the know to be responsible for Williams' decline he would be unemployed like the Jaguar duo, Pitchforth and Purnell.Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
I assume the exact role at Williams didn't suit him too well and that's why he was struggling and failed to show his best qualities. The role of a technical director was perhaps too much for him. But Sam could be really good in a smaller role, so we will see. For instance was it him, who was Frentzen's race engineer in 1999?
Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
He joined in 2001 when Williams won 4 races after 3 years of nothing much happening at Williams, then 2002, 2003 and 2004 they were a front running team.
Only in 2005 did the real decline start.
He started off as Senior Operations Engineer (similar to Sporting Director) then became TD in 2004 when Patrick Head demoted himself to concentrate on the factory side of things.Quote:
Originally Posted by aki13
To the casual observer Sam's record at handling a midfield team doesn't look particularly good.
Is it so, yes I think I remember that post of yours.Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
I don´t trust Sam since that time he was involved in a public fight with his paddock members, the fists was hanging in the air.
You're dead right. McLaren were not the only team who were keen to get Sam Michael on board either. To singularly point to him as the reason for William's downfall is completely inaccurate and a total fallacy. I point it to the men in charge, Patrick Head or Frank William's. It's their outfit. Once they see something going wrong it is up to them to make changes fix it. They have let their team slip into chaos. It shouldn't have taken them to the brink of joining the bottom three teams to make the changes they have now made.Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
Same Michael's is a highly qualified professional and this is not alone a good career move for him but also a great addition for McLaren.
In the mid-2000s the chassis and aero weren't particularly cohesive.Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
Perhaps he wasn't cut out to be TD. If he is that talented as some people perceive him to be then why is he back in his old/similar position? It says it all really - back to being a nanny to engineers/team and not a senior technical position.
We'll just have to wait for positions he gets for further judgement.
I think this is a great move for Sam and McLaren.
I see a golden era looming for McLaren but fear for the future of the Grove team.