Two stories have dominated the F1 headlines this week: the WMSC hearing of McLaren's defense to the charge of bringing the sport into disrepute and the apparent departure from and then return of Scott Speed to the Toro Rosso team. Debate regarding the WMSC's decision continues but, just to wrap up my posts on Speed (The Trouble at Toro Rosso and Silly Season Tensions), a final look at the story would not go amiss.
Scott Speed
Probably all observers (including myself) thought that Scott was effectively out of STR after hearing of Tost's reported assault on him at the European GP and the American's subsequent statements to the press. It came as some surprise, therefore, to learn that he attended the Mugello test as scheduled and that Tost declared that Scott would drive for the team in the forthcoming Hungarian GP. Yet even in Adam Cooper's report of his interview with the young driver, in which Scott declared that no amount of money would lure him back to the team, there was a hint that things were happening; the interview was conducted during Scott's drive to Mugello for the test, leaving one wondering why he should be on his way there at all.
Scott's father gave the clue to what was really happening at the time. He told SpeedTV that "things were happening behind closed doors" and, presumably, Scott was on his way to Mugello in case a solution was arrived at. The comment about money was almost certainly made in the heat of passions re-aroused during Scott's account of the events at the Nurburg.
Obviously, some agreement has been achieved. We can speculate on how this happened but will probably never know the full story; it seems likely that the bosses of the parent team, Red Bull, who are also Speed's sponsors through their youth program, had something to do with it all, however.
Whether Scott sees out his contract for the rest of the year remains to be seen. Personally, I hope he does for he has developed beyond his team mate, Tonio Liuzzi, and regularly turns in good performances when the car allows it. At the Mugello test, Speed put in better times than Liuzzi's on both Wednesday and Thursday, in spite of being handicapped by the tensions of preceding events and a very painful back.
It may be that the saga will do some good in the end. Scott's STR bosses, Franz Tost and Gerhard Berger, may think twice before criticizing their drivers in future and they might concentrate more on the team's real problems as a result. And there is no doubt that the upset has raised Speed's profile immensely; the general feeling in the F1 forums has been one of approval that Scott should have stood up to such unfair treatment and many are re-assessing his abilities as a driver. No longer do I hear the oft-repeated charge that "the only thing wrong with STR is its drivers".
Just to illustrate how unfair it is to blame Speed for STR's lack of results this year, here is a quick rundown of his races so far:
Australia: Qualified 18th, retired in the race thanks to a puncture
Malaysia: Qualified 17th, finished 14th
Bahrain: Qualified 19th, taken out by Button in the race
Spain: No time in qualifying as the gearbox failed, tire failure in race
Monaco: Qualified 18th, finished 9th
Canada: Qualified 16th, taken out by Wurz in the race
USA: Qualified 20th, finished 13th
France: Qualified 15th, DNF gearbox failure
Britain: Qualified 15th, racing accident with Wurz
Europe: Qualified 18th, spun off in downpour
Scott Speed
Probably all observers (including myself) thought that Scott was effectively out of STR after hearing of Tost's reported assault on him at the European GP and the American's subsequent statements to the press. It came as some surprise, therefore, to learn that he attended the Mugello test as scheduled and that Tost declared that Scott would drive for the team in the forthcoming Hungarian GP. Yet even in Adam Cooper's report of his interview with the young driver, in which Scott declared that no amount of money would lure him back to the team, there was a hint that things were happening; the interview was conducted during Scott's drive to Mugello for the test, leaving one wondering why he should be on his way there at all.
Scott's father gave the clue to what was really happening at the time. He told SpeedTV that "things were happening behind closed doors" and, presumably, Scott was on his way to Mugello in case a solution was arrived at. The comment about money was almost certainly made in the heat of passions re-aroused during Scott's account of the events at the Nurburg.
Obviously, some agreement has been achieved. We can speculate on how this happened but will probably never know the full story; it seems likely that the bosses of the parent team, Red Bull, who are also Speed's sponsors through their youth program, had something to do with it all, however.
Whether Scott sees out his contract for the rest of the year remains to be seen. Personally, I hope he does for he has developed beyond his team mate, Tonio Liuzzi, and regularly turns in good performances when the car allows it. At the Mugello test, Speed put in better times than Liuzzi's on both Wednesday and Thursday, in spite of being handicapped by the tensions of preceding events and a very painful back.
It may be that the saga will do some good in the end. Scott's STR bosses, Franz Tost and Gerhard Berger, may think twice before criticizing their drivers in future and they might concentrate more on the team's real problems as a result. And there is no doubt that the upset has raised Speed's profile immensely; the general feeling in the F1 forums has been one of approval that Scott should have stood up to such unfair treatment and many are re-assessing his abilities as a driver. No longer do I hear the oft-repeated charge that "the only thing wrong with STR is its drivers".
Just to illustrate how unfair it is to blame Speed for STR's lack of results this year, here is a quick rundown of his races so far:
Australia: Qualified 18th, retired in the race thanks to a puncture
Malaysia: Qualified 17th, finished 14th
Bahrain: Qualified 19th, taken out by Button in the race
Spain: No time in qualifying as the gearbox failed, tire failure in race
Monaco: Qualified 18th, finished 9th
Canada: Qualified 16th, taken out by Wurz in the race
USA: Qualified 20th, finished 13th
France: Qualified 15th, DNF gearbox failure
Britain: Qualified 15th, racing accident with Wurz
Europe: Qualified 18th, spun off in downpour