I am constantly amazed at the petty nature of some of supposed leaders in F1. In previous posts, I have pointed out Mosley's tendency to use insult instead of reasoned argument when answering his critics; and Ecclestone's gift for monumentally stupid throwaway comments is well known. It is Flavio Briatore's angry outburst about the Honda moneys due from FOM that really takes the biscuit at the moment, however.
Flavio Briatore
FOTA members agreed a while back that the money due to Honda for participating in the sport last year should be paid to Brawn GP instead. This made a lot of sense, since Brawn was effectively the Honda team under a different name. But then the Flav decided that Brawn were doing altogether too well with their double diffuser (they were beating Renault, in other words) and the money should be withheld as punishment for such effrontery.
What bearing the performance of a team has in such matters is beyond me, but it all made sense to Flavio as his share of the money would help to pay for a double diffuser for Renault. In other words, any team that manages to come up with a design that beats the rest and forces others to copy should have to pay for its rivals to catch up. Which may be fair competition in Flavioland but sounds more like sour grapes to me.
Of course, as soon as money is mentioned, Bernie is there to see what is in it for him. Having noted that FOTA's unity on the payment had now been broken by Flavio's tantrum, he stepped in and declared that, not only would Brawn not get the money, nobody would.
So the Flav's childish outburst has achieved nothing of value to Renault, although no doubt he will chortle with delight at having deprived Brawn of a little extra cash. Meanwhile Bernie passes the money on to his employers, thus ensuring that it benefits only the shareholders of CVC Holdings rather than the sport. Never mind - at least the Flav's twisted version of honor is satisfied.
Say what you will about Ron Dennis, at least this kind of juvenile behavior was always beneath him. If he made an agreement, he stuck to it and would not back out if subsequent events proved it to have been against his own best interests. Perhaps that is why he was so detested in some quarters, his dignified (if wordy) statements so often showing up the tantrums of others for what they were: petty complaints motivated purely from self interest.
What surprises me about Briatore is that he does seem to be able to run a decent team effort in F1, in spite of his ridiculous capering for the press. He has built and held together enough good teams to have a reputation as an effective team leader. A large part of this has been his ability to recognize talent, employ it and then assist it to championships; Schumacher and Alonso are the obvious examples.
Even so, I sometimes wonder how embarrassing it must be for the more sensible members of the Renault team when the boss goes off on one of his rants. The quietly sensible Pat Symonds, for instance, must surely cringe at some of the Flav's wilder moments.
Meanwhile Ross Brawn maintains a politic silence on the matter of payments to his team. Since sponsors are apparently lining up to get their names on the BGP 001, it may well be that he does not need the FOM money anyway. With Bernie making snide remarks about vested interests in Ross' leadership of the FIA's Overtaking Working Group, the payment is hardly uppermost in Brawn's mind. It will not be Ross who points out that whoever leads the OWG, the same vested interests will apply, since the committee is formed of engineers from the F1 teams; it will be left to someone else to reveal Bernie's logic as the load of nonsense it is.
Oh, wait a minute - I've just done that, haven't I?