Post by QPR Report on Mar 18, 2009 7:26:17 GMT
Obviously talking about Formula One, but perhaps QPR fans should pay heed and damper expectations of big club spending on players.
Ian Parkes/PA Sport - ERA OF EXCESS MUST END, WARNS BRIATORE
If Flavio Briatore is to be believed, Honda would still be around in Formula One today if his words had been acted upon much sooner.
Renault team principal Briatore has a point at least as he has long been a campaigner for change within F1, either to reduce costs or to improve the show.
The problem for Briatore is he has often been a lone voice in the wilderness, with his playboy lifestyle at odds with those who have motor racing coursing through their veins.
It is arguably why, up until recently, former McLaren team boss Ron Dennis was unable to take the flamboyant, opinionated Italian seriously.
With his flowing silver hair, perma-tan and blue-tinted sunglasses, Briatore does not come across as your archetypal F1 guru.
His background hardly lends itself to the sport either. In his early years he was a ski instructor, restaurant manager and then travelling insurance salesman prior to joining forces with Luciano Benetton, with the two men then building up a clothing empire.
It was not until 1988 that he finally stepped into F1 having previously proclaimed his lack of interest in the sport, taking up the role of managing director with the Benetton racing team.
Within seven years he had played his part in helping Michael Schumacher become a double world champion, with the German winning the first two of his seven titles in 1994 and 1995.
A decade on, and he repeated the back-to-back feat at Renault with Fernando Alonso, who is expected to be a frontrunner again over the course of the coming season.
In many respects, it is hard to ignore Briatore, even though there have been those who have over the years, arguably to their cost.
With F1 trying to find its feet in the financial downturn, perhaps people should have paid more heed to his suggestions for change years ago.
"I was always pushing for a reduction in costs, and now it looks like everyone has my idea," exclaimed Briatore, now 58.
"If we had done that five years ago then maybe Honda would still be in business. It is as simple as that.
"I was pushing for the reduction in costs, not for me, but for the environment of F1.
"For five or six years, I said at every presentation that we are spending too much.
"It makes no sense to have 1,000 people helping to put two cars on the grid. F1 needs to be a centre of profit, not a centre of cost.
"If your company makes profit, it doesn't matter what company you have, you will stay in the market and survive forever.
"But it's very difficult to survive if your goal is to lose money."
It is why Briatore maintains he has always been prudent at Renault, even though there were many who questioned their viability prior to Honda's demise.
"You guys (the media) always thought Renault had a problem, but in the end it was Honda that stopped," said Briatore.
"You never asked them about money. Now they are not there any more, so why not go ask somebody else? I promise you someone else is in more difficulty than we are.
"I have always done what I believed was good for the performance of the car, spending money in proportion with what I felt was right to improve."
Perhaps Briatore's views will be taken more seriously in future, although how long he will remain in F1 is open to debate as it was suggested earlier this year he was ready to quit.
Briatore insists he is here to stay - for now - as he is eager to play his part in nursing the sport through its current trauma.
"I believe we are living in a very crucial moment in Formula One," added Briatore.
"This crisis we have, I believe, is something that makes everyone think.
"So what I want is to make sure we have done what we need to do to give F1 the possibility to survive.
"But we need to change the business, and as I have stated, instead of being a centre for costs, it should be a centre for profit.
"I believe we have a responsibility to the people working for us to give them a future."We have never had a moment like this in history, and I want to be a part of this changing F1.
"Whatever it takes I will do it, and after that I will see."
www.sportinglife.com/others/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=others/09/03/18/AUTO_Formula_One_Briatore.html
Ian Parkes/PA Sport - ERA OF EXCESS MUST END, WARNS BRIATORE
If Flavio Briatore is to be believed, Honda would still be around in Formula One today if his words had been acted upon much sooner.
Renault team principal Briatore has a point at least as he has long been a campaigner for change within F1, either to reduce costs or to improve the show.
The problem for Briatore is he has often been a lone voice in the wilderness, with his playboy lifestyle at odds with those who have motor racing coursing through their veins.
It is arguably why, up until recently, former McLaren team boss Ron Dennis was unable to take the flamboyant, opinionated Italian seriously.
With his flowing silver hair, perma-tan and blue-tinted sunglasses, Briatore does not come across as your archetypal F1 guru.
His background hardly lends itself to the sport either. In his early years he was a ski instructor, restaurant manager and then travelling insurance salesman prior to joining forces with Luciano Benetton, with the two men then building up a clothing empire.
It was not until 1988 that he finally stepped into F1 having previously proclaimed his lack of interest in the sport, taking up the role of managing director with the Benetton racing team.
Within seven years he had played his part in helping Michael Schumacher become a double world champion, with the German winning the first two of his seven titles in 1994 and 1995.
A decade on, and he repeated the back-to-back feat at Renault with Fernando Alonso, who is expected to be a frontrunner again over the course of the coming season.
In many respects, it is hard to ignore Briatore, even though there have been those who have over the years, arguably to their cost.
With F1 trying to find its feet in the financial downturn, perhaps people should have paid more heed to his suggestions for change years ago.
"I was always pushing for a reduction in costs, and now it looks like everyone has my idea," exclaimed Briatore, now 58.
"If we had done that five years ago then maybe Honda would still be in business. It is as simple as that.
"I was pushing for the reduction in costs, not for me, but for the environment of F1.
"For five or six years, I said at every presentation that we are spending too much.
"It makes no sense to have 1,000 people helping to put two cars on the grid. F1 needs to be a centre of profit, not a centre of cost.
"If your company makes profit, it doesn't matter what company you have, you will stay in the market and survive forever.
"But it's very difficult to survive if your goal is to lose money."
It is why Briatore maintains he has always been prudent at Renault, even though there were many who questioned their viability prior to Honda's demise.
"You guys (the media) always thought Renault had a problem, but in the end it was Honda that stopped," said Briatore.
"You never asked them about money. Now they are not there any more, so why not go ask somebody else? I promise you someone else is in more difficulty than we are.
"I have always done what I believed was good for the performance of the car, spending money in proportion with what I felt was right to improve."
Perhaps Briatore's views will be taken more seriously in future, although how long he will remain in F1 is open to debate as it was suggested earlier this year he was ready to quit.
Briatore insists he is here to stay - for now - as he is eager to play his part in nursing the sport through its current trauma.
"I believe we are living in a very crucial moment in Formula One," added Briatore.
"This crisis we have, I believe, is something that makes everyone think.
"So what I want is to make sure we have done what we need to do to give F1 the possibility to survive.
"But we need to change the business, and as I have stated, instead of being a centre for costs, it should be a centre for profit.
"I believe we have a responsibility to the people working for us to give them a future."We have never had a moment like this in history, and I want to be a part of this changing F1.
"Whatever it takes I will do it, and after that I will see."
www.sportinglife.com/others/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=others/09/03/18/AUTO_Formula_One_Briatore.html