While announcing the new drivers for the 2014 F1 season Caterham owner Tony Fernandes delivered his under-performing team a sharp and direct ultimatum: Get better or I’ll quit!
“My message to the 250 people here [at the factory] is we have to go for it this year,” Fernandes said. “This is it—the final chance. We’ve given you the best infrastructure, the best potential drivers but it is now down to all of you to go and do it.”
And then came the threat that the Malaysian entrepreneur is willing to leave F1.
“If we’re at the back I don’t think I’m going to carry on,” claimed Fernandes. “Nothing is set in stone but after five years with no points there is a limit to one’s patience, money, motivation, etc, so it’s an important year.
“I need to feel like we’re going somewhere. If I feel we can compete, then great but if we’re not competing then we have to seriously examine ourselves and ask ‘does this make sense?’ If we’re not competing, two seconds behind everybody else, then we haven’t made any progress.”
So, no pressure on F1 rookie Marcus Ericsson and the returning Kamui Kobayashi to deliver some strong results, then.
Fernandes also took the opportunity to pass comment on the introduction of double-points status for this year’s final race in Abu Dhabi.
“That is a fake fix,” Fernanded added. “What’s better is to solve the issue and make the racing more compact so a Sauber, a Lotus or a Force India could cause an upset.
“That’s what people like to see, what people like to watch, and that is what is missing in Formula One. The gaps between the haves and the have-nots has made racing boring.”
[Soure: The Guardian]
