ispano6 wrote: ↑11 Oct 2018, 06:35
If Key was that far ahead in contracts with McLaren by the time it was announced he probably already tuned out or was tactically distracted by McLaren. That or he knew he would be at McLaren and it was in his best interest to ensure McLaren gets more prize money for him to work with. Not saying there was sabotage, but the ineffectiveness of updates, questionable strategy calls, car failures in the suspension and brakes seem to keep STR from converting the points they need to get ahead of Force India and McLaren. It would be telling if there are some engineers and mechanics that leave STR for McLaren. Newey didn't elaborate on what Key was negative about, but maybe they already felt like second fiddle to Marko, Horner and Newey. Marko also said Key wouldn't be released until 2020 and McLaren have nothing worth considering to offer up for Key's early release. I believe it is payback to McLaren for having announced Key's hiring.
It is pretty close to impossible for STR to beat McLaren this year. Better to look forward to next year in the RB15 with Verstappen leading the way.
I'm curious if Tanabe-san found out who complained about Honda's Parc Fermé change. I feel he might have a vendetta now and that to me is a plus. I'm sure he has an idea who it might be, most likely the person also pushing for dyno testing restrictions who seems to be flustered by Honda's aggressive dyno testing mileage. Such targeted inhibitors and scrutineering are nothing new to Honda, nor Redbull Racing for that matter. Victory will be much sweeter.
Ok, this is BS.
Key is a professional and competitive, he's not sabotaging STR. The "negativity" mentioned by Marko was over the idea of turning STR in a B-spec team, Key wanted to build his own cars and not be the guy who fills in the blanks on a Newey designed platform.
Red Bull does have a grudge against McLaren, that much is true, McLaren tried to force Red Bull's hand into releasing Key by making a public announcement while negotiations between the two teams were still ongoing.
Both teams want Key, he is very highly respected for what he did with Sauber and what's he's been doing with Toro Rosso despite the budget and 4 different engine suppliers in 4 years, the issue is that as this point he is well overdue for a move to a big team that can give him a proper budget, but as long as Red Bull has Newey the position Key wants is filled.
That plus Red Bull wanting to go the B-spec route reducing Toro Rosso's (and Key's) independence is why Key was interested in McLaren's approach.
