Q+A Colin Kolles on Spyker deal
Spyker MF1 Racing team principal Colin Kolles was the man who put together the deal with Spyker, and he will stay on in his familiar role under the new ownership. We asked him about the sale of the team and the plans for future.
"This is not my way. I’m more motivated than before. OK, I’ve had no holidays for two years. At Monza I didn’t sleep at all on Thursday night, I slept for two and a half hours on Friday, and then five hours on Saturday! But I wasn’t feeling tired, because I’m motivated."
Was there ever a scenario where you would not stay in charge after the takeover?"From the beginning they said the condition is that you stay, and I’m very happy to do so!"
How did it all start?"I first contacted Michiel Mol after Bahrain, after I was told he always wanted to be part of an F1 team. And then we proceeded from there."
How did Spyker become involved?"The idea just developed. I think it’s a brilliant idea. Everybody is talking about manufacturers, and now we have one behind us! It’s really good news. I knew about Spyker from reading magazines, and I saw the car running around the track at Monaco three or four years ago. When I first saw it I thought, ‘What is this car?,’ because it looked really nice – the craftsmanship, how it was built. It had a modern retro look, with nice elements from good cars of the past, all hand made with real materials. They’re serious people, they are nice people, and they like motor sport."
It’s six months since Bahrain, so has it been difficult to put it all together?"Obviously, if it takes you six months! But you have to go for it, because nothing is impossible. There were so many hurdles, believe me. It’s related to a lot of things, otherwise it wouldn’t take six months if everything was smooth."
Spyker is a publicly listed company. Did that complicate matters?"Due diligence took a long time, because you have a public company, and everything has to be clear. It’s completely different from selling to a private individual, so you a have to go through certain processes and so on. I think that we did a good job."
You also had to make sure that everybody was happy, in that you had to do the best deal for Mr Shnaider and the team at Silverstone?"And also for Michiel Mol, and for Spyker. This was my role, basically."
What will Spyker gain from its involvement in F1?"They are small car manufacturer making very good quality cars. They are really something special, the cars. I think this puts the name Spyker at the top of the list. It’s a small company, but they can grow, and this is basically the reason for doing this. It’s not the aim for Spyker to be as big as BMW, but it can show that it is serious."
The team has made good progress this year. Do you now have the backing to really move forward?"This has been discussed, and there are certain plans and a certain strategy. We will have Mike Gascoyne, who is a future investment, and we will have the wind tunnel upgrade, which has already started. We want to upgrade our performance, and to do this, we will take all the necessary steps."
What does Mike bring to the team?"Experience. James Key remains the technical director, and Mike and James have to give the team a push. This is a very clear commitment. They’ve known each other for a long time, from Mike’s Jordan days. We’re a team, and we have to bring it forward."
Obviously the staff is smaller than it was a few years ago. Is there now an opportunity to expand again, without going crazy?"We’ve added already, but like you say, we are not going to go crazy. I don’t think by adding a lot of people you find success. We definitely have a different agenda to bigger teams. The expansion will be very selected, and it has to be efficient."
What are your plans for an engine?"There are still two to three options!"
Is Ferrari a real possibility?"There is a Ferrari connection because people who are shareholders in Ferrari are also shareholders in Spyker. We are always in contact with Ferrari."
Should we assume that Christijan Albers will drive next year? After all, he’s Dutch!"Regarding his plans, he will announce them very soon."
Are you looking for drivers who can bring a budget?"This is always a point that I have to defend! For me Christijan, for example, is not a pay driver. He’s been more successful than a Mark Webber in the past. If Vodafone is coming to Ferrari with $40m because they are running Michael Schumacher, is he a pay driver? Our drivers are getting salaries, so for me they are not pay drivers. If there are sponsors associated with them who want to join the drivers, it’s a different matter. We’ll try to find the best way, for sure. We’ll get the quickest driver, and if we get a $40m sponsor with him it’s even nicer, because then we can improve the team even more!"
Finally, are you disappointed that you were not able to attract support from Russia, even with a Russian-entered team?"I’m not at all disappointed. It was a marketing orientated idea. If it was right or wrong is a different matter. I think if we had another five years, this idea would maybe work out. But for the moment, it didn’t work. We still managed to improve the team, and Mr Shnaider invested the money to improve the team. This is the positive thing, because there definitely is an improvement."
Source Midlandf1: interview by Adam Cooper
