Poll: What do you think of Windsor now?

I have no idea what PW's intentions really were, but he has always reminded me of virtually every politician on the face of the earth...

 

Windsor is the same supercilious twit he's always been- "plus que ca change . . ."

 

+1 I agree with Mr. Schwartz. I always thought as Andreas that Windsor was a major league putz and nothing changed for me. Shame though about the whole debacle.

 

No. He was only the face.

 

Thank you.

 

Peter Windsor was the team boss and therefore ultimate responsibility lies with him for the success or failure of the USF1 endeavor. Again as I have stated, he is aware of the reputation of the individuals in F1 since it is such a cottage industry. He knew of Ken Anderson's weaknesses and still entered into business with him. Not only was he the public face but the team director as well. The ball falls in his lap.

If you do not agree with my opinion that is fine. We will have to respectfully agree to disagree on this issue.

Frank


Peter Windsor
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Peter Windsor

Born Peter David Windsor
April 11, 1952 (1952-04-11) (age 57)
England
Nationality Australian
Peter David Windsor (born April 11, 1952 in Reigate, Surrey, England)[1] is the Sporting Director of the US F1 Team[2] and a former Formula One journalist and reporter. He was brought up in Australia, but now has residences both in London and Sydney.

Windsor started his journalism career at the now defunct monthly magazine, Competition Car. He was the motorsport editor for the British weekly magazine Autocar from the late 1970s until 1985, and was lauded for his Grand Prix reports.

In 1985 Windsor became sponsorship manager at Williams. He then worked as general manager at Ferrari, only to return to Williams as team manager in 1991. Windsor has won five awards for his writing, and most of his early television work has taken place with networks of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. From 1998 to 2000, Windsor was the on-location reporter for FSN's Formula 1 coverage. He then joined Sky Sports as a pit reporter on their F1 Digital + package. He also worked as a pit reporter for the American Broadcasting Company's coverage of the 2002 United States Grand Prix. He also returned to WilliamsF1 as the narrator of the museum in the team's Interactive HQ website.

Shortly before the start of the 1986 season, Windsor was in an automobile accident when the car he was riding in with Frank Williams crashed on the way from the Paul Ricard Circuit in southern France to the Nice airport, causing Windsor minor injuries but leaving Williams, who was driving, paralysed.[3]

Windsor carried out on-location reports from Formula One venues for Speed; in contrast to SPEED F1 coverage team colleagues Bob Varsha, Steve Matchett, and David Hobbs, who covered the races from the studio, Windsor traveled to the various race venues to provide interviews with drivers and other F1 personnel during the race weekend. After the 2006 season this role increased in prominence with Speed's addition of a live camera on the pre-race grid, where Windsor wandered the grid to conduct pre-race interviews with drivers, race engineers, managers, team principals, FIA personnel and visiting celebrities. He also frequently chimed in during the race with his own analysis.

For several seasons Windsor was also the moderator for Formula One's post-qualifying and post-race press conferences. He handed the interviewer's microphone to James Allen from the 2009 British Grand Prix due to a concern over a potential or perceived conflict of interest as a future team boss;[4] but returned to the interview room at the 2009 Italian Grand Prix. He also did reports and phones in from the pitlane before the start of each race for Network Ten (ONE) Australia's coverage.

Peter Windsor was Grand Prix Editor of F1 Racing magazine, for which he wrote race reports, feature articles, and 'The Friction Circle' column.

He has spoken out against making changes to Formula 1 to improve the quality of racing by making overtaking easier. He said in 2007: "I would change nothing. I think F1 is fantastic as it is. If you want to watch a million meaningless overtaking manoeuvres and lots of shunts go and watch NASCAR or bikes or IRL or something."[5]

On February 4 2009, it was reported Windsor and engineer/designer Ken Anderson are to head an American entrant into the 2010 Formula One season called Team US F1. Their application was formally accepted by the FIA on June 12 2009.[6] Windsor's role will involve team management and driver development and selection.[2]

 

In its desperation to attract small teams that wouldn't stand up to it the way the manufacturers did the FIA opened the door allowing USF1 entre' and credibility they never could have earned otherwise.

 

Yes and is he any worse than the 'villain' Flavio?? Ive spent time with Peter in the paddock. Never a problem, polite and enlightening. A normal human in a cut throat dirty biz. He is no different than most others.
Too bad it didnt work out. He is no different than others who wish to have a team. He is looking for the moment when it will take and hold. The US market is the mystery, unconquered one for F1. Someday something will work out.

 

Sad but true...

It is unfortunate that politics trumps ability at times...

 

People have always scrambled to get into racing and the sport has always had its share of characters. We've all heard the stories of young drivers and teams doing whatever necessary to get a start and that's been part of the charm. David vs. Goliath. Thing is this time around its Goliath using the hopefuls for his own purposes.
It brings to mind a line from "The Maltese Falcon" with Humphrey Bogart where the Sam Spade character says that he has no problem with a thief, its a cut-rate thief that he objects to.

 

tifosi12:

I checked that my sentiments have not changed, since you didn't have a category like this:

Windsor is substantially responsible for the side show of USF1 that has damaged the ability of future, and more capable, people in the US to break into F-1.

(But, you knew this would be my post, didn't you?)

 

I have nothing to say...I'm humbled!

Forza Fernando !

 

Windsor is like a pile of dung. If you don't fancy the stench, don't dig into it. This is a good opportunity to let him fade away quietly. Finally.

 

'We are not gone' - USF1

Feb.19 (GMM) A slight sign of life emerged from USF1 late on Thursday, after waves of reports suggested the new American outfit was set to fizzle before ever turning a wheel. Amid reports that YouTube's Chad Hurley and Argentine driver Jose Maria Lopez were jumping ship to Campos, the team's official website also went off the air. "The web server is down and is being repaired as this is written," said USF1 on Friday night. "We are not gone, as many have reported." The Charlotte based team promised to provide more information "soon". Following reports that Lopez had been told by a tearful Peter Windsor that USF1 was on its last legs, it then emerged that his management team was busily making other arrangements for 2010 with a series of London meetings. "We would like to inform that yesterday, Jose Maria Lopez Sr, together with (managers) Felipe McGough and Victor Rosso, visited USF1 headquarters in Charlotte to be in contact with the team's directors," read a statement. Lopez's entourage said they left the US "with a clear understanding of the team's current situation" en route to London. "Arrangements were (then) made to have different meetings; one of them with the managers of the FOM (Formula One Management) whose president is Bernie Ecclestone. The result of the meeting has been positive," said the Lopez statement. Representatives of the Argentine government then made clear to the Clarin newspaper that they have not yet made any payments to USF1. Moreover, in a Europa Press report, the manager of the Motorland Aragon facility - USF1's European base - said he did not know if USF1 was continuing with its plans. And former grand prix driver Jos Verstappen wrote in his Telegraaf column: "If they (USF1) get to Bahrain with two cars, they are so far behind that the world should expect nothing of them."



That was off of gptours.com this morning. Sounds like they are on the bottom end of the toilet bowl.

 

After this week's building rumors that US F1, the Charlotte-based Formula 1 program established by Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson, was on the verge of shutting down, fuel was added to the fire when the team's website went off line. However, the team has since released a statement indicating that it was continuing its efforts to prepare for the 2010 season, although its announced plans to compete with Argentine driver Jose Maria Lopez remain in a state of flux.

"The web server is down and is being repaired as this is written," the team said in its statement. "We are not gone, as many have reported." The team said it would offer more information about its plans "soon."

Meanwhile, Lopez's father met with the team to discuss its financial situation, and says he gained an "understanding" of the team's situation as a result.

"We would like to inform that yesterday, Jose Maria Lopez Sr., together with (managers) Felipe McGough and Victor Rosso, visited US F1 headquarters in Charlotte to be in contact with the team's directors," Lopez said in a statement to the Argentine media, adding that he and his management group left the meeting "with a clear understanding of the team's current situation," and are now en route to London.

"Arrangements were made to have different meetings, one of them with the managers of the FOM, whose president is Bernie Ecclestone. The result of the meeting has been positive," Lopez's statement added.

It has been rumored that the Argentine government had put up some of the purported $8m to buy Lopez's ride with the team, bolstered by the appearance of Argentina's president at the announcement of Lopez's signing with the team, However, the government has denied that any public funds were spent on Lopez's behalf.

 

no he wasn't and in fact the wikipedia article you quoted refutes your statement. so not sure why you quoted it.

"will involve team management" is clearly standard code for "not much of anything else". further bolstered by http://www.usgpe.com/news/john-anderson-racing-legend-joins-us-f1-team.html:

Further, PW's official title is "sporting director", a reasonable title for driver selection and appropriate given his rolodex and experience.

 

I stand corrected on PW's title. I still hold PW along with KA accountable for the failure of USF1.

 

I have to say, I'm not defending the guy, I'm just trying to keep the detractors honest. I agree that criticism of PW is warranted, but what people are doing here is a witch hunt.

 

No disagreement there. PW is absolutely at fault and should be held appropriately accountable.

 

I believe we are both basically in agreement...however...

since this poll is about Windsor...I kept my posts focused on HIM.

If there was a thread dedicated to Ken Anderson, he would get stick as well from people on this forum for his mismanagement of the team's resources and his "sub-optimal" management style.

...there is enough blame to go around for everyone...think "buffet style" portions of blame.

 

I think the blame is at least equal.

PW is the one with the connection to Max and the FIA/FOM guys. I think KA is a (hack) deal maker who had the connections, and probably was the one that knew Hurley. They were co-founders of the team, it's not like KA started it and hired PW once the ball was rolling. It would be interesting to see what the ownership structure of USF1 is like... I saw there was a "William Barbera" or something listed, anyone know who that guy is?

As for PW, we can blame Howett for Toyota's problems even though he wasn't the CEO of Toyota, and we blame Flavio for Renaults failings even though he wasn't the owner, just the guy running the team, and Horner for RBR, etc, etc. I think Windsor is at least equal to Patrick Head or Norbert Haug or Stefano Domenicali or Martin Whitmarsh, even if KA is more like Luca or Frank Williams or Ron Dennis, etc.

 

I was involved at that stage and speak from direct firsthand knowledge here. Hurley fell into their lap; neither KA nor PW knew him.

While you're right, they were co-founders, it was largely KA's deal. If PW had not been part of it, KA would have found someone else to be a front man. I'm not saying that PW wasn't instrumental and absolutely essential -- he was -- but KA would have gone it alone if he could have.

 

Please tell us more.