Marco Andretti says McLaren sabotaged car to ruin fathers F1 career?!?!

Do you really think that Ron was gonna call him anyway? This subject was touched on in the Rahal F1 not interesting thread.

 

The kid couldn't handle Europe, anyway, and has no intention of going. He's the child of his parents...need I say more?

 

According to my friend that knew Senna well enough to have dinner every time Senna was in town, Marco is not too far off from being wrong. Senna actually did try to intervene, but by then it was too late.

Marco's mother was really disliked by the F1 entourage, that also didn't help.

 

I initially had the exact same reaction as you when I read this on ESPN.com. He complains in the same article about only having a shot at winning in one of two teams right? Make that zero teams now, turbo.

 

If you ever watched the BBC special on McLaren for the 1993 season they spent a whole episode on Michael Andretti. The first thing you noticed was some of the bizarre screw-ups that happened to him. Example, at Montreal as soon as he leaves the pits and goes out for practice, the entire from nose section is not riveted on. It's literally floating up off the chassis - he has to reach over the steering wheel and hold it down..while driving all the way around the course.
Completely amatuerish stuff from McLaren. It may have been an isolated incident - but following Marco's comments - it would seem par for the course....
Kevin S.
Orchard Park, NY

 

I heard the samething about Senna, he had a very good relationship with the Andretti family, and felt that Michael was mistreated.

 

+1 I never carried for Michael's persona, but I always respected him as a driver, I felt in the early 90's he was one of the best drivers in the world. I never thought he got a fair shake in F1, and I feel that it wasn't only McLaren that messed up his career. At the time CART was very strong, and to show the CART Champion as a failure in the F1 World, said volumes in the minds of people about the superiorty of F1 over CART. Look at the way Nigel Mansell was treated by the CART Establishment. F1 at that time should have been ashamed of himself.

 

Exactly!

 

A year ago I would have said no way, Mclaren is a serious team and would not do that.

Today I believe anything about Ron Dennis and his team.

 

I don't think Marco is lying either. The team did seem to want to see Michael fail. Michael claimed the settings were never as he wanted them on his car. How can anyone do well in those conditions. The fact that Senna was stepping in for him only shows how unfair the whole thing was.

 

+2 Spot on, Tony. There was definitely some shady stuff going on in the background.

 

Definitely says something about Senna, someone who actually cares about the success of their teammate.

I find it hard to believe that a team would just sabotage their own driver though, after all you are paying him to race and hope to win the Constructors Championship. If they really didn't want him their they should have just canned him and brought in Mika.

 

Hmm... I wonder if it was more of a "Ya, ya, you stupid yank, just drive the car, leave the complicated stuff to us Englishmen" type of attitude than straight sabotage. It's the same thing with Scott Speed and STR. Besides manhandling that weenie of an owner, he did nothing but good things there. STR where a lot closer to the points last year than so far this year.

 

Supposedly one of the first people to call and congratulate Michael after his win in his first race back in Champ Car was Senna. So obviously they were close. I wonder if that played into Senna going to Williams in 1994?

This time last year I would have thought Marco was nuts for making those claims, but after Stepneygate, I am inclined to believe it. Sadly, just because you're one of the best doesn't mean you have integrity.

 

Only saw Michael one time in my life at of all places the Cleveland Auto Show sitting in a 10x10 booth to sign autographs.

The guy was on the phone the entire time with a don't wanna be here look on his face. People would walk over and start telling him how great he was blah blah blah but he would hardly make eye contact or acknowledge them at all. Had ear to phone the whole time.

I've seen Mario at the Chevron booth at a few shows and he always smiled and shook hands and just seemed nice.

If that 10 min observation is any indication (and it may not be) i could see how people even at the F1 level wouldn't like the guy.

 

Why, I've heard they were the exact same way be then (probably even now).

 

Senna went to Williams because they were the best team on the grid. They won the two previous championships, and Mclaren was becoming uncompetitive. Let's not start adding things to this fantasy, Senna wanted to win, period.

 

No, the perception was that Michael wasn't committed to F1 because he refused to live in Europe. The fact was Mika did all the testing because his salary had to be justified and Michael never did. Michael was never going to get comfortable with the car that way. This was apparent when Mika out-qualified Senna first time out in the McLaren. Mika knew that car better than anyone. Michael explained in that he could be in England or anywhere to test in 4 hours by Concorde. I guess his reasoning was why uproot his family when he felt he didn't have to.

 

I actually heard the same rumor. That Senna was displeased with McLaren's treatment of Andretti it turned him off to the team and did contribute to his leaving. You're right about the Williams being the best car and Senna wanting to be wherever the best car was however. I guess we'll never really know the whole story, the only person to properly answer that question is no longer with us.

 

I think he was going to Mclaren after 1991 but Honda convinced him to stay. So he stayed with Mclaren for 1992. Then wanted to go to Williams for 1993, but Alain Prost forbade it. Then he finally went to Williams and did a few laps for them.

 

Yeah then why was Senna so pissed off about Prost signing with Williams with a veto clause against him? This was in 1992, before Michael came to F1. Do you remember that press conference?

 

There's probably some truth to all of the above. Michael probably didn't have the gung-ho enthusiasm you'd get from a young euro driver. And remember that stupid "dot" they tried on the "option" tires, just to avoid doing the red side stripe? -- because zarquon forbid F1 should ever copy a solution to a problem CART already dealt with.

You probably won't see many successful American drivers in F1. Or Japanese or Australian drivers, either. The domestic venues in those nations aren't may not be the self-proclaimed "pinnacle" of motorsports, but you don't have to live out of a trailer to drive in them, either. Most of the "Americans" in F1 have been like Eddie Cheever -- european by upbringing and residence, but with a US passport by parentage.

So between the FIA's desperation to be "not American", and the reality that racers from other continents just don't need F1, the big F1 stars are likely to remain european. (While F1 drivers may be the marketing stars, notice that F1 stars don't really dominate the ROC, against drivers from other types of racing.)

This is one reason I'm dismayed at the path FIA has taken with F1. In reality, the only thing that makes F1 "special" outside its native locale is the crazy advanced, high price technology in the cars.

Make F1 a "spec" series to control costs, and it will just be another of a dozen different venues racing over the weekend.

 

Indirectly, Senna was partly responsible of Michael Andretti's fate at McLaren.
At the beginning of 1993, Ron Dennis had recruited Mika Hakkinen and Michael Andretti as drivers.
Senna was dragging his feet over the contract and was doubtful.
When Senna finally signed, McLaren had suddenly one driver too many.
Now, Hakkinen's manager insisted for Mika to have driving time, and he was given all the pre-season testing to do, to compensate for his lost of GP drive.
The McLaren team would be represented now by Senna and Andretti.
Deprived of 'driving time' Michael Andretti couldn't get used to the car, and also relation between him and Dennis became 'frosty'.
The media received 'leaks' of Dennis criticism towards him, such as lack of committment, unavailability to test at short notice due to remote location, innadaptation to GP scene, etc....
Obviously, Dennis was keen to keep Senna and had also sensed that Hakkinen was a good future prospect: Michael Andretti had to go.
I believe that it was Michael's father, Mario, who really convinced him to look for a way out of that contract. Dennis was very pleased with that!
I had been convenient for Dennis to hire Michael when he needed a well-known driver to satisfy the sponsors; it also became very convenient to get rid of him when he became extra number.