The team has been debt-ridden the whole year and there is no guarantee of an improved showing from the 2006 package.
NEW DELHI: The inability of Narain Karthikeyan to raise sponsorship is not the only reason why the Indian is looking away from Midland. For him, the credibility of the team after Jordan was taken over by Alex Shnaider this season was the other big question.
Though Shnaider had announced big plans for Midland’s foray into F1, the team struggled with funds all through with debtors piling up. “Money was not being invested in the car and bills were not paid. The team faced court cases from creditors. Next year, I predict they will be last on the grid,” says Trevor Carlin, former Jordan sporting director who left early in the season after differences about how the team was being run.
What is moot is the inexperience of the management when it comes to running an F1 team, coupled with the reputation that former-dentist-turned-F1-team Principal Colin Kolles has earned in the first year on the paddock. In June, the team faced a court case filed by TT Rally Race Ltd, the company that has been painting Jordan cars for 14 years. According to Business F1 – the pioneering magazine for F1 exposes – Jordan owed TT US $200,000 which Kolles refused to pay leading to the petition which had seen the team’s UK bank accounts frozen. With Jordan on the verge of bankruptcy, Kolles cleared all the debts.
“Nothing as yet is known about the Midland package for 2006. They have been playing me and Tiago (Monteiro) against each other to raise the stakes of the seat still on offer. Fortunately, I took the call to back out,” says Narain. “The point is that even if I was to coax my sponsors to come up with the money, being at the back of the grid is not going to serve my purpose of becoming a better driver.”
Jordan’s track record in 2005 did nothing to inspire Narain’s confidence. The chassis was one designed for the Honda engines that were being used by Jordan under former owner Eddie Jordan in 2003. It was just modified to plug on the V 10 Toyota power plant that the EJ15 sported this year. Therefore handling problems were a fait accompli.
Then, bogged down with debts, the launch of the new car, EJ 15B, was put off from the slated July launch at France to Italy in September with just four GPs to go. Just as serious was the moving away of key personnel. Chief designer Mark Smith fled to Red Bull and through out the season there was constant brain drain from Jordan. The uncertainty persists for next season. No wonder Carlin asserts without any hesitation: “Narain is 100% correct not to spend the kind of money he was asked. There is just no guarantee on the car’s performance.”
Midland’s media officer Annouck Heinrichs only says: “We made an offer to Karthikeyan and it is up to him to accept of reject it. We do not wish to comment any more.”
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