Dave Ryan - Scapegoat for McLaren Mercedes
Sporting Director Dave Ryan has been let go by McLaren Mercedes in one of the more ruthless scapegoating episodes every seen. McLaren should be ashamed of making a scapegoat out of him.
What is 34 years of loyal service worth at McLaren Mercedes? Nothing! Following the disaster in Australia, the McLaren team first suspended and now has let Dave Ryan go. The situation stinks to the high heavens of scapegoating on a major scale. Although Ryan was certainly in the wrong, tossing him to the wolves is despicable and the reputation of McLaren should suffer accordingly.
So, just what happened? The incident was bizarre. The end of the Australian Grand Prix saw a safety car situation. The cause was the wreck of Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel which left carbon fiber all over the track. As the cars were pacing around the track, Jarno Trulli somehow managed to go off the track from his third place position. Lewis Hamilton drove past him from fourth into third position. This was completely legal.
Then the chaos started.
Hamilton asked whether he should pull over and let Trulli back into third position. The McLaren pit management didn’t know the rules. First they told him to, then to wait and then nothing. Hamilton let Trulli back by and they finished in third and fourth. The stewards then penalized Trulli for illegally passing behind the safety car. Trulli indicated Hamilton let him by and the stewards called McLaren to a meeting to discuss. Dave Ryan and Lewis Hamilton attended. The two denied Trulli had been let by or that the issue was even discussed. This was an outright lie and the transcribed radio conversations proved as much. Hamilton was subsequently kicked out of the results and McLaren must appear before the FIA.
The first story from Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of McLaren Racing, was that no lie had occurred. When confronted with the radio transcript evidencing that it had, Whitmarsh was forced to admit as much. He then suspended Dave Ryan and sent him home to the UK. The new story was Dave Ryan had told Lewis Hamilton to lie and was solely at fault. In short, the scapegoat had been named.
There is absolutely no doubt that Dave Ryan made a despicable mistake. The sheer stupidity of it is amazing. We are talking about one point – the difference between third and fourth place. Clearly he is at fault, but so is Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton didn’t show any remorse till McLaren were actually caught, so his crocodile tears are dubious at best.
Dave Ryan has now been let go by McLaren. Did he deserve this? He put in 34 years of service to the team and this is what he gets? Yes, he deserves to be punished. Perhaps he could be demoted to a position back at the team headquarters or what have you, but to toss him on the rubbish bin after 34 years is despicable. McLaren has undoubtedly provided him with a golden parachute to go quietly [as would any F1 team in a similar situation], but what a sad way to end a career.
Lemmy