Time for a new site feature. We keep coming across quotes we love – hopefully someone is, as we speak, casting a medal for former Minardi F1 supremo Paul Stoddart after he remarked that the old joke about FIA standing for Ferrari International Assistance has come horribly true recently.
Ron Dennis has also been the source of some timeless classics recently, so much so that we did briefly consider giving him his own quote of the week slot – until the season turned really nasty, and suddenly every word was being vetted by the Woking legal team and the corporate press office.
So, in the event, it falls to McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa to kick off Brits on Pole’s Quotes to Watch Out For feature.
He should be a happy man right now – he’s just been re-signed after successfully negotiating some hefty bumps in his professional road caused by the Emailgate scandal. Bumps that might well have left lesser mortals facing instant dismissal.
And based on what he told the radio network Cadena SER, he evidently wants to spread a bit of that happiness around. Here’s what he said:
“In the end you have to be happy with what you are doing.”
Well, really – have you seen Fernando Alonso recently? Endless photos of the Spaniard hanging around the garage with a face like thunder suggest that this advice could be timely.
His compatriot went on: “If you ask me what I would do, I would stay, because McLaren has proved to be a competitive team and Fernando is a born winner.”
“Nobody (at McLaren) is saying that Fernando is going to go. In fact, everyone is working as if he is going to stay.”