Ex drivers in managerial positions

[F1Brits_90]

It was a question i was thinking earlier. How come in sport its really common place in sports like cricket, rugby & football that ex players become managers. Happens all time. but in F1 i can only think of in last 40yrs Jackie Stewart, Gerhard Berger, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda & Gil De Ferran. Or in other sports Michael andretti & allan mcnish

Why dont like in other sports the best drivers in world. Go into management

 

[Dartman]

Team sport managers are on the ground, you can't sit in the pits with a radio, that's the engineers and team principals job, F1 driver management is mostly financial and PR, ex successful F1 drivers are already rich and would tend to promote and manage their kids whilst being a TV pundit

 

[The Artist.....]

It was a question i was thinking earlier. How come in sport its really common place in sports like cricket, rugby & football that ex players become managers. Happens all time. but in F1 i can only think of in last 40yrs Jackie Stewart, Gerhard Berger, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda & Gil De Ferran. Or in other sports Michael andretti & allan mcnish

Why dont like in other sports the best drivers in world. Go into management

I’m actually in the opposite position; why is the default in sports like football that ex-footballers will make the best managers? After all, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are good at analysing opposing teams, able to pick good strategies (and adapt strategies), etc, etc.

 

[F1Brits_90]

The Artist..... because these people learn from all the managers & coaches they been taught under. you look at likes of Guardiola in football, he played for Barcelona & then took their system made it better. through his expierence of playing for 15 yrs

also a lot like Lauda has with Hamilton, that man management, he knows what the drivers are going through & what to say because he's been there done that. he knows what its like under the pressure of title fight. like in beligum Italy & Singapore, lauda will know whether to berate or comfort a driver after a dissapoinment. people like Toto Wolff or Maurizio Arrivabene cant imagine.

 

[The Artist.....]

F1Brits_90 - but then that does mean that you can end up with often having very traditional thinking - without any revolutionary thought.

There’s no reason that professional footballers should be the ones to go and get coaching badges - but that is what seems to happen!

 

[cider_and_toast]

Obviously you've forgotten Bruce McLaren, Jack Brabham, Bernie Ecclestone, Colin Chapman, Wilson and Emerson Fittipaldi and John Surtees. Just to name a few !!

Edit: Forgot Graham Hill and Chris Amon.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Further to my last, only just noticed the "last 40 years" qualifier.

 

[F1Brits_90]

F1Brits_90 - but then that does mean that you can end up with often having very traditional thinking - without any revolutionary thought.

There’s no reason that professional footballers should be the ones to go and get coaching badges - but that is what seems to happen!

good point, I know the Chelsea boss maurico sarri was a former banker & now a good manager. some 3/4 of ex players are dreadful managers. but I think with the whole career behind you, you have that expierence to rely on of being in every situation. to know when to trust your driver instinct or to bring him in

& yeah cider_and_toast I always think there is a big difference between 1st 25 yrs of F1 almost amateur & after that it got more professional

 

[Dartman]

I suppose there are ex player football managers that can think out of the box they were managed in and therefore be successful, intelligence plays a large part of success, there are quite a few poor ex football players that were once rich. Very few successful racing drivers end up poor. cider_and_toast list though over 40 years ago, weren't managers they were team owners slightly different, it was their cash or a great deal of it rather than working for a team, though even today most of the team managers were unsuccessful drivers.
One could list quite a few unsuccessful drivers in management of motorsport Jonathan Palmer being one Jackie Oliver another and I'm sure someone will add to the list

 

[RasputinLives]

Alain Prost can be added to the list as a team owner but had success elsewhere.

Jackie Stewart did a pretty good job of building a team up and selling it on.

Isn't Gill De Feran at McLaren right now? Christian Horner is an ex driver. Niki Lauda at Merc.

Kimi own his own team.

 

[The Artist.....]

Also,

• Frank Williams - failed racing driver
• Bernie Ecclestone - failed racing driver
• Max Mosley - failed racing driver
• Jackie Stewart - very successful team owner up to F3, failed team owner in F1
• Christian Horner - Failed racing driver

 

[RasputinLives]

I'd argue Jackie didn't fail as he got good results and then sold the team on.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I agree, Stewart got out before anything had a chance to fail. It was Ford's bizarre strategy that lead the Stewart team backwards from the high watermark of 99. Fortunately, the Jaguar brand took the hit.

Adjusting for the 10 points for 1st, 1 point for 6th scoring methodology, Jaguar racing scored fewer points in their entire lifetime in F1 than Stewart Racing did in the 1999 season alone.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Another different factor between the drivers of yesterday and those of more recent times is how many drivers of yesterday were also mechanics / engineers. A lot of them built their first racing cars in kit form. Many went on to be designers of their own cars for better or worse. While technology has moved on massively in F1, I don't think there's the same mechanical understanding between the driver and his car as there once was.

 

[gethinceri]

I fully agree, which is why I cannot abide current drivers being compared with a previous crop.
Apart from in terms of loveliness, in which you can make as many comparisons as you like, there is only one winner.

 

[FB]

Stewart Grand Prix was Paul's team, not Jackie's. I always thought JYS was just there to bring in the sponsors, much as he did later on at Williams, then with Genii Capital, in fact anywhere he can make some more filthy lucre.

 

[Il_leone]

Why ex F1 drivers don't become manager well if you look at the best F1 drivers

- They tend to be very clinical single minded approach - use to getting things their way so being a manager you need to learn to play more diplomacy

- They've probably burned themselves out competing at the sharp end of F1 - the stress levels are very high in F1 drivers not just competing on track but also coupled with having to deal with sponsorships

- F1 teams you're going to be travelling around the world a lot so probably not enough family time

- You have to treat F1 as a business rather than a sport when you're sitting on pitwall rather than in the car when it became a passion to win competing

- Then there was the power struggles and political games you're going to have to play with big teams, with the FIA and anyone else who thinks they should rule F1

 

[Il_leone]

When you become a manager your approach sits the tone on how you want the team to behave onwards.

 

[Il_leone]

I think what stopped Prost become a successful team was they started off on a positive note and then expectations suddenly rose that with him in charge they would be a successful French national team. Unfortunately the relationship with Peugeot did not work out and everything went downhill rapidly

 

[Titch]

Prost doesn’t strike me as a man who would inspire a loyal team.