|
Well at long last the engines roar and the F1 season is underway. I'm not the only motoring journalist to become restless in the first few weeks of a new year - call it withdrawal symptoms if you like. There's always a euphoria following the last race of the season. We don't exactly pack away the notebooks and put our feet up, but it's the thought that filing continual stories and keeping an ever-watchful eye on the race track and an inquisitive ear in the pit stops won't be taking over our lives for a few weeks. Then there's Christmas and New Year to look forward to... but, come January, journalists like me are itching for the action again. And now we're into the 2012 season and an interesting one it's going to be too, from many angles. The Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur events are behind us and Lotus F1 Team has made a promising start - predictions from the pits are that they will taste further success this year with the arrival of the unpredictable Kimi 'The Iceman' Raikkonen who has returned to F1 racing again. Kimi, the 2007 world champion, joins Romain Grosjean in the striking gold and black liveried new Lotus car, the E20 which was unveiled in Jerez just at the beginning of February. This is all great news for my friends at Group Lotus - yes, even though the F1 side of Lotus operates as a separate entity, it still carries the name which Colin Chapman introduced to the world 60 years ago this year. But while there's pride and excitement going on at the race track, there's a bit of doom and gloom going on at Hethel as they await news of whether DRB-Hicom, the new owners of parent company Proton in Malaysia, will continue to fund the five year programme which will see the launch of new Lotus models. Already the boys at Hethel are half way through that programme and advance order sales are looking pretty impressive. Now as people who tune into this blog will know, I am very fond of Dany Bahar, the CEO at Group Lotus and I have a lot of admiration for the way he has managed his career since his schooldays when he cut his teeth on marketing principles by finding sponsors for sporting events back home in Switzerland. Dany's had a bit of a rough time of late - maybe that's putting it mildly, but he's still managing to face the world with his customary optimism and boyish smile. Through his career to date, he's been called all sorts of things by the media from 'a maverick' to 'arrogant'. I've also heard it said that he's a tad 'cock-a-hoop' but that's a bit harsh really because, when I consulted my on-line dictionary to get the real meaning of that expression, I discovered that it really has two meanings! Being crooked or askew and being delighted and arrogant. Now neither actually applies to Mr Bahar. But, when I delved a little more deeply, I learnt that 'cock-a-hoop', dates back to 16th century English, and the original meaning was to celebrate while drinking. It would seem that the origins of the name have been misconstrued over time and to call Dany 'cock-a-hoop' in the media could be almost a sue-able offence. I put the question to him when I bumped into him in Norfolk several days ago, before the start of the F1 season in Melbourne which saw Grosjean start on the Grid in third position, but was unfortunately forced to retire following a shunt with Williams' Pastor Maldonado. Raikkonen however did well in his first appearance back on the racetrack since the inaugural Abu Dhabi race in 2009 and came through into seventh position from 17. "Me 'cock-a-hoop'?" Dany said with a wry grin. "Now that's a tricky one and perhaps people might misinterpret the way I go about things as 'cock-a-hoop' but I certainly don't believe I am. "Being relatively young in this role, I have to take care sometimes - not come across as cocky or arrogant. But in the same sense, I'm running a business and I need to be strong. Equally, I shouldn't have to hide when I'm happy or proud of some of the incredible things we have achieved and continue to achieve." I warmed to this thought - yes, he's spot-on, and he has every right to want to punch the air when things go well. Like every young man who has risen to such great heights in business, even before he's blown out the candles on his 40th birthday cake, he has attracted negativity from sources that would be better off admitting they're jealous of his success. "You'll never please all of the people and some people will always interpret demonstrations of pride in a negative way. But, it's important for morale within the team and it is these people (i.e. the team) who matter most to me," Dany said, his face taking on a more serious expression. And it's his team, which he is certainly fighting for most at the moment. He's built up a formidable cache of talent and a dedicated workforce at Hethel and it's obvious that they are the focus of his attention as the Lotus plant has entered a lockdown period while things get sorted out. The end of March is decision time and currently Dany is back and forth to Kuala Lumpur for talks with DRB-Hicom. It's an impossible situation and one which was certainly not on the cards when Dany embarked on the five year programme Lotus had agreed with Proton just a couple of years or so ago when he moved over from Ferrari to head up Group Lotus. The lockdown situation has come about under Malaysian takeover regulations. Only normal trading activities can continue - which means that much of the work on the new prototype development has to be suspended. It will throw his plans out of the window in the immediate future but, surely, Dany, with his youth, true grit and stamina, not to mention his determination, will quickly be able to make up lost time and get back on track again once everything is resolved. Dany Bahar 'cook-a-hoop? I don't think so - though he could be excused at the moment, if he did actually imbibe and live up to the very original meaning of the phrase! I might join him in one myself...
Related Articles -
Dany Bahar, Lotus, Cock-A-Hoop, Motorsport, Business, Management,
| 
