Ganassi wants Button

[MichaelC]

According to http://www.itv-f1.com, Chip Ganassi wants Williams to find him another driver if they take Montoya. He has (allegedly) said that if they do, he wants Jenson to go there.

IMHO, this would be a disaster for Jenson's career, and he certainly shouldn't go. But I guess if Williams have him under contract, he hasn't got a lot of choice...

[marcus]

i really dont see how this could be a disaster for jenson..allthough there is that possibility but there is also a good chance of it doing his career a world of good...good car engine will be even better next year ...great teammate in vasser to learn from and a whole heap of experience to learn and who knows maybe a championship ...while im sure he wants to stay in F1 if all he can get is a champcar drive then hey its still racing and he seems to have what it takes...

BTW ..wasnt he only signed for williams for one year ..therefore freeing him to do whatever he wants next year ???

[Peter Mallett]

No. He's under a five year contract like JPM.

[jvilleneuve2000]

I think it will be best for his carrer in f1 if he does go to CART for 1-2 years, or he will just end up in a middle of the grid team. This could ruin his carrer more than what a move to CART would.

[Regs]

Jenson has stated that he does not wish to go to CART. I think he'd rather lose with Miinardi than win with Ganassi. The reason being...prestige. CART just isn't F1. Now I don't know where CART stands with the casual European race fan, but I think in general it is seen as a lesser series. And to someone like Jenson, to whom image is probably everything, going to CART would be career suicide. Even if it were good for him as a racer. It would kill his image. They'll say, "look what happened to Zanardi!", and Arrows or Minardi will look pretty good. But this also begs the question, what if Jenson goes to CART and doesn't stand out like Montoya? What if he doesn't dominate the series. What if he does merely "respectably well"(i.e. top five, say). Risky stuff.

[Sharky]

Hi! New to the board.

Anyway. I think that it could be good idea for Button to travel to the US. I have been watching the CART series closely and it's perfect for a young driver to improove his driving skills mainly because all teams have more or less the same chasis, engine, tyres, etc. and therefore it's driving ability what counts. It worked fine for Montoya.

However i don't think that people will be expecting button to perform like Montoya...In fact, I don't think that anyone would expect to see a performance like that one ever again...let's not forget that he broke every rookie record including those stablished by Nigel Mansell in 93.

I would guess If Jenson travels to the US he would go on a 3 year deal just like Juan but Chip would only be expecting the first championship to come no sooner than in his second season...after all this was the plan with montoya but he made his homework too soon.

The only real risk I see is the Toyota engines which have given Juan a hedache this season but that only adds up to the challenge.

[Gerard]

Hi Sharky, welcome to 10 Tenths.

It has been speculated that the deal that will see Juan Pablo Montoya drive for the Williams team in the 2001 season is as good as done, but today Frank Williams said that at this stage Montoya is still under contract with Chip Ganassi and it is unsure whether he'll release him or not.

Patrick Head has stated it is most likely Montoya will drive for Williams next year, after which Chip Ganassi said: "This outfit is not called Patrick Head Racing but Ganassi Racing and I'm the one to decide whether Montoya stays or goes."

Frank Williams said: "All I can tell you is Juan Pablo Montoya entered into a three-year, fixed-term contract with Chip Ganassi. I have first option for Montoya's services for Formula One, when he becomes available."

And I think that last sentence is the deciding point.
If Ganassi doesn't want Montoya to leave, he's not available and Williams can't buy him out.
However, much depends on what Montoya wants for himself.
If he wants to leave Ganassi for Williams at the end of the year, I don't think there's much Chip can do about it.

Frank Williams also said that they are definitely not at the point in the season to discuss their driver line up for next season, but did admit that should Montoya want to enter Formula One, the time is right

Button himself admitted that he is not that keen on such a move and said that it might be a bit early in his career. He was quoted as saying: "It is too early in my career to think about going to the States".

If Button agrees in a switch to Cart he's going to take an enormous risk.
What if he fails?
He probably won't be in Cart very long when he can't get his act together and a return to Formula One will be almost impossible by that time.

[Sharky]

Well. personaly here's my opinion on the chip-Frank-Juan dilemma.

Frank Williams is certanly not new to driver negotiations. Now Montoya was highly rated even before he started racing in CART. Now I don't think that Frank Williams would just hand Juan and all the cards to chip for the next three years. Chip does have a contract but I think that Frank Williams still has the last word about it. If he wants Montoya he will get him. But you know that Frank Williams cant just go out and say "I don't care about what Chip wants because I make the final choices"....and especially taking into account Chips super ego. He'd rather die before recognizing that he doesen't hold all the cards. Of course, Williams will have to pay "damage compensation" to chip but since there's still a lot of difference between what's considered a lot of money in CART as opposed to F1, Chip can get an amount of money that will surely please him but it wouldn't hurt Williams bank accounts that much. Besides, it's been speculated that if Button doesen't want that seat Junqueira could take it and Chip would surely like to make business once again with Williams.

But about Buttons risk. I find it very unlikely that he would fail in CARt after such an impressive performace so far. And since he's such a fast learner he'll have no trouble adapting. Now of course, dont expect a championship right away. I quote Juan's declarations before he even had his first CART race "I hope I can win a couple of races and if I manage to finish in the top 5 I'll be happy" and many thought back then that it was a pretty bold statement.

I think that it's a risk worth taking. And he could learn a lot of things there. I really don't think that he would fail in CART. Maybe he won't be as impressive as Montoya but he would do a good enough job.

[Tristan]

Hmmm....

I'm not convinced AT ALL by this one. JB, in my own humble opinion, should be F3000, but that's by the by.

I really do think a move to CART would do JB few favours. Unless he wipes out the rest of the field (unlikley) he could find himself stuck out there chez Mark Blundell. Besides, he's a young man and, beleive it or not, factors like home-sickness will undoubtedly come into play.

Personally, I think JB's going to stay at Williams next year. Montoya will not be released. I can feel it in my bones (and when have I ever been wrong in the past? :-p)

BTW: welcome aboard Sharkey. Nice to here some common sense once in a while!!!!

[Sharky]

Well maybe you're right. Perhaps F3000 could be a better way to go. It's just that I think that he could learn a lot of things at CART. That's really an interesting series. It surely aint F1 but it's pretty competitive. Anyway, Jenson has shown that he's reluctant to make to move to CART and he'll probably stay in europe but I don't think that he would step down to F3K.

But one thing you can count on is that JPM will drive along side Ralf next year....but I guess that we'll only now until the end of this months. But remember that Montoya doesn't want to stay in the US anyomoe. I mean...what else can he do? He's already won the CART championship beating every rookie record (and many non-rookie records) and he won Indy in such a way that he made it look easy. He has delivered Toyota their first win ever this year and I'd even place my money on a first championship too. Seeing him once again over there would be really boring.

BTW. Thanks for the welcome. I've been looking for quite some time for a board like this one. I just hope I can get this rookie tag off soon

[Dino IV]

I am not sure about all the clauses in the contracts of The Boy Juan-der and Button, but I thought Williams has a buy-out claus in the contract with Ganassi worth about $5 million. So if he wants him, he can get him if he's willing to pay. As he paid $6 million for Zanardi I guess he won't hesitate ... at least I hope.

I thought too that's it not uncommon for drivers to have a clause inside their contracts that in the case of not driving for the team, with whom they have that contract and that team arranges another drive, that they can decline that drive if they find a better drive.
For instance, Button is offered to Ganassi and Button finds a drive at let's say Jordan. In that case he's allowed to take the better option of driving for Jordan.

Not sure though, but I remember similar clauses in other drivers contracts.

[CARTfan]

I'd rather Chip promote someone from Lights or Atlantics before a trade from Williams.

[Sharky]

Well I'm not so sure about how that clause would go Dino. But every driver is at least free to not-drive for teams they don't like. Williams surely can't force Jenson to drive for Ganassi but what I'm pretty sure is that anyone that wannts Button on their car next year will have to talk to Frank Williams first since he has the initial contract and button "belongs" to him for the next couple of years regardles of who he's driving for.

Maybe you've seen that clause but in high profile drivers. I don't think young Jenson still has the "right" to go wherever he wants.

And Cartfan. I don't think that ganassi would promoto anyone from any of those series. I think he'll be looking for someone with experience but, who's at the same time, still quite young.