Jenson Button's craving to become Formula One world champion has probably cost him more than any other driver in the history of the sport. It became clear yesterday that he was willing to give up at least £15million over the next three years simply to get the opportunity to drive a car put on the grid by Ross Brawn, regarded as Formula One's finest technical director.
But that sacrifice comes just four years after the British driver extricated himself from a long contract wrangle with Sir Frank Williams, which is thought to have cost him as much as £9million in compensation payments to the team. It is money to make the eyes water, around £24million before Button turns a wheel of his 200mph Formula One car in anger in 2009.
Many will believe that a young man whose career earnings could add up to as much as £60million over nine years in the sport and whose reputation as a playboy goes before him can afford it. But Button's motivation has never been about money but winning.
It became clear yesterday that Button was determined to play his part in the success of a management buyout of Honda and agreed to give up half his salary plus bonuses, which could amount to as much as £5million a year. He will then pay his own way, plus the expenses and salaries of a small entourage that includes his physiotherapist and personal assistant. He is also certain to keep paying the air fares and hotel bills of John, his devoted father, who has attended almost every race of his son's career.
The extraordinary gesture of solidarity with his team comes when calls are growing for the Government to curb the multimillion-pound excesses of executives in failing banks.
Button refused to return to Williams in 2005, when Sir Frank called in his contract, because he believed that Honda would give him a winning car. It did, but only once, at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2006, where the machine was an incidental contributor to a spectacular drive through the rain by a young man who proved his credentials as one of the finest drivers of his generation.
Two tough seasons of failure in cars more like tractors than flying machines followed, but the recruitment of Brawn, who had guided Michael Schumacher to seven world
championships at Benetton and Ferrari, convinced Button, 29, that he must stay with the Japanese team. However, Honda's decision before Christmas to pull out of the sport changed everything. The carmaker set a deadline of January 31 to go, but now is staying in all but name. Honda appears to have decided that it is more sensible to allow the team to continue this season under Brawn than to spend £100million on closing it down. But Brawn, the team principal, and Nick Fry, the managing director, will have to cut costs, which could mean as many as 200 redundancies at the factory in Brackley, Northamptonshire.
Button's contract was secure, but he wanted to make his own contribution. “The people who have said that Jenson was a money-grabbing playboy should eat their words,” a source said last night. “He could have held out for his full pay, like certain bankers, and even gone to law with a cast-iron case. But that was never in his mind.
“All he wanted was to come to a deal that would allow him to drive a car put on the grid by Ross Brawn. Nothing else mattered.”
Source:the times
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Lloyd may be forced to turn to youth
DAVIS CUP captain John Lloyd is one of only two British-born men still alive to have reached a Grand Slam singles final. Apart from tennis, his passion is motion pictures. Ever the movie buff, he makes the point that the final Bannockburn victory in the Academy Award- winning Braveheart was achieved when the film’s central character was unavailable for selection.
Lloyd is still not resigned to being without his own version of William Wallace at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena when his team take on Ukraine for the right to contest a place in the competition’s elite World Group in September.
While the captain and his men headed north last night, Lloyd left behind team doctor Michael Turner and physiotherapist Andy Ireland to supervise the most sophisticated medical tests today on Andy Murray.
Their role is to ascertain the extent of the virus and, they hope, dispel fears that the British No 1 is suffering from glandular fever, which would hamper his Wimbledon hopes, let alone his fast-disappearing chances of walking on to court on Friday to play Ukraine’s second-string singles player, Illya Marchenko, ranked 223 places behind the Scot on the ATP World Tour’s computer.
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“I’m still hopeful, and we will leave it as long as possible, which means 24 hours before Thursday morning’s draw to see if Andy can play — but I’m also a realist,” said Lloyd, who twice last year had to sit through the pain of defeat in ties against Argentina and Austria, the first without Murray and the second with him in the team. “If Andy is as sick as some people are already drawing conclusions, then the important thing is to identify the virus and then get him well as quickly as possible, because he is the immediate future of British tennis.
“If he can’t play, then I will be a lot more confident going into the tie without him than I would have been a week ago. Seeing the determination of the players who contested this week’s playoffs at Roehampton has really got me believing. And let’s remember, there’s not a huge amount of experience in the Ukraine team.”
Murray’s enforced absence will dispel the belief held a matter of months ago that British men’s tennis is all about one family. Lloyd considered going back on his decision to drop Andy’s elder brother, Jamie, from the team after a sub-standard performance against the Austrians and a problematic seven months on the doubles tour that saw him register a handful of victories.
“I thought about it, but probably only for a matter of five minutes,” said Lloyd. “It would be too much of a risk going into a tie like this with two of my four players being doubles specialists. Telling Jamie I was leaving him out was not a pleasant task because he is such a likeable person, but sometimes you have to take the tough option. Hopefully this will now give him the added determination to get his game and competitive spirit back to where it was a couple of years ago.”
With Josh Goodall (ranked world No 196) and Chris Eaton (No 390) filling the singles berths, and possibly Colin (doubles No 288) partnering Ross Hutchins, it will be the most inexperienced British team ever to play a Davis Cup tie. “If that’s the case, then so be it,” said Lloyd.
“There’s been a marked change in Josh’s attitude in the past year or so and seeing was believing in respect of the spirit that saw Chris through that playoff match that almost stretched to seven hours.
“I feel I have not given Chris enough respect since he qualified at Wimbledon last summer and then won a round in the main draw.
“In hindsight, I should probably have played him against Austria, but even then I didn’t name him in the original six for the playoffs. He only came in when Jamie Baker suffered a stress fracture of his foot, but I love people courageously proving their point. After all, wasn’t that what Braveheart was all about?”
Source:the times
Lloyd is still not resigned to being without his own version of William Wallace at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena when his team take on Ukraine for the right to contest a place in the competition’s elite World Group in September.
While the captain and his men headed north last night, Lloyd left behind team doctor Michael Turner and physiotherapist Andy Ireland to supervise the most sophisticated medical tests today on Andy Murray.
Their role is to ascertain the extent of the virus and, they hope, dispel fears that the British No 1 is suffering from glandular fever, which would hamper his Wimbledon hopes, let alone his fast-disappearing chances of walking on to court on Friday to play Ukraine’s second-string singles player, Illya Marchenko, ranked 223 places behind the Scot on the ATP World Tour’s computer.
Related Links
Djokovic wins in Dubai
Djokovic shows resolve to make Dubai final
“I’m still hopeful, and we will leave it as long as possible, which means 24 hours before Thursday morning’s draw to see if Andy can play — but I’m also a realist,” said Lloyd, who twice last year had to sit through the pain of defeat in ties against Argentina and Austria, the first without Murray and the second with him in the team. “If Andy is as sick as some people are already drawing conclusions, then the important thing is to identify the virus and then get him well as quickly as possible, because he is the immediate future of British tennis.
“If he can’t play, then I will be a lot more confident going into the tie without him than I would have been a week ago. Seeing the determination of the players who contested this week’s playoffs at Roehampton has really got me believing. And let’s remember, there’s not a huge amount of experience in the Ukraine team.”
Murray’s enforced absence will dispel the belief held a matter of months ago that British men’s tennis is all about one family. Lloyd considered going back on his decision to drop Andy’s elder brother, Jamie, from the team after a sub-standard performance against the Austrians and a problematic seven months on the doubles tour that saw him register a handful of victories.
“I thought about it, but probably only for a matter of five minutes,” said Lloyd. “It would be too much of a risk going into a tie like this with two of my four players being doubles specialists. Telling Jamie I was leaving him out was not a pleasant task because he is such a likeable person, but sometimes you have to take the tough option. Hopefully this will now give him the added determination to get his game and competitive spirit back to where it was a couple of years ago.”
With Josh Goodall (ranked world No 196) and Chris Eaton (No 390) filling the singles berths, and possibly Colin (doubles No 288) partnering Ross Hutchins, it will be the most inexperienced British team ever to play a Davis Cup tie. “If that’s the case, then so be it,” said Lloyd.
“There’s been a marked change in Josh’s attitude in the past year or so and seeing was believing in respect of the spirit that saw Chris through that playoff match that almost stretched to seven hours.
“I feel I have not given Chris enough respect since he qualified at Wimbledon last summer and then won a round in the main draw.
“In hindsight, I should probably have played him against Austria, but even then I didn’t name him in the original six for the playoffs. He only came in when Jamie Baker suffered a stress fracture of his foot, but I love people courageously proving their point. After all, wasn’t that what Braveheart was all about?”
Source:the times
Paul Casey reaches desert final
Perhaps this will be the year in which Paul Casey demonstrates c o n c l u s i v e p r o o f o f h i s prodigious talent. The 31-year-old from Cheltenham, now based a 90-minute drive from Tucson in Scottsdale, Arizona, will become the first Englishman to contest a final of the Accenture Match Play Championship after he overcame the Surrey-based professional Ross Fisher in an encounter that was more a battle of attrition than one of those gunfights that lent these parts enduring renown.
Casey and Fisher were two of the sharpest shooters all week at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, near where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday left several victims lying in the dust in the infamous Gunfight at OK Corral. The desert heat and the sheer physical toll of playing two matches in one day made the Englishmen two tired gunslin-gers and when Fisher missed a 12ft par putt for a half on the 14th hole to fall two down he looked as doomed as Billy Clanton.
When his ball finished amid the Saguaro cacti on the next hole he struggled to extricate himself from the trouble but Casey failed to capitalise and they halved with bogey sixes. Fisher staged a late rally with successive birdies on the 15th and 16th to narrow the gap to one hole but Casey secured a 2&1 win with another birdie on the penultimate green.
His victory in Abu Dhabi and a fourth-place finish at the Dubai Desert Classic made for an encouraging start to the season and he has carried his confidence all the way across to the Sonoran Desert. “The goals are the same, the majors and the big tournaments,” confirmed Casey, who has not improved on his tied-for-sixth finish at The Masters in 2004 in 18 majors since then.
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His performance level has been the most consistently reliable of the past week. In his five matches he was never behind at any point. Shaun O’Hair had suffered a bout of food poisoning on Friday after eating a pepperoni pizza and was in no shape to halt Casey in the morning quarter-finals, which the European Ryder Cup stalwart won 4&3. Fisher, the 2008 European Open winner, had followed a seven-bird-ie haul on Friday, which secured a remarkable 4&3 victory over former US Open champion Jim Furyk, with another seven-birdie round in his quarter-final against Justin Leonard, who won the Open Championship at Royal Troon in 1997, for a 2&1 win.
But the birdies dried up in the afternoon, with Casey and Fisher producing only six between them and one more bogey.
Mental strength, more than the brute strength inherent in his game, pulled Casey through. “I know what it is like to play 36 holes of match play in a day through playing in three Ryder Cups, the most extreme and most fatiguing I have ever felt on a golf course, and that experience helped to pull me through,” he said. “This isn’t quite as bad but it was tough and gruelling and Ross made it as hard for me as he could.”
In today’s 36-hole final Casey will play Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion from Australia who won this event in 2006 before finishing runner-up in 2007 to Hen-rik Stenson. Ogilvy was a convincing 4&2 winner over the American Stewart Cink, whom Tiger Woods battered 8&7 in last year’s final. Ironically, Ogilvy played a practice round here with Casey two weeks ago. “I think that was very useful,” Casey acknowledged. “It was going to be useful just playing any round I played down here but especially so playing with Geoff because he knows desert golf very well, having lived out here for a while. I took a lot out of that one round. We didn’t keep score, we just played and it was all very casual but it will be different tomorrow.”
Life may be different, too, for Rory McIlroy after he wooed the American galleries with several precocious performances, including a win over “Tiger-slayer” Tim Clark. His week culminated in a courageous 2&1 defeat by Ogilvy in yesterday’s quarter-finals. He was midway through his round with Hunter Mahan on Thursday when a spectator cried out, “Hey, Ronald McDonald, I’ll have a quarter-pounder with cheese.” The teenager laughed – “It was funny and I’ve probably been called worse because of my hair” – before he birdied three of the final four holes to beat his American opponent on the final green. Nothing much fazes the 19-year-old from Holywood, Co Down.
After seven birdies and just one dropped shot, Ogilvy left McIlroy with a downhill, left-to-right putt from 12ft on the 16th hole to stay in the match, precisely the kind of challenge to test the young man’s character. His nerve held, his putting stroke was true and the putt dropped. An eighth birdie in a blistering round on the penultimate hole secured a 2&1 victory for Ogilvy but, by breaking into the top 15 of the world rankings ahead of former US Open champion Jim Furyk through his efforts here, McIlroy has made his mark.
His progress and the striking maturity of his play and demeanour coincided with Ernie Els, a former world No 1, proclaiming that McIlroy will soon challenge Woods for this distinction. “I think that you’re looking at the next No 1 in the world with him,” said Els of the Northern Irishman. “He’s got all the tools and he’s probably got the current No 1, hopefully, not going to do what he’s been doing the last three years.”
Source:the times
Casey and Fisher were two of the sharpest shooters all week at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, near where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday left several victims lying in the dust in the infamous Gunfight at OK Corral. The desert heat and the sheer physical toll of playing two matches in one day made the Englishmen two tired gunslin-gers and when Fisher missed a 12ft par putt for a half on the 14th hole to fall two down he looked as doomed as Billy Clanton.
When his ball finished amid the Saguaro cacti on the next hole he struggled to extricate himself from the trouble but Casey failed to capitalise and they halved with bogey sixes. Fisher staged a late rally with successive birdies on the 15th and 16th to narrow the gap to one hole but Casey secured a 2&1 win with another birdie on the penultimate green.
His victory in Abu Dhabi and a fourth-place finish at the Dubai Desert Classic made for an encouraging start to the season and he has carried his confidence all the way across to the Sonoran Desert. “The goals are the same, the majors and the big tournaments,” confirmed Casey, who has not improved on his tied-for-sixth finish at The Masters in 2004 in 18 majors since then.
Related Links
Impressive McIlory shakes up Clark
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His performance level has been the most consistently reliable of the past week. In his five matches he was never behind at any point. Shaun O’Hair had suffered a bout of food poisoning on Friday after eating a pepperoni pizza and was in no shape to halt Casey in the morning quarter-finals, which the European Ryder Cup stalwart won 4&3. Fisher, the 2008 European Open winner, had followed a seven-bird-ie haul on Friday, which secured a remarkable 4&3 victory over former US Open champion Jim Furyk, with another seven-birdie round in his quarter-final against Justin Leonard, who won the Open Championship at Royal Troon in 1997, for a 2&1 win.
But the birdies dried up in the afternoon, with Casey and Fisher producing only six between them and one more bogey.
Mental strength, more than the brute strength inherent in his game, pulled Casey through. “I know what it is like to play 36 holes of match play in a day through playing in three Ryder Cups, the most extreme and most fatiguing I have ever felt on a golf course, and that experience helped to pull me through,” he said. “This isn’t quite as bad but it was tough and gruelling and Ross made it as hard for me as he could.”
In today’s 36-hole final Casey will play Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion from Australia who won this event in 2006 before finishing runner-up in 2007 to Hen-rik Stenson. Ogilvy was a convincing 4&2 winner over the American Stewart Cink, whom Tiger Woods battered 8&7 in last year’s final. Ironically, Ogilvy played a practice round here with Casey two weeks ago. “I think that was very useful,” Casey acknowledged. “It was going to be useful just playing any round I played down here but especially so playing with Geoff because he knows desert golf very well, having lived out here for a while. I took a lot out of that one round. We didn’t keep score, we just played and it was all very casual but it will be different tomorrow.”
Life may be different, too, for Rory McIlroy after he wooed the American galleries with several precocious performances, including a win over “Tiger-slayer” Tim Clark. His week culminated in a courageous 2&1 defeat by Ogilvy in yesterday’s quarter-finals. He was midway through his round with Hunter Mahan on Thursday when a spectator cried out, “Hey, Ronald McDonald, I’ll have a quarter-pounder with cheese.” The teenager laughed – “It was funny and I’ve probably been called worse because of my hair” – before he birdied three of the final four holes to beat his American opponent on the final green. Nothing much fazes the 19-year-old from Holywood, Co Down.
After seven birdies and just one dropped shot, Ogilvy left McIlroy with a downhill, left-to-right putt from 12ft on the 16th hole to stay in the match, precisely the kind of challenge to test the young man’s character. His nerve held, his putting stroke was true and the putt dropped. An eighth birdie in a blistering round on the penultimate hole secured a 2&1 victory for Ogilvy but, by breaking into the top 15 of the world rankings ahead of former US Open champion Jim Furyk through his efforts here, McIlroy has made his mark.
His progress and the striking maturity of his play and demeanour coincided with Ernie Els, a former world No 1, proclaiming that McIlroy will soon challenge Woods for this distinction. “I think that you’re looking at the next No 1 in the world with him,” said Els of the Northern Irishman. “He’s got all the tools and he’s probably got the current No 1, hopefully, not going to do what he’s been doing the last three years.”
Source:the times
Martin Johnson fumes at careless England
ENGLAND team manager Martin Johnson was in furious mood in Dublin last night after England’s 14-13 defeat by Ireland. Johnson was incensed that yet again, rank indiscipline saw two of his players sent to the sin-bin, the fourth time in consecutive games that this has happened.
Ireland scored eight crucial points when England were denuded, five in the absence of prop Phil Vickery and a further three after the banishment of scrum-half Danny Care. “It is very, very annoying. I am trying to keep my cool,” said Johnson. “I have just told the lads that [lack of discipline] cost us a Test match.”
Johnson was seen to bang a desk angrily when Care was sent to the sin-bin. He was also fuming at the general indiscipline of the team. “You are on a slippery slope when the penalty count is 17 or 18,” he said. When asked if he would consider dropping a man for ill-discipline, Johnson replied: “It is not the right time now to start asking questions like that. It is not just one individual doing it, it is different individuals at key moments. Some of them are stupid. It is incredibly annoying and frustrating.”
Statistics show that England have conceded 41 penalties in the Six Nations this year, and they have also conceded 30 points when players have been in the sin-bin. The vital Irish score yesterday, a try by captain Brian O’Driscoll, came after Vickery was banished for handling the ball in the ruck. Care was yellow-carded later for a garish late charge into the back of Ireland prop Marcus Horan. As Care charged into Horan, the ball was already away and in the hands of the Irish scrum-half.
Johnson’s anger is understandable, although large question marks are now being raised. Not only are he and his management team finding it impossible to stem the streams of yellow cards and penalties, but their approach to the whole issue is being criticised.
Last week, England coach Brian Smith was reprimanded by the International Rugby Board for criticising the refereeing of the recent Wales-England match at Cardiff, where Wales made crucial scores with England players in the bin.
England captain Steve Borthwick was as bewildered as Johnson, and his own leadership will be called into question. He did try to defend Care. “He was trying to get to the ball . . . he wouldn’t do that again. But in the heat of battle, that is what has happened. It is not just down to Danny Care, it is down to the discipline of the whole side.”
Ireland’s victory puts them two games away from only the second Grand Slam in their history. They move on to play Scotland at Murrayfield in a fortnight, while England meet a resurgent France.
Source:the times
Ireland scored eight crucial points when England were denuded, five in the absence of prop Phil Vickery and a further three after the banishment of scrum-half Danny Care. “It is very, very annoying. I am trying to keep my cool,” said Johnson. “I have just told the lads that [lack of discipline] cost us a Test match.”
Johnson was seen to bang a desk angrily when Care was sent to the sin-bin. He was also fuming at the general indiscipline of the team. “You are on a slippery slope when the penalty count is 17 or 18,” he said. When asked if he would consider dropping a man for ill-discipline, Johnson replied: “It is not the right time now to start asking questions like that. It is not just one individual doing it, it is different individuals at key moments. Some of them are stupid. It is incredibly annoying and frustrating.”
Statistics show that England have conceded 41 penalties in the Six Nations this year, and they have also conceded 30 points when players have been in the sin-bin. The vital Irish score yesterday, a try by captain Brian O’Driscoll, came after Vickery was banished for handling the ball in the ruck. Care was yellow-carded later for a garish late charge into the back of Ireland prop Marcus Horan. As Care charged into Horan, the ball was already away and in the hands of the Irish scrum-half.
Johnson’s anger is understandable, although large question marks are now being raised. Not only are he and his management team finding it impossible to stem the streams of yellow cards and penalties, but their approach to the whole issue is being criticised.
Last week, England coach Brian Smith was reprimanded by the International Rugby Board for criticising the refereeing of the recent Wales-England match at Cardiff, where Wales made crucial scores with England players in the bin.
England captain Steve Borthwick was as bewildered as Johnson, and his own leadership will be called into question. He did try to defend Care. “He was trying to get to the ball . . . he wouldn’t do that again. But in the heat of battle, that is what has happened. It is not just down to Danny Care, it is down to the discipline of the whole side.”
Ireland’s victory puts them two games away from only the second Grand Slam in their history. They move on to play Scotland at Murrayfield in a fortnight, while England meet a resurgent France.
Source:the times
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