Steve Nichols was one of John Barnard’s top disciples (when that was still a good thing to be), who went on to major success at McLaren, Ferrari and even Sauber. He was lured to Jaguar from McLaren’s R&D department and his arrival precipitated Gary Anderson’s immediate sacking.
Yet within months (and those negotiations must have been going on for many months i.e. before Nichols joined), Jaguar announce Adrian Newey as the new Technical Director. That move was subsequently aborted but it must have had some effect on Nichols and Jaguar.
He must be demotivated and his position will have been undermined. So will he even stay? As public announcements about lack of faith in someone go, this one is definately in the top three!
And should he leave, who could Jaguar get that is even in the same league?
What do you think Steve Nichols will or should do?
What about Steve Nichols?
Started by
taran
, Jul 19 2001 10:34
2 replies to this topic
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#2
miniman
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Posted 19 July 2001 - 12:48
He should bail out of Jaguar ASAP. There are other teams who could and would be glad to have him. Or, he could stay for a substantial salary increase which would make the obvious slap by Rahal and company more palarable.
#3
Todd
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- 18,936 posts
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Posted 19 July 2001 - 13:15
I've wondered about this quite a bit myself.
Steve Nichols designed the 1988 McLaren that won 15 of 16 races. There are a number of reasons for its success, such as that only Honda bothered building a new turbo to run the 150 liter fuel formula of 1988 while Ferrari tried turning down the boost on their 1987 engine and everyone else was preparing for the 3.5 formula, but it still can't have been too bad of a car. I also think that he had a hand in the Ferrari 640/F1-90 that was such a competitive car.
Unfortunately, this is all ancient history. What was he doing at McLaren(?) during the 10 years leading up to getting stewardship of Anderson's terrible R2? Does anyone know how current he is? I hope he manages to stay focused long enough to build a real Nichols R3, but it must be trying having Newey sought by his new employers.
Steve Nichols designed the 1988 McLaren that won 15 of 16 races. There are a number of reasons for its success, such as that only Honda bothered building a new turbo to run the 150 liter fuel formula of 1988 while Ferrari tried turning down the boost on their 1987 engine and everyone else was preparing for the 3.5 formula, but it still can't have been too bad of a car. I also think that he had a hand in the Ferrari 640/F1-90 that was such a competitive car.
Unfortunately, this is all ancient history. What was he doing at McLaren(?) during the 10 years leading up to getting stewardship of Anderson's terrible R2? Does anyone know how current he is? I hope he manages to stay focused long enough to build a real Nichols R3, but it must be trying having Newey sought by his new employers.
