AndreaModa wrote:I was wondering if this article on BBC News might have had something to do with Reutemann's relationship with Williams, and certainly him leaving the team during 1982 and F1 altogether?
That is certainly a very interest article AndreaModa, thanks for sharing that with us.
Just in case you were not aware, this exact subject was discussed only a couple of days ago in the 'What If' thread. For your ease hopefully this link will take you straight to the aforementioned discussion; http://www.f1rejects.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=229&start=1520
I find the directive which was released from UK sports minister Neil Macfarlane at the start of the conflict very interesting indeed. The article states he advised:
"I urge no sporting contact with Argentina at representative, club or individual level on British soil. This policy applies equally to all sporting fixtures in Argentina."
So you have to assume that the Argentine government did something similar, whereby they also released a directive urging its own international sports men/women, no contact with Britain during that time. I know from one of my other main interests in life, researching into WW2 events, that it is not unheard of for governments to take extreme measures at times of conflict. To give you an example of what I mean, the US government secretly worked with convicted mafia crime bosses when planning & executing their invasion of Sicily in 1943 (a story as good as the Godfather movies).
Simliarily according to Wikipedia, during the 1980 Summer Olympics;
Led by the United States, 65 countries boycotted the games because of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, though some athletes from some of the boycotting countries participated in the games, under the Olympic Flag. This prompted the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Source; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Summer_Olympics
All of which of course strengthen the theory that Reutemann was aware of the upcoming conflict. And that was at the very least a factor in his decision to retire from F1 on the Friday following the Brazilian GP, which would have been the 26th March 1982 (according to the book entitled '1982', by Christopher Hilton). Which was only one week before the start of the Falklands / Las Malvinas conflict.
AndreaModa wrote:Maybe Williams had been leant on by the British government to an extent during the latter half of 1981 hence why Carlos ended up loosing the title?
I'm not sure what tensions over the Falklands/Las Malvinas would have been like between Argentina & Britain during the latter half of 1981, so I'm not sure about that. However, as mentioned in my previous post I do find it interesting the way Jones managed to claw back so many points to Carlos in both the Italian & Las Vegas GP's alone. Whereas during free practice & qualifying for both races Carlos had been quicker than Jones & both Williams drivers finished the race?
There are some interesting theories contained within this thread particularly about Carlos' performance at the 1981 Las Vegas GP which starts from around post #43 onwards; http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=1170&hl=Reutemann%201981&st=40
I'll let you reach your own conclusion on the matter. However I will add Mario Andretti's comments from his one off drive with Williams (when he replaced Carlos) at Long Beach 1982;
I didn't like the Williams at Long Beach at all and then I found out later that Keke Rosberg had a totally different set-up , much, much softer. I tried to tell them but I wasn't a permanent member of the team. I talked to Frank Dernie. When we tested at Willow Springs Raceway, California, which is a high speed, I said "Look, this very stiff set-up may be OK for here but Long Beach is a totally different animal. You don't have the downforce" My car was like being on a pogo stick. It was jumping around as if I had no feel of it. I found out later that Keke had exactly 50% of the stiffness that I did. I don't know why they stuck me with a really heavy go-kart set-up?
Then during the race;
I think I wound up brushing a wall...I threw it into a corner and I had no grip at all, zero grip
Source; 1982, by Christopher Hilton
It is worth noting that Mario was almost a full second slower than Keke (himself still fairly new to the Williams team) in quali & well behind Keke in the race. Furthermore Mario had only retired from F1 at the end of 1981. Thus had only missed two GP's prior to getting that drive. Also one might have expected Mario, as an ex WDC to be a lot closer to Keke (who by that stage had yet to win a GP). Particular at Long Beach, one of his home GP's and perhaps a track Mario knew as well as anyone.
Furthermore Mario didn't get to drive again in F1, for over 5 months after that. And during his next stand in appearance at Monza he got pole & might have won had it not been for a problem during the race. All of which seems to support the idea that Mario's car setup was all wrong at Long Beach 1982. Rather than Mario just being 'rusty'. Furthermore I recall hearing stories about JV & Patrick Head arguing over car setup matters at Hungary 1996 & Austria 1997.
My point being, that all of these stories along with those contained within the Autosport thread do seem to paint a picture of the Williams team setting up their car to whatever the engineers want. Rather than what the driver has asked for. So I am wondering whether this may have contributed towards Carlos' apparently ill handling car at Las Vegas 1981. (& maybe at other races during late 1981). And maybe Williams changed the setup of Carlos car after he had been quicker than his teammate in quali, as IIRC had been claimed in the Autosport thread. Perhaps to try something else as an engineering test, rather than to purposely sabotage Carlos' race. Therefore effectively costing Carlos the 1981 WDC?
