LONDON, Sept 12 - Former Renault and Toyota technical director Mike
Gascoyne says he will be going back to his Formula One roots when he joins the
renamed Spyker MF1 team in November.
"It's a different type of challenge, different goals," he told Reuters after
the team announced at the weekend that he was joining with the grandiose title
of Chief Technology Officer.
"You're not going to sit here and say that in three years we are going to
challenge for the world title because that blatantly is not going to happen," he
added.
"So it is a very different challenge, but for me it is one that probably goes
back to my roots and where I am best at. It's the right challenge for me at this
time in my career."
The Briton remains under contract to Toyota, who have spent more than $1
billion on Formula One since their debut in 2002 but have yet to win, until
November 1.
One of Formula One's highest paid technical directors in his time at Toyota,
Gascoyne said his new team would be more like the Jordan of old.
Russian-born Canadian billionaire Alex Shnaider bought Jordan last year and
renamed it Midland before selling to Dutch sportscar maker Spyker at the
weekend.
"Jordan, when it was running well, was a very lean and efficient operation
and that's what we want this operation to be," Gascoyne said.
"It's going to have to be, it's not got a budget that allows it to be
anything else.
"It's a great challenge, it is a small team and a place I know pretty well
because obviously I worked there and we won races. We had a lot of fun in 1999."
NO POINT
Gascoyne joined Jordan in 1998, after previously being a chief designer at
now-defunct Tyrrell, and was responsible for the 1999 car that won two races. He
joined Renault for 2001.
Midland have yet to score a point this year, while Jordan struggled in 2005
after almost going under in 2004.
Gascoyne was confident Spyker could be competitive, particularly with new
regulations in 2008 that could level the playing field.
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