– Rob Smedley has long made a name for himself in Formula 1. The Briton worked as a race engineer for Jordan, Ferrari, and Williams and supported Felipe Massa in the 2008 fight for the world championship title. However, the now 52-year-old consistently declined a role as team principal – and there is a good reason for that.
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Smedley cites the departure of Otmar Szafnauer from Aston Martin as an example. At that time, Szafnauer was largely stripped of his power by the appointment of Martin Whitmarsh as managing director. For the native Romanian, that was ultimately the reason to quit his role as team principal and leave the team.
Smedley shows full understanding for this: “I would have done exactly the same and said: ‘Okay, if I’m not allowed to lead everything, then I won’t do it at all,'” the Briton said in the current podcast High Performance Racing. “People like you and me, Otmar, are still offered top jobs, including as team principals.”
Photo series: Dismissed Formula 1 team principals
“But I didn’t want to do it for exactly that reason,” the experienced Formula 1 engineer clarified. His main problem with the job: As team principal, you are responsible for everything – not only internally but especially also publicly.
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“If your name is on the door, you are publicly responsible,” said Smedley. “But then you tell yourself: ‘Wait a minute, I might only be able to really control 20 to 30 percent of the team. What about the other 70 percent? I still have to stand up for it.’ That simply doesn’t make sense.”
Smedley emphasized that he is generally not afraid to take on a high-pressure job. But only under one condition: He must also have the necessary control. “I think it’s absolutely right that as a team principal or CEO you are responsible for everything and take the blame when things go wrong,” the Briton made clear.
“You leave the team, resign, or get fired. I have absolutely no problem with that because then it happened under my leadership,” said Smedley. “But if you can only control half, it simply doesn’t make sense.”
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