Mike Gascoyne has rejected speculation in the Dutch press that said his decision to debut a ‘B’-spec car at the Turkish GP had been overruled by his Spyker bosses.
The heavily updated version of the current F8-VII was originally scheduled by Gascoyne – the Silverstone based team’s new chief technology officer – to appear for the first time at Istanbul in August.
That proposed debut date has now been accelerated to the European GP at the end of July, leading to gossip that Gascoyne is unhappy to have been muscled and put under pressure to deliver in a shorter space of time.
Spyker, formerly Midland and Jordan, is widely considered to be the slowest formula one team so far in 2007.
Gascoyne is quoted as saying by the magazine Formule 1 Race Report: “Not (team bosses) Michiel Mol, or Victor Muller, or Colin Kolles makes the decisions about the technical aspects. I do.
“I have examined in detail our plans and because of the progress we have already made I believe we will be ready with the B car for Germany.”
Despite his reputation at Toyota and Renault, however, Gascoyne warned that the revised car is not likely to haul Spyker immediately away from the tail of the grid.
“At my other teams it took me a year to get everything together,” he said, “and that will also be the case for us.
“The b car will certainly bring us forward, but there will be no magic. I am not a wizard.”