Written by:
Kevin Krefting
BETTING ON BASEBALL may have gotten Pete Rose into a lot of trouble with the powers that be, but Formula 1 evidently takes the issue a lot less seriously. BAR/Honda team principal David Richards demonstrated this by publicly proclaiming that he has made a substantial bet of his own on this weekend's Australian Grand Prix. Like many sports bettors beloved by their bookies, though, Richards would seem to be betting with his heart and not his head – he's betting on his drivers to win the race.
Richards said in Melbourne that while he had never so much as backed a horse in his life, he had decided that some of the odds on offer for the BAR drivers in the opening Grand Prix were too good to resist, and dropped £1,000 (around $1,800) on his drivers, who have been quoted by Australian oddsmakers at 33-1 (Jenson Button) and 66-1 (Takuma Sato) to win in Melbourne.
"I thought they were pretty good odds, and I decided to put my money where my mouth was," Richards said. "I can map exactly where we are compared to where we were last year -- but what I can't be sure of, of course, is the steps made by everyone else. But, I'm more than happy with our own progress."
SOON TO BE EX-McLAREN DRIVER David Coulthard has set his sights on a 2005 drive with either Toyota or Williams, but admits he needs a stunning final season with McLaren to achieve either aim.
Coulthard, who won last year's Australian Grand Prix, told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday that he would love to return to Williams, for whom he drove in 1994 and '95. Toyota, acknowledged as one of the biggest spenders in the F1 paddock, is also on his hit list.
"Toyota are a team that needs a winning driver and there's no question they are moving forward," said Coulthard. "I would also love to drive for Williams. I'm 32 and I see no reason to consider that it is time to do something else."
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA does not think he overreacted by walking out of yesterday's press conference, organized by major Williams sponsor Allianz, after he was sent up by a couple of spoof reporters (click here for story).
The story has made headline news in the Melbourne papers, but Montoya insisted his response was justified. "It's hard to say if you reacted too hard," he said. "I was polite to the guy, especially when you are doing a day for a sponsor.
"There's a lot of money involved in these things and if it's not controlled properly… Joking is OK, but I didn't find it funny. You've got to do a professional job and it wasn't done professionally."
Asked whether it portrayed a bad image of Formula 1 drivers and the sport, or was bad for the team and its sponsors to have stormed out of the press conference, Montoya replied, "I don't care, to be honest. I talked to Frank [Williams] and he said he was OK with it, that I behaved properly, but that it was a shame we couldn't complete the [sponsors activities for the] day."
Asked how team sponsor Allianz had taken it, Montoya added: "The sponsor can't really say anything because they were the guys that let them [the jokers] in!"
The pair of self-styled comedians, nicknamed The Cub Reporters, also got themselves banned from this year's Sydney Adidas International tennis tournament after targeting Greg Rusedski and Lindsay Davenport at a press conference. They reportedly also have targeted golf and rugby events in Australia.
Follow all the action from the Australian Grand Prix on SPEED Channel at the following air times (remember, Australian time is a day ahead of the USA!):
Practice, Thursday, March 4 11 p.m. ET (SD)
Qualifying, Friday, March 5, 12 a.m. ET (SD)
Australian Grand Prix, Saturday, March 6, 9:30 p.m. ET (LIVE)
