Pollock says Richards has more freedom

Ex-BAR boss Craig Pollock believes that new principal David Richards is making changes that Pollock himself would have done a long time ago if he'd had the chance. Richards replaced Pollock at BAR in a move theat came as a surprise to many at the end of last year and in the last month the rally supremo has made some shake-up decisions. Engineering director Malcolm Oastler and chief designer Andy Green were both dispatched along with approx 50 other staff.

Pollock agrees with Richards' actions and says the changes should have happened sooner: "David Richards, the new team principal, has his hands far less tied than I did," he said. "He is implementing what should probably have been done a year or 18 months ago. My biggest regret is that the team couldn't succeed fast enough under my direction. The mistake was made conceptually in the structure of the company originally. There are three different shareholders; myself, Adrian Reynard and British American Tobacco and each has different rights linked into their shareholding."

"My particular shareholding had no right to touch the technical side of the team. And that is where things went wrong. A team principal has to be 100 per cent in charge, but I could not change the technical leadership. What has happened in the past few weeks I strongly believe should have happened earlier. That is not because I don't like or respect the guys who had to leave, but in business it's not just a question of liking or respecting."

Although Pollock supports what Richards has done he believes it will be some time before the benefits will become apparent, saying: "When you shake the apple tree there are going to be some apples falling out of it. I think there's going to be a step backwards to take a step forwards at BAR."