Colin Kolles: No Nonsense

Like that quiet friend who turns into a wildly passionate animal after a few drinks down the pub on a Friday night, something must happen to Colin Kolles as soon as he walks into a team principals' meeting.

In public, Kolles is one of the most mild-mannered, calm and considerate of Formula One team bosses. Always happy to stop for a chat, never ducking a question, and perpetually having a cheeky glint in his eye that betrays him knowing something that you don't - but wanting you to probe to try and find out exactly what it is.

Yet speak to rival team principals about their gatherings and they have been left in no doubt about just how passionate, determined and aggressive Kolles can be when it comes to securing what is best for his F1 team. His fist banging has become something of a trademark in recent weeks as the customer car row escalates ahead of what may be a showdown at the Australian Grand Prix.

It is an attitude that has earned him both admirers and detractors - although ever more are being won over by his conviction. He is unfazed by his apparent twin-personality, however. Nothing is ever a big deal to Kolles.

"I was very quiet in the first meetings, I was just listening and I was wondering and analysing," he counters when asked about the perception he has from rival team bosses. "I am still quiet, but sometimes I am saying what I have to say.

"As far as I know I was criticised that: 'This guy has no clue about motorsports, where is he coming from?' But I think that I am more a racer than a lot of other team principals there. All my life was about cars and spending my money in motorsports, more than a lot of other people. This is how I see it. This is my life."

You cannot argue that Kolles' approach to F1 has been anything but successful so far - he is not only still in the sport to tell his tale but his team are in far better shape than the near shambles he inherited from Jordan at the start of 2005.

He has come a long way from his first days in the sport, when no one really knew much about this former Romanian dentist who had arrived on the back of Midland boss Alex Shnaider's takeover of the Jordan team. In fact, when he first arrived, he became more famous for his fashion choices than any of his work in rebuilding Jordan.

There was the famous 'Chavski' hat incident in Melbourne and also the raised eyebrows he received from a few of his fellow team bosses when he turned up for his first team principals' meeting wearing jeans rather than the 'uniform' suit and tie.

Kolles laughs now at how the jeans issue made such an impact with his peers - because it had not even registered with him that Gucci denim would not be given the nod of approval. He still appears baffled by it.

"I was always wearing ties, just as I was always wearing sports shoes and jeans," he says. "I was always interested in fashion. All my girlfriends were either models or fashion designers. The problem is that people were looking in a different way.

"I am not [Honda team boss] Nick Fry. I am not a banker, who goes at 8am in the morning to the bank and wears a tie. I also wear a tie sometimes, but it depends on my mood. I am wearing cowboy boots now for example, and I am always wearing Gucci. I was wearing Gucci two years ago, five years ago, it is not that I am married with this brand but it is what I like. For myself I think I am not so bad.

"I made big deals in my sports shoes and with my jeans, you know, with big guys, with big money. So in the real world no one gives a shit. Real people understand what is your style and what you are wearing."

Unwavering in how he presented himself, Kolles also had to be pretty ruthless in how he operated. Much of his first few months in the job were spent firefighting at Jordan - trying to keep the financially-strapped team on the straight and narrow with a mounting number of creditors banging on the door.

"You just have to work it through it," he recalls of that troubled first year. "I had a good team around me, good people around me, and to be honest Alex Shnaider and the people from Canada they gave me a free hand. And now the company is clean. That is the point. It had to be clean. No legal issues, no stupid things. This was important. And obviously trying to reduce the creditors was a big fight.

"You cannot improve a car if you do not sort out the creditors, the suppliers and the whole mess. You cannot do it. So you have to sort that out first and then you can improve your car on solid ground, otherwise it is not going to work. It is not possible. And I think it is the right way. It takes time and people are beating you up. I had a very clear direction in my head always, I had a very clear direction."

Kolles' focus on sorting out the financial and legal issues at Jordan/Midland was a pretty thankless task. It was not a job for the faint hearted and the financial situation, especially the lack of available investment in improving the team, almost certainly played a part in the departure of sporting director Trevor Carlin mid-2005.

Looking from the outside, it was also hard for people to fathom what Kolles was up to. His fashion sense was all the public could see; and the critics were pointing to a Jordan team in decline. "I was just expected to do my job, the problem is what other people were expecting," says Kolles of the way he was perceived. "They don't know the reality, but I knew the reality. So that is the point."

So would he say he was fairly ruthless in those months as he set about getting the team's finances in shape? "I don't know," he answers. "Maybe some people say I am ruthless, and I am for sure maybe not so patient because I want things to be done. And they have to be done. But I think the people who are around me now are very good people. And they saw that I didn't mean anything bad for them.

"It was just a matter that I had no time to explain then, there just wasn't time. You have to do it, and do it like this and then we will see where we end. We are still not where we want to be, but at least now there is stability and solid ground to build it up."

Tiago Monteiro's podium finish at the 2005 United States Grand Prix may have provided a bit of a mid-season boost to Jordan, but Kolles is not ashamed to admit that the third place actually cost the team. "For me, I was not celebrating this at all," he says. "A podium is a podium, but the circumstances were not the right circumstances.

"At the end of the day, to be honest, it cost us money because we had to pay a lot of prize money bonuses and we didn't gain anything out of it. Actually, it weakened our position because we would have been ninth in the championship anyway but we lost money, so there was no ultimate gain."

Somehow Jordan/Midland survived the worst of it in 2005, but the re-branding as the fully-fledged Midland team for 2006 did not mean that everything was rosy for Kolles. In fact, he was getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of investment from Shnaider. So much so, that on the eve of the season he threatened to quit his role if there was not a bit more commitment shown to the F1 team by its owner.

"For me personally, before the start of the season, this was the toughest time," he recalls. "It was during the first race where I made my point about what has to happen. Either in my opinion, Midland rescued the team with the money, or not. We either did the job, and for that you have to understand motorsport. If you don't understand and you don't have fun, then you should say 'bye bye' and do something else."

Kolles was given the verbal assurances he wanted, but it was clear from the early season onwards that he had to look for alternative solutions. Amid media reports that the Midland team were in deep financial problems, Kolles began scouting for fresh investors and approached Dutch internet entrepreneur Michiel Mol.

"I was looking for new people," he says. "I approached Michiel and asked if there was a possibility to buy, and this is how it all started. And then I was the targeted person from all the sides. I was getting it from Midland basically that they were not convinced to do the deal and get it done. But I was in the middle. I was trying to keep everyone together. This was a lot of phone calls."

Kolles says he felt duty bound to put a deal together and, although part of that meant him staying on board, he insisted that there was no predetermined plan that ensured he would continue with the team. "This was one of the conditions also from the bankers and so on, that I have to stay," he explains.

"From the very beginning I said I don't have to do this, I am not such an ego maniac that I need the publicity. I am not a showman. I am trying to do my job and show I belong to this business, which is nice, but I am not dedicated to it. I can do other business, that is not my main objective. But this is what I would like to do. I like it. Motorsport is what I have wanted since I was two years old, but I also studied medicine and dentistry.

"I was involved in motorsports before with rallying and so on, but I had to make a decision to learn something proper because there was no guarantee that I will become an F1 team principal, or a good F1 racer or a good rally driver. So I am this kind of person who likes to have a certain kind of security."

After weeks of deliberation from Shnaider, and Kolles being right at the centre of the discussions, the deal was finally struck on the Saturday night at Monza. And having captured the signature of Mike Gascoyne, surely Kolles must have been excited ahead of the announcement that marked a new beginning of the team.

"I am not a person who is so excited, even today (at the launch of the new car) I am not excited," he counters. "Maybe I will be excited when we win the first race. For me it is a long way to go, obviously people are happy. It is positive day, everything is nice. If you have a long highway it is kilometre 110 at the moment, but there are still 1000km to go."

Since Monza, the renamed Spyker team have certainly appeared to be on an upward trajectory. As Kolles says, there is still a long way to go yet for the team that are expected to start 2006 at the back of the grid, but already Kolles says he is more encouraged by the attitude of Mol than he was by that of his predecessor.

"He understands motor sport first of all," says Kolles. "Obviously Mr. Mol is Mr. Mol, he has his own personality. And Mr. Shnaider has his own personality. Michiel is an extremely pleasant and polite person. Mr. Shnaider from my side I had a good relationship but the only thing for me was that if you try over a period of almost two years to explain what it is all about and the message is not getting where it should get then there is one day when you say to yourself: Why am I doing this?"

And Kolles admits that Mol is very realistic about how long it will take to achieve results. "He understands it," says Kolles. "I think I am actually pushier. I want to get it as soon as possible. I am not a patient person, as I said, if I could win tomorrow I want to win tomorrow."

But best of all, Kolles finally has some sort of security behind him to try and move Spyker forward. He may be grabbing the headlines at the moment, and dominating those team principal meetings, amid the whole customer car issue (see sidebar), but he thinks finally those outside the team understand where he is coming from - and just what he is trying to do. And that doesn't just count for his fellow team principals.

"I think I have a very good relationship to Bernie," he says. "I hope and I think that he sees me with the right eyes. That he sees that if I say something, it is like this. I don't change my mind. And if I do a deal, if I say it is a deal or we shake hands, then it is a deal and we keep to it. Even if maybe I find out I am losing money, or I have a big disadvantage, but if I said yes then it is yes. And if it no, then it is no."

The last word on Kolles is reserved for Mike Gascoyne, Spyker's chief technical officer and a man who certainly does not suffer fools gladly.

"I think Colin got a bit of a reputation when he came in, but he was in a bloody difficult situation," says Gascoyne. "He had to learn on his feet and he has come a long way.

"I get on with Colin quite well actually. I think he has got a fiery front to him. Sometimes he deals with difficult situations by getting fired up, and people see that and think that is what he is like all the time. But I have not seen that side. He just works very hard."

The Customer Cars Row

If there is one issue that is guaranteed to get Colin Kolles hot under the collar, it is the subject of customer cars. Kolles and Frank Williams are leading a campaign to prevent Super Aguri and Scuderia Toro Rosso from scoring constructors' championship points if they chassis-share this season.

It is hard to imagine that just 12 months ago Kolles was the lone voice in the paddock, unhappy about what was going on in the sport. Now he has found some support, he insists there will be no backing down over the matter - even if it means injunctions being taken out at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Q: It seems you are no longer a lone voice on the customer car issue.

Colin Kolles: "Last year they hadn't realised what the problems will be. Now they are realising because maybe Red Bull and Toro Rosso will be fourth and fifth, or second and third (in the constructors' championship), and this harms so-called top teams. And that is a major issue. Last year it was only our issue and now they realise it was wrong, and it was wrong to accept customer cars."

Q: Does it feel gratifying for you that someone as established as Frank Williams has joined your cause?

Kolles: "In my opinion I think I have a very clear view. From my point of view I think I don't say too many stupid things. I am honest and I am straightforward. And it is nice to see that people like Frank Williams are supporting us 100 percent.

"But it is not only him. It is also McLaren and Toyota and also Ferrari and basically all the other teams. And in respect of 2007 also Renault. Flavio has a different opinion on customer cars (from 2008) because he wants to make money out of it. It is a normal thing and I have no issues with it.

"But if Renault are selling a car in 2008 to Prodrive, then Mr. (David) Richards is not a constructor. It is as simple as that. We have a constructors' championship, that is the main issue of all the game. We invest in wind tunnels, we invest in people, we have 250 people now, and this all costs money. If you do it like Mr. Richards or like Toro Rosso then you need 60-80 people and you go racing. With no investment. You pay your salaries and your travel costs but you cannot benefit as a constructor."

Q: Do you think this issue is bigger than just Super Aguri and Toro Rosso's plans, and that it goes to the very root of what F1 is about?

Kolles: "You see a lot of interviews now, even press people writing things. I just read yesterday in the airplane an article in F1 Racing by Peter Windsor, saying that F1 became so big in the times when you had constructors. This is the important thing.

"You have Ferrari, you don't have five Ferraris. You have a Ferrari, you have a McLaren, and you have a Renault. They are fighting against each other. I think this is the right concept.

"Obviously the FIA and Bernie want to have 24 cars on the grid, OK, it's also fine, but they are not constructors and they are not allowed to score constructors' championship points. You have it in rallying the same. You have a works team, they can score constructors' points, but not the private teams."

But how are you going to make Toro Rosso and Super Aguri accept that?

Kolles: "If they don't, if they are not getting reasonable, then we will have to go to arbitration or to get an injunction for Melbourne. It is as simple as that."

And have you spoken to Bernie Ecclestone about this? What does he think?

Kolles: "Yes. Bernie made a very clear proposal in the last meeting. They have to become a constructor in two years time and then they can get the benefits. It has been proposed by Bernie in the meeting, but then they say: 'No we are complying with the Concorde Agreement and we are a constructor.' Let's see what happens."

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

- The Autosport.com Team

Read and post comments