Why wouldn't he agree, that was Puig's only chance to take his picture with Satan himself
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Why wouldn't he agree, that was Puig's only chance to take his picture with Satan himself
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Joined Jun 2007
10K Posts | 1K+
Norah Head
SO are you guys sayng that that picture makes Puig look like a ........ or something?
Who's the guy pointing? must be hella good at his job in MGP too ..... to be standing there aparently making Puig look like a .........
Who's the guy pointing? must be hella good at his job in MGP too ..... to be standing there aparently making Puig look like a .........
Alberto Puig was a rider first, he made it to the 500cc class and looked fairly promising and won a race. Then he had a serious leg injury and his career never really came back after that so he turned to management. He has put a lot into rider development and talent spotting, bringing riders into the motogp paddock. Off the top of my head he has had a hand in the careers of Toni Elias, Juan Olive, Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner and Bradley Smith. He started the Honda Movistar cup and later has been behind the redbull rookies cup. Make no mistake he has done a lot of good in the sport and is valuable to the motogp world
However, in his role as Dani Pedrosas manager in motogp he has got a lot of critisism. A lot of people feel he is too overbearing on Dani, who is relatively quiet and shy. He has publicly fought Dani's battles in the press, critisizing and disrespecting Dani's rivals, particularly his team mates. Also people question the wisdom of giving Dani pitboards with incorrect information. Pedrosas 2008 championship charge ended when he crashed at turn one at the German GP in the wet. His pit board told him his lead was about 3 seconds (if i remember rightly), it was more like 7. Besides that he has worked his way in with Repsol, offering them a spanish world champion and in doing so has gained leverage over HRC because they rely on that sponsorship. He can then work to make the team centred around Dani, ensure he is the number one rider and that his development direction is followed, however unique it might be.
Puig seems to be an aggressive and manipulative manager who will do whatever it takes to get Pedrosa (and himself) to the top, although we all know that is what successful management requires (especially at this level), people generally don't like that he makes no effort to hide that. Where other managers in the paddock say the right things in public, smile to the people they are manipulating and disguise their methods Alberto will ruthlessly continue and make no apology for it, so far unsuccessfully.
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
Gotta say, I love that picture more than ever. Puig looks like he's thinking... "What the ....? Nobody likes me - who is this freak?"
And the funny thing is, Dani said Honda has repeatedly refuse to follow his guidelines as to what to bring in terms of parts and development direction. Up until this year, he would ask for A and get C.
Bingo
Joined Jun 2007
10K Posts | 1K+
Norah Head
watched the Valencia test "highlights" last night and one thing struck me as they did a round up of interviews with whoever would speak to the (i think BBC) interviewer.
one thing stood out mightily for me and i may be reading to much into it but the only rider who had a huge cheshire cat grin on his face after the tests was non- other than
the diminutive aussie bloke. no interview with peddles and vale but the rest of the top guys were there. what is telling for me is how happy stoner looked, scarily chuffed at how good the honda seemed
to be and how easy it was to adapt to. my overactive imagination? or a real problem for eveyone else next season. i think the latter......time will tell i guess!
one thing stood out mightily for me and i may be reading to much into it but the only rider who had a huge cheshire cat grin on his face after the tests was non- other than
the diminutive aussie bloke. no interview with peddles and vale but the rest of the top guys were there. what is telling for me is how happy stoner looked, scarily chuffed at how good the honda seemed
to be and how easy it was to adapt to. my overactive imagination? or a real problem for eveyone else next season. i think the latter......time will tell i guess!
Joined Apr 2008
7K Posts | 3K+
Out of Nowhere
Good post. An excellent synopsis. I would also stress the contemptuous treatment of Hayden in particular, and the contentious issue that Puig has arguably taken Dani as far as he can, and far form his reputation helping Pedro, it may actually be hindering his career. In my eyes Dani lacks the ruthless edge both on and off the track. Jorge realised very quickly and shrewdly that Amatriain had served his purpose and would only ...... his career development in the big class. For Puig to continue to send spurious timings on his riders pit board in the light of what transpired at Sachsenring in '08 (which he has), clearly illustrates that he does not have his riders best interests at heart. I would further venture, that like Dani Amatriain, the man is a liability and Pedro would be liberated without him.
I concur that Pedrosa would be better off his manager; tho as described in previous posts; Puig has done good for the sport. Puig was also a much more easy-goer before the accident that broke his pilot's career.
Joined May 2008
3K Posts | 79+
Southern Aridzona - Hell's doorstep.
IMO, Puig's vindictive attitude, lack of honesty, and compulsive control-freak behavior poisons the entire team. The Sachsenring pit signals, and Dani's resultant hand injury that ended any 08 title hopes, are just one small symptom of a much larger issue. If you're ever worked for, or with, a person alike Uncle Alberto, you've seen how quickly people become demoralized when lead by this sort of 'leader.' There is a huge difference between grimly 'doing your job' in a professional manner, and working on something you enjoy in a productive, positive environment: Happy people do MUCH better work.
