Mika Salo has retired

[vat_man]

from www.grandprix.com

Salo goes out to pasture

Mika Salo will be paid next year's salary by Toyota and goes into retirement a happy (and wealthy) man as a result. The Finn always said that he would retire at the end of the Toyota deal and he has now confirmed that this will be his course of action now that Toyota has decided to drop him in order to make way for someone else.

Salo confirmed that he was getting "reasonable compensation" for the cancellation of the final year of his contract.

Toyota has tried hard to make it clear that there is no criticism of the drivers that they have been dropped by the team (a difficult task to achieve!) and is arguing that it was simply a question of a
need for new ideas.

Another promising F1 career comes to little.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Originally posted by vat_man
Another promising F1 career comes to little.

Hey Vat, have you read Perry McCarthy's autobiography "Flat out flat broke"? If not, you should. I never realised just how hard it is for some of these guys to make it in motor racing until I read it. And it's very funny.

 

[vat_man]

Originally posted by GilesGuthrie


Hey Vat, have you read Perry McCarthy's autobiography "Flat out flat broke"? If not, you should. I never realised just how hard it is for some of these guys to make it in motor racing until I read it. And it's very funny.

Not yet - there's probably one place in Sydney that'll be carrying it - which is a pain the arse to get to - I do want to get it, though. There's always Amazon.

 

[askia47]

so sad and waste ful

 

[Pupik]

Salo's career is a case of "coulda been a contenda..." Living in the shadow of Hakkinen wasn't much hep, either. But it's sad to see a talent like him go to waste, in a way. (Oh well, his Tyrrell in the original F1 World Championship game for the PSX is one of my favorite setups. Not the fastest, but it Salo's car makes up for it!)

That's F1 for you, you can't every prove your self in other motorsports, nowadays, because of contracts and clauses. Twenty years ago, you could drive sports cars or rallys or touring cars on the side, and bolster an F1 career that wasn't going anywhere because the team wasn't that good. There was something besides F1, and youo could still be noted as a fine driver despite a lack of results in F1.

Nowadays, it's no wonder F1 is billed as the pinnacle of motorsport; it leaves no room for any other racing by it's drivers!

 

[Ferrari 308]

I was kind of surprised to hear Toyota announce that they were going to sack Salo, but I thought he did a great job. Didn't hear much about him all year because of Ferrari of course, but still a great driver, nonetheless...