Reid Spills The Beans

[Toto]

Anthony Reid has claimed in this week's Motorsport News that he got Yvan Muller off the hook after he assaulted him in parc ferme at Brands Hatch. They were going to suspend Muller for 30 days until Anthony withdrew his statement. If they had, Muller would have missed the final four rounds and very probably the title. Golly ...

[Croft fan]

That was nice of him, was it not?
It seems as though Reids dislike of Muller is not that deep after all. LOL.

[The Stig]

A stewards enquiry was initiated by the MSA, not Anthony Reid or MG, witness statements were taken from officials who saw what happened and Anthony Reid was invited to give a statement. Muller was going to have his licence withdrawn/suspended for 30 days until Anthony Reid had a "conversation" with Vauxhall and withdrew his statement, "in the interests of the championship".

Really would love to know what was said between Reid and Vauxhall.

[Freddie]

Just shows what a Gent Antony is.
At least it made sure the championship was won on the track and not by events off it. I make no bones about it I am not Muller's greatest fan but I did feel he deserved the title after so many attempts and he did seem to get the best out of that Astra even with max ballast.
Could you imagine the moaning and whinging if he had been denyed it for a moment of madness. Totally his fault but somehow he would have found some excuse to blame someone else, anyone else, as long as it wasn't him.
I think a public appology would not go amiss as he did cause Anthony to lose a surefire second step on the podium. I wont hold my breath.

[Toto]

If I recall, he did make a fairly open and public apology on this website and in Motorsport News the week after the incident. Cheers, The Stig, for shedding more light on the incident. You either have inside knowledge or really know your stuff.

[The Stig]

Toto, now that it is public knowledge I'm happy to share part of an e-mail I received on this subject shortly after Brands Hatch. I've copied and pasted the text as was, for the forum to enjoy

Perhaps it's not wise to speculate about the conversations

"A stewards enquiry was instigated by the MSA, not by myself or MG. There
were witness statements from Officials who had seen what happened and I was
asked to make a statement too.

When I was told that Muller was going to have his licence suspended for 30
days I had a discussion with Vauxhall and decided to withdraw my statement
in the interests of the championship hence Muller was only suspended for 11
days. He's a very lucky boy!

If you are at Donington come and say hello.

Regards

Anthony"

[Freddie]

Toto
I stand corrected. I don't read Motorsport News and so missed it. Maybe I'm just a little nervous waiting on tenderhooks for MG to state their intentions for next year.

[JLD]

Originally posted by Freddie
I am not Muller's greatest fan but I did feel he deserved the title after so many attempts

I am not a Muller fan either (those who know me can testify to that) and would never say that anyone deserved a championship because of the number of attempts.

Muller won the championship because he scored more points than anyone else. Exactly as it should be.

[Freddie]

Posted by JLD
Muller won the championship because he scored more points than anyone else. Exactly as it should be.

Thats what I meant to say. He was consistantly on the podium all year. It would have meant so much discussion as to whether he would / wouldn't have won if he had been excluded for the last few rounds. Maybe even devalued the championship for whoever did win it.

The fact that he managed to perform so well at Donnington with no practice shows he was in form. His team / car did help a bit though.

[The Stig]

I have no complaint with him being champion. In most of the rounds I watched this year, Muller was probably the best driver.

My complaint is that he did not exhibit the behaviour of a champion on more than one occasion. I hope he is back next year, competing at the sharp end of the championship, and that the 2004 Yvan Muller learnt a lot from last year about how to win and lose with better manners.

[Freddie]

Couldn't have put it better, Stig.