06/05/2008
NEWS STORY
Announcing that his team is withdrawing from F1 with immediate effect, Super Aguri boss Aguri Suzuki took the opportunity to take a swipe at Nick Fry, Chief Executive of the Honda F1 team.
"I don't understand how suddenly Nick Fry needs to be commenting on everything," said Suzuki, according to Reuters. "Honda were our backers and he's not the CEO of Honda. I have no interest in Nick Fry whatsoever and have no idea what he was talking about."
Since the recruitment of Ross Brawn as Team Principal, which followed a season in which the Honda F1 team - under Fry's guidance - finished eighth in the Constructor's Championship, narrowly beating Super Aguri, little has been heard of the Englishman with regards the Honda team, though he still pops up from time to time to share his opinion on other matters.
In recent days he has been highly sceptical of the move to save Super Aguri, something which clearly isn't lost on Suzuki.
As fans mourn the loss of the "little team with the big heart", it is interesting to ponder the difference between what Honda has achieved, especially during the time in which Super Aguri has been in existence.
To many, there appears to be a lot more motivation behind Super Aguri than Honda and certainly loads more passion.
Super Aguri's only crime is not having being able to attract money. Yet how much has Honda attracted? By the look of its livery - and the EarthDreams b******s hasn't fooled anyone for a moment - nothing.
Looking back on the couple of seasons, who spent (and wasted) more of Honda's money?
After all, let's not forget, until Jenson Button scored those four points in China - the penultimate race of the season - Super Aguri was leading the Brackley outfit in the Constructors' Championship, Honda's highlight of the season (at that stage) having been the fact that they played host to the Beckhams at Silverstone. And even then, David and Victoria appeared more interested in Lewis Hamilton.