11/01/2009
NEWS STORY
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Anyone with even a passing interest in Formula One will be aware that the Honda F1 team's Chief Executive Nick Fry isn't shy when it comes to sharing his thoughts with the media. Much like Gordon Brown uses the BBC to inform the people that tractor production is up, so too Mr Fry has his favoured media outlets.
Therefore, the fact that Nick Fry's favoured mouthpiece has not, thus far, run a story denying reports that he is considering making a bid for the Brackley outfit, would appear to suggest that this is precisely what is happening.
There are many good people at Brackley and it would be a tragic blow should the doors close for good later this month. A buyer must be found, however, in these difficult times one has to wonder who might be interested in pouring money into such a project.
There is talk that Greek shipping tycoon Achilleas Kallakis has expressed interest, however, one has to ask what possible use a Formula One team might be to a shipping tycoon.
We are all familiar with the line, 'how do you make a small fortune in F1... you start with a large one' (boom boom!), but that is the truth, it is a fact of (F1) life.
Formula One is not a computer game, you cannot sit down with a couple of hundred million, employ the best brains in the business, sign Lewis Hamilton as your number one driver and your best mate as his teammate. This is real life.
Therefore one question has to be asked of any possible Nick Fry bid.
Given his monumental failure with the mighty resources of Honda behind him, what on earth makes anyone think he can do any better with his own money, or that of the ubiquitous "consortium".
In late 2004, Honda bought a 45 percent stake in British American Racing. The team, under the guidance of David Richards, finished runner-up in the Constructors' Championship, over 140 points behind Ferrari, but ahead of Renault, Williams and McLaren.
What happened next is shrouded in mystery, however, the key facts are that Richards was shown the door and Fry, who had been brought to Brackley by his former boss at Prodrive, took over as Team Principal.
Despite a poor start to the 2005 season things picked up in the second half, and while the team had no points after the first nine races, thirty-eight points in the remaining ten saw it finish sixth in the Constructors' Championship, albeit almost thirty points behind fifth-placed Williams.
In the meantime, with the tobacco advertising ban looming large, Honda had bought the remaining 55 percent of the team. The Japanese giant was back in F1 in its own right, lining up on the grid in Bahrain.
In his first year in charge at Brackley, Fry was already making statements that were to become depressingly familiar, 'this is a transitional year', 'we are a young team, 'we are still learning' he repeatedly told us.
On the surface, 2006 didn't look too bad, the team finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship and Jenson Button - then darling and only hope of championship glory for the British media - scored an emotional win in Hungary.
However, behind the scenes things weren't going quite so well. Just days into the new year, aerodynamic guru Willem Toet jumped ship subsequently joining BMW.
There had been whispers that all was not well at Brackley, there was talk of a culture of fear, of yes men, of a system whereby you do it our way or you're out.
While the press release announcing Toet's departure was the usual piece of puff, thanking him for his work with the team and wishing him success in his future career - such as that he is currently enjoying with BMW presumably - there was an altogether different document doing the rounds. In an e-mail to his colleagues, Toet made it clear exactly why he was leaving Brackley. Whilst admitting the aero weakness of the 2005 car, he said he disliked the "blame culture" at Brackley. He wished the "humans" at the factory, "the very best of success", despite the "best efforts of some people at the top of the company".
Months later, Geoff Willis followed Toet out of Brackley, the Englishman going on to achieve success with Red Bull. Many more good people have since followed these two out of the door.
The relative success of 2006 seems like a lifetime ago, for what followed in 2007 and again in 2008 beggars belief.
Even in pre-season testing, Button referred to the RA107 as "a dog", however, everyone thought things would improve. They were wrong, and it wasn't long before Fry was telling us that this would be another 'transitional year' that the team was 'young' and 'still learning'.
To make matters worse, Super Aguri, set up essentially in a PR move to appease Japanese race fans following the decision to drop Takuma Sato in favour of Rubens Barrichello, was out-performing the Brackley outfit. OK, the Leafield team had the (winning) 2006 Honda package, however, it also, much like Minardi before it, generated a special kind of emotion in race fans.
Thankfully, a strong drive in freak weather conditions saw Button finish fifth in China, the four points ensuring that Honda finished above its 'sister team' in the championship, albeit in eighth, two points behind Toro Rosso.
Once again, in 2008, it was clear, almost from the start, that Honda would be hurting. Woefully off the pace in pre-season testing, things had improved a little by the time the cars lined up on the grid in Melbourne.
Honda's deep pockets had allowed the team to recruit Ross Brawn, the man who had enjoyed championship winning success with both Benetton and Ferrari. However, he arrived too late to have any impact on the RA108, yet when he said it would be a 'transitional year' we believed him.
The car was poor, in addition to a weak aero package, the engine - once the raison d'etre of Honda's existence - was no match for its rivals. However, the threat of being upstaged by Super Aguri yet again was soon dealt with, with team boss Aguri Suzuki's comment best summing up how many felt at the time. While Nick Fry was pouring cold water on talk of potential buyers for the ailing Leafield outfit, Suzuki said: "I don't understand how suddenly Nick Fry needs to be commenting on everything. 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."
Despite Super Aguri's withdrawal from F1, the Brackley outfit was still regularly embarrassed and it was only an inspired tyre choice by Rubens Barrichello at Silverstone that gave the team its best result of the season and its best points tally since Brazil 2006.
The season ended with Honda finishing ninth in the Constructors' Championship, however, attention was already focussed on 2009. What with the raft of new rules, plus Ross Brawn finally coming into play for real, things were looking good. Then, on December 5, came the shock news... Honda was out of F1.
In much the same way as Gordon Brown insists that the sub prime woes in America are the reason for the mess that is the British economy, Honda cites the global financial crisis as the reason for its decision to leave F1. Are we really to believe that, financial crisis or no financial crisis, Honda would have pulled the plug having finished third or fourth in the 2008 Constructors' Championship? Would Honda have really walked away from F1 had it seriously thought Jenson Button might be battling for wins with Lewis Hamilton next season? As it happens, this was the very point Bernie Ecclestone made in a conversation with Pitpass' Chris Sylt before Christmas.
The fact is that after two dreadful seasons in which it scored twenty points, its two drivers scoring points in just seven of thirty-five races, Honda said 'enough is enough'.
While he had his critics, David Richards had a galvanising effect because he got the top end working together in a way that previous management had not. However, his departure pulled that apart and the 'new regime' did almost nothing. It did not make the team work technically or commercially.
In the right hands, the Brackley outfit can be successful, there are some very good people there, not least Brawn. However, good as he is, Ross is not a team leader, then again, neither is Fry.
Under Fry's management the team has gone from bad to worse, and while the results speak for themselves, what about that other debacle, the Earth Dreams fiasco... the 'Mypointsdream' saga.
There was a loud fanfare when Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment was brought on board in an attempt to give the Honda F1 team a "youth orientated buzz". However, the fanfare turned to howls of derision when the Spice Girls manager unveiled the Earth Dreams concept in 2007. This environmental, tree-hugging nonsense was fooling nobody. Unable to come up with a serious sponsor, the team stuck a map of the earth on the side of the car, and proclaimed its desire to save the planet. Utter tosh.
Carbon emissions aside, the reality is that sponsorship is the oxygen of F1, and Honda simply didn't have sponsors. On the back of the Hungary win, not to mention the fact that - at the time - Jenson Button was the great hope for British F1 success, sponsors should have been breaking down the doors at Brackley, but they weren't. Why? Why was a team such as Honda, with its history and it's good looking lead driver unable to attract a major sponsor or even a number of smaller sponsors?
Once the Earth Dreams livery was in place it marked the death knell in terms of serious sponsorship for the Japanese team. Smaller sponsors would be unable to have their logos on the car while the recruitment of a significant sponsor would need the removal of the Earth Dreams logos, which would not only give the original game away but would leave the team open to ridicule over its environmental claims. Honda F1 had allowed itself to be painted itself into a corner.
A Pitpass source reveals that in mid-2007 he asked a senior Honda man what would happen if he was in a position to bring a blue-chip corporate sponsor into the team for $50m and they wanted the car to be fully branded and change colour. "No problem", the Honda man replied, "they'd bite your arm off."
While 19 Entertainment's arrival was loudly trumpeted, there was an ominous silence when it parted ways with Honda in mid 2008.
Other than the Earth Dreams concept few will remember much of the relationship, however, let's not forget that it was Fuller who got the Beckhams to attend the British GP as 'guest' of Honda, even though they were more interested in meeting Lewis Hamilton. Also, let's not forget that - as part of its bid to give Honda a "youth orientated buzz" - Murray Walker was recruited, the commentating veteran famously regaling the team's corporate guests at Silverstone with tales of Michael Schumacher's genius.
That said, the relationship with 19 Entertainment can't have been all bad, for it allowed Fry to have his picture taken with all manner of celebrities... and the one thing that Mr Fry likes more than sharing his opinions with us all is having his picture taken with a famous face. While there was precious little to smile about at Silverstone in 2007, Button having qualified eighteenth, there was Mr Fry enjoying a photo opportunity, grinning away with Posh and Golden Balls.
Honda struggled to find decent sponsorship when it was winning, when Button was the great hope, so, one might reasonably ask, why will it suddenly become of interest to sponsors under new ownership?
Back in 2007, when the team opted for the ludicrous Earth Dreams concept, this was on the back of the Hungary win, on the back of finishing fourth in the championship... now we're facing the worst financial crisis in living memory. Where are these new sponsors going to come from and what makes the team more attractive now than it was in 2007?
Then again, as we pointed out in a previous item, there is the question - assuming Fry is making a bid for the team - concerning what, on the face of it, appears to be a potential conflict of interest. Within minutes of us suggesting that this could be the case, one high-profile F1 insider contacted Pitpass, admitting to being "surprised" at the probity of Fry's position as CEO and potential buyout move.
"In normal business in a situation like this he would have declared his interest and stepped aside from any involvement in vetting bidders to avoid any conflict of interest," said the source. "It is highly likely that this current approach could jeopardise any credible bids due to the inherent potential bias revealed at this late stage."
Other than this apparently serious issue, we have to ask once again, how can Fry turn things around with an alternative financial stream having failed so miserably with the mighty resources of Honda behind him?
Then, there is another question that needs to be addressed.
We know that the team will be sold on for a nominal amount, and that in addition to paying its championship entry fees for 2009 the lease on Brackley has been paid (up front) for as much as four years.
The Japanese are a proud people, and in situations such as this it is all about maintaining face, of being able to walk away from a situation with one's reputation intact.
Honda Japan has made it clear that no-one will be 'burned' by its withdrawal from F1. According to our sources, what this means is that although jobs will be lost, both directly and indirectly, all bills will be paid. The company is understood to have set aside as much as $70m which will be used to pay off suppliers and make redundancy payments. While the team will have walked away from F1 it will have faced up to its financial responsibilities.
Surely Honda wouldn't provide to a buyer the money earmarked to fulfil its commitments. That would simply be throwing good money after bad and given that prudence is the hallmark of success in the financial world at the moment it would do Honda's reputation no good. If a new buyer cannot afford the team then surely Honda should strike it off the bid list.
We repeat, in the right hands the Brackley outfit can be successful. Under the right management, and with Ross Brawn on board, the team can get back to the front end of the grid. However, the lessons of the last four years must be learned.
It is staggering that the Honda Motor Co did nothing to reverse the team's fortunes. However, in this respect, it is clear that Mr Fry's biggest skill is in making good presentations in Tokyo and speaking a credible language to the corporation's senior management.
Honda's previous successes in F1 with Williams and McLaren in the '80s, and Mugen-Honda's giant killing act with Jordan (3 race wins, 3rd in the Drivers and Constructors Championships in 1999) were achieved by partnering with enormously experienced racing teams whose management knew how to get the most out of a group of people, drivers and so on. BAR never truly succeeded in that critical area and it appears Honda only added its own layer of corporate structure on top of what was already in place.
Racing teams, if they are to be successful, need to be lead by experienced racers, and Mr Fry has proven that conclusively.
Chris Balfe
Editor