NOVEMBER 12, 2007

Brawn and Fry discuss the future

Nick Fry and Ross Brawn have been discussing how they are going to work together in the future at Honda Racing F1. Fry said that he had spent seven months chasing Brawn and that the hiring of the former Ferrari engineer as the Honda team principal was "a clear indication of Honda's intention to remain and be successful in Formula 1".

Fry admitted that he and Brawn has had "many hours of discussions" and said that he had concluded that they both had similar outlooks and approachs.

"In terms of job responsibilities. Ross is team principal and is organizationally in charge of the team," Fry said. "I will take charge of the commercial side, the marketing, sponsorship and the legal side."

Both men will report to Honda board member Hiroshi Oshima, who is Honda's general manager of the corporate communications division.

Brawn said that 12 months away from F1 had been an interesting experience.

"It helped to focus on what I enjoyed about racing and I did miss it," Brawn said. "I was coming to the conclusion I was missing racing and wanted to get back into it."

Brawn said that he had some very amicable discussions with Ferrari about returning to Italy but said the team did not offer him the challenges he was looking for.

"Honda has a fantastic racing heritage," he said. "They have the commitmenmt to meet the challenge. There are not many opportunities in F1 that give you that."

Brawn said that there is not much that he can do to influence the 2008 car which is now being manufactured and said that he had no idea how long it would take to make Honda competitive because he has not had the opportunity to see how the team works.

"What I have done is get an assessment of the people who own the team and I was convinced that they have the commitment and the resources. I am very impressed with what I have seen so far. The facilities are not the reason we should not succeed. Honda is much closer to success than Ferrari was when I joined 10 years ago."

Brawn said that he did not intend to take a hatchet to the existing staff and hopes to use his experience to mould a winning team with the existing people.