Theoretical Question: If You Boght Honda What Would you Do??

[ESPImperium]

Ive been running thrugh this in my mind for a week or so now, what would i do if i was to take over the Honda F1 team???

What id do is theese to start with:
* Get Jenson in, see if he is willing to take a pay cut, if not sever his contract with immediate effect, if it could cost the team nothing.
* If i was to sever Jensons contract id the Hire Seb Bourdais and as the second driver take onboard Bruno Senna (Get ahold of the Embratel and Petrobas sponsorship money, roughly £35 Million together), hire Lucas Di Grasi as test and Reserve Driver as well, loosing Alex Wurtz as well.
*Get a title sponsor, someone that can give arround £20-25 Million a season.
*Get a small group of arround 5 other sponsors that can give arround £60-80 Million a year.
* Try and work the wonders with Ross Brawn and his Ferarri contacts for engines or see BMW for a drivetrain for the 2009 season. Thats if i wasnt a new manufacturer coming to the sport as id keep the engine department and just re-brand the Honda unit, with some "relyability" "upgrades".
* Reduce wastage and drive efficency in the team and work to a budget of arround £120 Million to £160 Million a year.

What would you do???

[cba_]

Try to get a sponsor.

[Roland Ehnström]

As much as it'd hurt me, I'd sack both Jenson and Rubens, and put the money on hiring the best engineers I could find, to match the talent of Ross Brawn. My pick of drivers would be Lucas DiGrassi and Romain Grosjean. I would expect bad results in 2009 season, but steady progress in 2010 and 2011 as the drivers get more experienced and the team gathers momentum. I'd also work very hard to get a Ferrari or Mercedes engine for 2010 onwards. It could be a good team, with a bright future.

[Rob W]

*Get a small group of arround 5 other sponsors that can give arround £60-80 Million a year.

Five sponsors at even £10m each is a total dream. They won't pay that much and, in the rare case they ever do, it's with a team like McLaren who negotiate mega merchandising allowances for them (posters, association marketing etc). A 'nothing' team has none of this clout at all.

Herein lies a major problem of being a small team.

[xpensive]

Rob W: I think the problem is that what is on the plate is not a small and efficient team, but a big and ridiculously costly team with pitiful results.

- Immeditely scale down the operations according to 2010 rules.
- Give up on 2009 results, ditch KERS development(which will be standardized by 2010 anyway), Button (along with helmets)and everything else that consumes money.
- Ask Cosworth for use of their 2006 engine in 2009, fixed-price Renaults in 2010.
- Get two credible pay-drivers for 2009, with an evaluation at mid-season.

Chances are that you will still need to raise 50 - 100 MUSD just to run the team in 2009, which is where the problem begins.

[roost89]

* If i was to sever Jensons contract id the Hire Seb Bourdais and as the second driver take onboard Bruno Senna (Get ahold of the Embratel and Petrobas sponsorship money, roughly £35 Million together), hire Lucas Di Grasi as test and Reserve Driver as well, loosing Alex Wurtz as well.

Why get rid of Alex Wurz aswell? Hiring 3 guys that don't know the car at all won't help development in any way. Keeping an experienced hand is a good idea.
So I'd keep Wurz if I could, he'd be able to help with the development of the car with the engineers.

- Give up on 2009 results, ditch KERS development(which will be standardized by 2010 anyway), Button (along with helmets)and everything else that consumes money.

I don't understand why you'd ditch a system you've been working on for the past year especially when the 2009 car will have the KERS package built into it's design. It'll bring an advantage to you, hopefully, at the start of the season and then through it.

[andartop]

I 'd get immediately in touch with Aguri Suzuki..

[alex1015]

Keep the staff in place, under Ross Brawn's leadership you are better off than most teams as he is a proven winner. Additionally, keep Wurz for his development help and keep at least one of the current pilots for consistency. (pick your favorite Jens/Rubens)

I don't think it is reasonable to write of 2009 though as most say. Honda already went with that policy in 08 saying 09 would be better. I don't think sponsors would gravitate towards a team with a "the sun will come out tomorrow" mentality.

Sponsors want proven results and don't throw money at you for promises and dreams. Additionally Honda had claimed that they would be stronger in 09 so let's see if they're honest.

And as I alluded to finally, sponsorship is a must. In the current spending age it is just impractical to believe you can make ends meet from personal financing as well as prize money.

[panchito401]

I'd slap a big ol' F1Technical.net sticker on the side of it NASCAR style.

[ESPImperium]

I 'd get immediately in touch with Aguri Suzuki..

And ditch Nick Fry, ill agree here. Nick Fry has a good brain for the mechanics of F1, but not the Buisness of F1, where Suizuki has both, and this can be shown in what he did at Super Aguri.

[Conceptual]

My first thought was:

Keep Ross Brawn as Tech Director, and the model monkeys in place.

Bring the entire Super Aguri team, drivers included (Sato and Davidson?)


Sell Jenson's contract to highest bidder, contact Williams about a customer/co-development contract for 2010->. And run whatever Ross has in the tunnel at brackley all season, stopping development when both drivers are mathematically eliminated.

After that, I would look for sponsors for 2010 (or possibly run Williams' sponsors?)

Who knows, but if anyone here is familliar with DragonBallZ, it is time for FUSION->HA!

[megz]

Fire Nick Fry, Button.
Keep Barrichello and hire Bruno Senna.

Try and woo potential sponsers with the Senna name.
Bring in Berger to help run the team.
Bring in Cosworth power.

Unfortunately for money saving staff cuts will be necessary. Give Ross Brawn free reign of car design/development. Copy top teams designs as soon as they appear and try to adapt them to the Honda chassis to help reduce R & D.

[xpensive]

I have to admit to be somewhat puzzled by all the expectations on Ross Brawn to design a winning F1 car, when he hasn't done that since I don't know when.
Rory Byrne was head of design during those glorious years at Benetton and Ferrari.

Don't be mislead by titles like "Technical Director", in the corporate world that is more of an administative position. As a matter of fact, the man don't even have an engineering degree, I think he started out as a machinist with Williams in the seventies.

Though Brawn has great managing, as well as strategic, talents within the technical area.

[pgj]

Lose a lot of money.

I would make sure that the FIA knew that the deal was in place and would not sign until I was certain that I could not squeeze any more technical changes from the FIA/FOTA.

I would also look to set up joint projects with other teams, maybe even in different series, based on technologies. Other formulae could be used to prototype new developments and then further develop them for F1. F1 always does 'its own thing' and in doing so often reinvents the wheel, just because F1 is F1. It may even lead to outsourcing development of certain components. I am not sure that it would be an approach that would ever produce a championship winning car, but it may produce a cost effective development programme.

[axle]

Anyone who takes Honda over has to be a company looking for world wide exposure/marketing. For instance, Carlos Slim would only consider it if he was going to go global with Telmex.

So that's half the budget, part of the marketing budget of the owning company (big companies spend literally billions a year on marketing so F1 and it's global precense it quite good value for money, especially in a first year when everyone is keen to see what's going to happen with the new team.

So with a few other, complimentary sponsors that could probably be found (again taking the Telmex example other South American companies would want to be on board).

Then its a case of the team structure...well no test team now so they go immediately. Technology and workforce will have to be examined. Supplier contracts will have to be signed and again an independent team may get ripped off less than a manufacturer...

F1 teams are incredibly wasteful, very expensive nuts and bolts (even non-load bearing) are thrown away after 1 use). This sort of waste should be eliminated.

Then you have to look at the workforce and decide which areas to focus on for the coming years of competition. The aero and chassis depts should be scaled down by a 5th to start with...you can't rip all the knowledge out in one go or you're left with a car and no information about it.

I expect Honda and Toyota are both very much process driven, which isn't a bad thing but it can get in the way and slow things down...I'd add a certain amount of Racing Team JFDI to the processes...(JFDI = Just F***ing Do It)

KERS would actually be worthwhile continuing with as if the RUMOURS are true, someone will have to build the standard system like McLaren build the SECU! An "independent" team would probably stand a chance of winning such a tender. (However I believe the technology is being standardised not that there will be a single version of the system built by one firm. The FIA want innovation, so they have to leave this relatively free).

The engine, well Cosworth is the only option, and it's not a bad option in the current standardised rules...no real point in looking for another engine deal unless it's cheaper.

As for the drivers I'd keep Button and add a financially backed youngster. Button's contract would be NEW not the one he has with Honda, therefore I expect if he wants the drive he'd take a significant pay cut to stay in the sport.

Nick Fry would be replaced because as a figure head, a head must roll...Brawn would continue to mould the team into a Ferrari esq machine, cutting fat and focussing development on the areas that will give most gain.

Wage structures would be looked at a caps may be introduced...

And contrary to some I wouldn't GIVE UP on 2009, just lower expectations and give it a good shot, if the new "Honda" is as good as they hoped why would you stop work on it??! Results = cash prizes in the current system...