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Flash:honda In Talks With Ross Brawn !

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Exclusive: Honda in talks with Ross Brawn

Honda Racing boss Nick Fry is in talks with Ross Brawn in a bid to convince Ferrari's former technical director to join the Japanese manufacturer, autosport.com can reveal.

On the back of Honda's disastrous start to their 2007 campaign, with the RA107 suffering from major aerodynamic problems, Fry is targeting Brawn as a key appointment to resurrect his team's fortunes in the long term.

Following the departure of then technical director Geoff Willis in the middle of last year, Honda Racing have lacked leadership from someone with extensive F1 design experience. Senior technical director Shuhei Nakamoto's background is in engine design and motorbike racing.

Brawn is currently on a sabbatical from Ferrari and, although he has promised to speak to the Maranello outfit before deciding his future, sources have revealed that the Briton has no contractual obligation to rejoin his old team.

That means Brawn is free to join any outfit from the start of 2008 and, it is understood, the Briton has expressed an interest in joining Honda. It is not clear, though, just how advanced the talks with the Brackley-based team have become.

Brawn has made no secret of the fact that he eventually wants to return to Britain, having worked at Ferrari since 1996, and the challenge of turning Honda into world championship contenders would certainly provide a suitable enough challenge to stimulate him.

Autosport.com understands that the discussions between Brawn and Fry began without the pre-approval of Honda's senior management, as Fry moved unilaterally in a bid to convince Brawn on a personal level.

When asked by autosport.com, Fry refused to confirm that talks were going on, but he fell short of denying it. He said: "I've got no comment to make on that."

However, Fry did later admit that the addition of a leading technical figure like Brawn would be a huge boost to his team.

"I think every team would benefit from Ross Brawn," he said. "Whether it be us or others, but I am sure Ross has some sort of arrangement with Ferrari, so we will see."

Brawn is clearly a big attraction for any F1 team, having guided Ferrari to world championship success from 2000 to 2004.

Despite taking a sabbatical this year, it is widely believed that Brawn does want to return to F1 - with his key interest likely to be in becoming team boss at Ferrari.

In the shorter term, Honda Racing are planning to introduce a new car for the Canadian Grand Prix in a bid to turnaround their season.

Although the new car will not officially be designated a B-spec, team insiders have told autosport.com that it will likely be a complete revamp of the RA107 concept.

Work on the new car began after pre-season testing in Bahrain when the team first realised the difficulties they were in.

Fry would not confirm specific details of what was planned, but admitted that major upgrades were in the pipeline for Montreal.

When asked by autosport.com how new the car would be, he said: "That's to be established at the moment.

"We are working on a fairly extensive array of improvements but, at the moment, a lot of those are being worked on in the wind tunnel.

"Clearly there is a limit in what you can do before Canada and we will do the maximum amount, but it will only be if it works.

"There is no point in changing things for the sake of it. We need to understand why we have the problems we do and make sure they are being properly addressed.

"Changing bits of the car just to make ourselves feel good is not being very constructive, so there is a lot of work to be done."

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Oh Snap! If Fry could pull of this move Honda could be challenging for the title in 2008.

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A good stratergist will never make up for a bad car. Honda need to get their act together in that department first

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Lord knows they need to change something in that team. It's obviously not just this year that they've underperformed. They've never been consistent enough, which suggests that as a team they have potential - as well they ought, given their budget - but that that potential is being squandered through bad leadership and decision-making. Honda should probably change the top brass and Brawn is eminently qualified.

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Agreed. The worrying thing is that since 2004 Honda have been getting worse each year, not better. If their B car is no better than their current car they will be in dire trouble. Brawn would certainly do their stratergy wonders, but they also need a boost on the technical side

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Personally I think JB should find a good lawyer and a loophole in his Honda contract, and leave Honda for Super Aguri, if they'll have him. That team knows what it's doing. Alternatively Honda should poach some good BMW people...

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They need Ross Brawn, Michael Schumacher, David Copperfield and Jesus!

As I read in some website (can't remember which one): It ain't easy being green :lol:

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A good stratergist will never make up for a bad car. Honda need to get their act together in that department first

Hungary 1998.

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That owed more to Schumacher wringing every ounce of speed out of the car than to pure stratergy. Few drivers would have been good enough to pull that stratergy off

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A good stratergist will never make up for a bad car. Honda need to get their act together in that department first

Eh? I suppose Ross is not a technical person just like Pat Symonds isn't??

Strategist my foot :wacko:

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Was looking on Wkipedia about Honda F1 Racing, this made me laugh:

Reactions to the new Honda livery have been mixed, with Friends of the Earth accusing the team of being hypocritical, given how polluting F1 is, but there are hopes this new dynamic look will also show on track with some fans of Honda saying this is their best year yet for a championship.

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That owed more to Schumacher wringing every ounce of speed out of the car than to pure stratergy. Few drivers would have been good enough to pull that stratergy off

Agreed.

However, Ross told Michael that they could make a beautiful cake because he had found some lovely ingredients. Although Michael mixed them together like a genius, other technical directors never would have thought of using the same ingredients.

Eh? I suppose Ross is not a technical person just like Pat Symonds isn't??

Strategist my foot :wacko:

Indeed. Ross has the ability to be both, brilliantly.

Keep fishing Ross and come back next year, wearing red. Not because i am a Ferrari fan but because at Honda he would be wasted.

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Ross is a basically a mechanical engineer who started working for williams under Patrick Head. He had a lot of input into the car design at Ferrari, and how things are managed. He brought about the self belief, unity into the Ferrari team, and above all the great reliability as well. He instilled a sense of purpose and provided them with processes that make a chanpionship team. I definitely think Ross Brawn can do wonders with Honda, given its huge budget. It will be interesting if he does sign for Honda.

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I still cant figure out how that is possible.

The SA07 is a better aerodynamical car and more importantly...the Aguri team knows how to set up their car.

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Was looking on Wkipedia about Honda F1 Racing, this made me laugh:

Reactions to the new Honda livery have been mixed, with Friends of the Earth accusing the team of being hypocritical, given how polluting F1 is, but there are hopes this new dynamic look will also show on track with some fans of Honda saying this is their best year yet for a championship.

lmao we hear that from Honda every year and they never deliver

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Reminds me of DC...

How about the ultimate jinx; put DC in a Honda?

Honda will be champions under the reign of Queen d#ck.

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Agreed.

However, Ross told Michael that they could make a beautiful cake because he had found some lovely ingredients. Although Michael mixed them together like a genius, other technical directors never would have thought of using the same ingredients.

Ross just told Michael that he has 6 laps to open a 18 second gap and Michael drove 3 seconds a lap faster then anybody else.

What Ross did was make the Aero guys and the Mechanical engineers at Ferrari work together. Steve matchet explains it very well in The Mechanics Tale. Ross was able to make the aero and mechanical guys work together and not against each over and that, coupled with 18 hour test days with Michael driving made Ferrari what it was.

also, there is no way Ross will move to anybody other then Ferrari, I think. If he doesn't go back to Ferrari I think he will just retire.

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I have a feeling this may well come true. Honda Japan are probably getting very p**sed off with the team underperforming and I'm very sure they would happily stump up the cash for some top personnel like Brawn! On Brawn's side of things, I think coming to Honda and the challenge facing him there would appeal possibly more to him than returning to Ferrari. It would allow him to get his hands dirty and build up a championship winning team, plus the fact he would be based in the UK! Somehow I can see this happening!

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It would be a good change of career for Brawn, maybe the challenge of reviving Honda's fortunes may re-invigorate him.

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Ross just told Michael that he has 6 laps to open a 18 second gap and Michael drove 3 seconds a lap faster then anybody else.

also, there is no way Ross will move to anybody other then Ferrari, I think. If he doesn't go back to Ferrari I think he will just retire.

Er, no it was actually 19 laps. Even Michael wouldn't have been able to drive at 3 seconds per lap faster than the others. Also, i suspect the magical lure of Ferrari has all but gone for Ross. That and the fact that he wants to spend more time in the UK leads me to believe that he would accept another team offer.

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I just think he needs a fresh challenge. He achieved all he possibly could, and then some while he was at ferrari

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