Formula 1 2009 season discussion

**StrawberryFace** · 29-03-2009 10:23 PM

Originally Posted by Petronas

This guy says it like it like it should be said in the media...
http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,189...117553,00.html

Honda's Two-Year Strategy Is On Course
Forgive the intrusion to the "incredible fairytale" proclaimed by Eddie Jordan, but, upon reflection, the Brawn GP story is not the romantic tale of plucky underdogs making good that some elements of the F1 media are intent on depicting.

Brawn GP are not the new boys on the block. They are the massively-resourced Honda team operating under a new badge and with a considerable budget. Their figurehead is the most-celebrated engineer in the team's history. Their drivers are both established race winners. And they've been working on this car for over a year.

Where precisley is the romance in that? And where's the underdog? There is, undoubtedly, a novelty factor in finding another team at the top of the pile but, in general, Brawn are being portrayed as something they are not.

As Martin Whitmarsh remarked, Brawn are effectively reaping the rewards of "a strategy" devised by Ross Brawn 15 months ago when, in his own words, "we decided to virtually drop the programme for 2008 and concentrate on 2009."

Some might consider that strategy duplicitous. Not so; it was a business decision, and one made easy by the full horror that was the unfixable Honda. There's no polishing a turd, after all. But there's a flip-side to consider. McLaren and the like should have no shame - and suffer no repercussions - from copying aspects of the Brawn, including their controversial diffuser. "We had 15 months to look at the regulations," remarked Brawn at Melbourne. The rest of the field, busy racing to the maximum in 2008, had no such luxury.

That is way underplayed...the fact remains that Honda was NEVER a competitive outfit. This weekend in Australia, however, they have shown otherwise.

**Petronas** · 29-03-2009 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by StrawberryFace

That is way underplayed...the fact remains that Honda was NEVER a competitive outfit. This weekend in Australia, however, they have shown otherwise.

Ross Brawn is the instigator of all this success...

And this team was competitive at one stage in their B.A.R. Honda guide under the watchful eyes of David Richards/Prodrive (Same organization which ran the Subaru WRC teams) - 2004, they came 2nd in the constructors championship, beating McLaren & Williams (who were part of the "top 3 teams" at the time)