The past few days has seen a flurry of activity on bulletin boards and forums discussing the merits of the shock withdrawal from Formula One of the Honda team. In fact it would appear that if you have a spare pound coin lying around you can buy the entire outfit – cars, trucks, factory and more – and go racing next year.
The current trend for blaming everything on the economic downturn – snappily labelled the ‘credit crunch’ here in the UK – has found its way into F1, as Honda cited an order from on high to cut losses as a result of the falling sales and jettisoned staff that the motor industry is currently suffering.
Yet something simply doesn’t ring true: Honda have quit F1 as they apparently have been forced to consider F1 ‘a luxury’ at present, yet they continue to operate in the IRL, and also have no plans to shelve the Moto GP entry. Granted, these two are not as expensive as F1, but they still incur a good proportion of expenditure. They also, notably, have a presence in North America, a major market that F1 has – to the dismay of all the manufacturers – seemingly left behind.
It appears to this writer that there is more to the Honda withdrawal than simply a financial saving. Jacques Villeneuve, a former driver for the team in a different guise, has been quoted as believing the move to be ‘political’ and, when all the flotsam is stripped away, he clearly has a point.
Consider the major difference between Honda and her now ex-rivals: Toyota, BMW, Mclaren-Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari all have major sponsorship deals that offset at least a proportion of the costs involved. Honda, on the other hand, chose to pursue the ‘My Earth Dream’ route and forego any outside help in order to promote the green credentials of the company.
It was always an odd move, and not just financially; the belief that an F1 car can be promoted as ‘green’ was met with much cynicism from the outset.
The other major difference between Honda and her erstwhile rivals is perhaps the more telling one – Honda lack results, even in comparison to perennial tryers Toyota who have just come out of a decent year. The question has to be asked as to whether Honda would still have made the move had they undergone a 2008 season similar to that of, say, Renault.
Anyhow, the fall out is receding and Honda are gone, but the team sits patiently waiting for a buyer, the staff anxious and unsure. Not least, of course, Jenson Button, although he has the comfort of considerable riches to fall back on, and is also an interesting proposition for other teams to consider.
Briefly dealing with Button, where can he go? Toro Rosso will surely be interested – and are said to have made approaches – while Renault may well be interested, too, and should a buyer be found for the Honda outfit, then he surely will continue where he left off. Not so, it would seem, Rubens Barrichello who many are now accepting has driven his last F1 race, at least for this team.
So to the potential buyers: Dave Richards and Prodrive is the obvious candidate as he has experience and the desire to run in F1, and a fully fledged factory with Ross Brawn involved must be of interest to him. A number of stories regarding Middle East based consortiums have come forward, and that is no surprise as they are the only ones with any money, and a strange but interesting rumour links Peugeot-Citroen to the bargain basement team. It is difficult to see why a car maker would make the move at the present time, although there may be one that considers this the opportunity of a lifetime.
We hope the team will find a buyer, and with the proposed cost cutting initiatives in the pipeline it could just be that it is a wise investment at just the right time.
The aforementioned forum chat has all been about the ‘next team to leave’ and it would appear that Toyota are favourite to follow their fellow Japanese outfit through the exit, yet all manufacturers have, in the last few days, assured the world that they are committed to F1 and have no intention of leaving.
It is still the opinion of some – notably Max Mosley in pessimistic mode – that ‘another team’ will leave the sport before the new season, yet I find it very difficult to see who this would be, or indeed why.
Despite the apparent problems in the motor industry and elsewhere Formula One remains a viable shop window from sponsors; no amount of ‘credit crunch’ is going to stop people watching the sport after all. This is why sponsors continue in the sport, and why investment levels are little reduced – in general – from previous years.
Honda leaving is unfortunate – a great name with an illustrious history leaving always is – but this is not the first time a manufacturer (or, indeed, this manufacturer0 has opted to walk when the time was not right for them to stay.
Formula One needs to shed some deadwood in terms of extraneous costs – wind tunnel work has been suggested as a saving, and testing mileage another – but, to paraphrase Mark Twain, rumours of its death are greatly exaggerated.
Honda made a major mistake in that they were directly financed by the parent company, and also failed to live up to the promise shown a couple of years ago. The cost to the board of directors for racing Force India at the back of the field would have been questionable – credit crunch or no.
It may be that another team leaves the sport in the near future, but with the current initiative on reducing costs taking major steps forward it would appear that a successful advertising vehicle – that is, after all, what F1 is to these manufacturers – may be about to become much more cost efficient than it currently is.
So, about that spare pound: I can buy Honda – a fully operational F1 team – or for the same price the Woolworths department store chain. What to do, what to do.
Written by Steve Turnbull on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:47:04
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