The Honda F1 Team Rescue – A Rescue At All?
Media around the world is reporting the Honda F1 Team has been rescued by the current management. A close look at the deal raises the question of whether this is a rescue at all?
As a Formula One fan, you probably know the story already. If not, here we go… Honda announced it was bailing on Formula One this offseason. Why? The stated reason was the rough economic conditions it was running into world wide. Most of us fans thought it was just the fact the company was spending boatloads of money, getting no results and was simply looking for a way out that would not be embarrassing.
Despite financial systems and economies crashing and burning across the world, parties started lining up to buy the team per rumors flying across various media outlets. At one point, Richard Branson of Virgin fame was clearly going to buy the team…then he wasn’t. Petrobras in Brazil was also absolutely going to buy the team…then it wasn’t. Heck, even Bernie Ecclestone was supposedly offering $100 million for the team.
At the end of the day, none of these entities purchased the team. It isn’t really clear how many of them even tried. Instead, it was the current management of the Honda F1 team that apparently has pulled off the trick. This group consists of Ross Brawn, Nick Fry and three other individuals. The immediate questions that come to mind are how much did it cost to buy the team and where did they find the money in the current economic meltdown?
Here’s where things start getting murky.
The price tag put on the team appears to be $100 million dollars.
Here’s where it gets really strange.
The $100 million dollars will not be paid TO Honda. Instead, Honda will pay it to the Brawn/Fry group so the team has enough money to make it through the full 2009 season.
Huh?
If you are thinking this doesn’t sound like a rescue, I agree. Instead, it sounds like Brawn and Hart will able to talk the Honda Board of Directors into continuing the team so long as they kept the budget under $100 million. Remember, Honda does not have a title sponsor on the car, so it must pay the budget itself.
There has been no formal announcement on the “rescue” of the team. It should be coming any day as the team is planning to start formal testing of the 2009 chassis. The announcement will be worth watching closely as it is probably going to be a head scratcher. If Brawn and Hart talked the Honda Board into giving F1 another try, there should be plenty of back slapping going around.
Lemmy