F1 News: Ross Brawn joins Honda
Former Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn has joined Honda as Team Principal. Nick Fry will remain as Chief Executive but will pass the day-to-day management of the team to Brawn.
Ross Brawn is credited as masterminding all seven of Michael Schumacher’s world titles (two at Benetton and five at Ferrari) and the team is clearly pinning its hopes on the tactical expert to turn around Honda’s dismal 2007 season.
The appointment comes just one day after Jenson Button issued an ultimatum to the Honda team - improve or I’m out.
Ross Brawn had been linked to a return to the Ferrari team - from which he took a one-year sabbatical this year - but it is understood that he became disillusioned with the Italian team and decided to look for a bigger challenge.
So what put Brawn off returning to Ferrari? It is understood that the Ferrari-McLaren spying scandal, in which Brawn’s friend and right-hand man Nigel Stepney was heavily involved, was one factor. He is said to be disappointed by the way Stepney was treated.
It is also well known that Brawn was looking for a new challenge. With Ferrari looking a bit of a mess mid-season this year, Brawn may have liked the idea of being Ferrari’s ‘miracle worker’ for the 2008 season. But with Ferrari winning both titles this year, the challenge for Brawn just wasn’t there.
Honda, on the other hand, will be very much a challenge for the Briton. Expectations at Honda are high but results, especially last year, were low. With Jenson Button admitting that he will look elsewhere next year unless the team can show a drastic improvement next year, Brawn will be crucial to the Japanese team next year.
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[…] a strange coincidence, that this was announced on the same day that Ross Brawn becomes Team Principal of Honda, don’t you […]