Ex-Honda team 'seal F1 survival'

Re: Ex-Honda team 'seal F1 survival'

Postby Cheese » Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:20 am

McLaren are my team. Always have been and always will be.
Even if Lewis leaves for Ferrari i'd still support McLaren.
My uncle got me into F1 and has always supported Ferrari, so i chose to go against him and support (the orange and white at the time) McLaren.
“What a great day for football, all we need is some green grass and a ball.”
Cheese
Arsène Wenger
Arsène Wenger
 
Posts: 15075
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:48 pm

Re: Ex-Honda team 'seal F1 survival'

Postby Cheese » Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:38 am

Branson hints at Brawn GP buy-in

Sir Richard Branson hinted he could be ready to increase his involvement in F1 and the Brawn GP team after the team's one-two at the Australian Grand Prix.

Briton Jenson Button led home Rubens Barrichello barely a day after Branson confirmed a "substantial sponsorship" deal with the Ross Brawn-owned team.

But Branson told BBC Sport: "It's a case of watch this space, I think.

"They've certainly got me addicted so it'd be a good time to sit me down and have a word about upping my interest."

Branson was track-side as Brawn GP rounded off a sensational weekend with the top two podium spots following a frantic race in Melbourne.

And he admitted even he could barely believe his luck in Brawn GP grabbing a one-two barely 24 hours after he agreed to sponsor the former Honda team.

"It is a great day," he said. "Somebody just grabbed my hand and said to me that I had to join them at the casino so they could hold my hand and bet £1m on red!

"It was just a magnificent GP, a brilliant showing from our engineer Brawn - he was the person we were really investing in - and two great drivers who delivered the goods. It's a great start to the season.

"At the moment we're just sponsors. I mean, one day, Virgin might own a team and name it after itself.

"We'll have talks. I'm sure if Brawn GP keep plying me with champagne and putting gorgeous Virgin girls either side of me, you never know!

"But on a serious note they deserve supporting.

"This car only six weeks ago never looked capable of racing. All the people working for Honda were going to be out of work and we had no way of knowing how great the car would be.

"It's great to be part of the team rescuing that. We hope Virgin will be part of it going forward."

© BBC Sport | Formula1
“What a great day for football, all we need is some green grass and a ball.”
Cheese
Arsène Wenger
Arsène Wenger
 
Posts: 15075
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:48 pm

Re: Ex-Honda team 'seal F1 survival'

Postby Cheese » Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:40 am

Brawn GP reveal heavy job losses

Debutant Australian Grand Prix winners Brawn GP are making more than a third of their staff redundant to cut costs.

Hours after Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello completed a dream one-two finish in Melbourne, chief executive Nick Fry announced the losses.

"It's very unfortunate that we've got to do that but it's the change of technical regulations and obviously we are now a private team," he said.

About 270 jobs will be lost from the team's Brackley factory in England.

Brawn GP were created in the wake of Honda's withdrawal from Formula 1.

Team boss Ross Brawn sealed their survival with a management buyout in early March, ensuring most employees initially stayed to help rebuild a fresh team after the under-performing Japanese outfit pulled out of the sport because of the global financial crisis.

Since that point Brawn have been a revelation, consistently going quickest in pre-season testing before making the most successful Grand Prix debut by a team for 55 years in Melbourne on Sunday.

But Honda's estimated 2008 spend in F1 was at least £210m and Brawn GP, who announced Richard Branson's Virgin Group as their first significant sponsor on Saturday, are now operating on a far smaller budget.

"It's about 270 [job losses]," said Fry.

"We are about 700 people at the moment and we talked to the staff about going down to about 430, something like that, which is where we [predecessors BAR] were in 2004."

Max Mosley, president of motorsport's governing body the FIA, has repeatedly stressed the need for F1 teams to trim their workforce.

Additionally, F1's rules have changed this season - meaning fewer staff are needed now that testing is banned from the start of the season to the end of the year.

Brawn are also now buying in their engine from McLaren's partners Mercedes.

Fry revealed that staff at Brawn's Brackley factory in England had been informed and redundancy letters had gone out in mid-March.

© BBC Sport | Formula1
“What a great day for football, all we need is some green grass and a ball.”
Cheese
Arsène Wenger
Arsène Wenger
 
Posts: 15075
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:48 pm

Re: Ex-Honda team 'seal F1 survival'

Postby gzagee » Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:53 am

Read an article about it yesterday. Seems that where they took advantage of the new regulations, some of the staff have fallen victim.
Image
User avatar
gzagee
Member of the Year 2008
Member of the Year 2008
 
Posts: 20802
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:46 am
Location: Somewhere between Nadir and Nirvana

Previous

Return to Motor Sport

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests