The usually quiet weekend between two Formula 1 races was this time interrupted by accelerating developments surrounding Super Aguri team. First on Friday Super Aguri team and Weigl Group confirmed the talks. Then Nick Fry on Friday expressed his doubts about the deal and called it unlikely. Franz Josef Weigl responded quickly. In the meantime the Super Aguri cars were spotted to be in Honda’s Brackley factory instead on ferry from Trieste to Istanbul. I tried to keep track of these developments in this post.

Then on Sunday things took a turn for worse for Super Aguri. The team were denied access to Istanbul paddock allegedly after Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry had informed F1 management that Super Aguri would not be racing in Turkey. It appears that while Aguri Suzuki is pulling all the strings to keep the team afloat, Nick Fry is determined to bury Super Aguri F1 operation. Now, why would that be ?

I think the main reason for Fry to be suddenly so eager to see Super Aguri go (either away or under) is the genuine need for Honda to fully focus on their own development ahead of brand new F1 starting from 2009. I am sure if Suzuki was to find a slid buyer or investor that would stabuilize the team Fry would have nothing against it. Honda I believe would not mind supplying customer engines if they were to get paid for them. Supplying engines to 2 teams clearly does no harm to Ferrari, does it ? But Honda does not provide Super Aguri with engines only. Super Aguri chassis and pretty much the complete cars come from Honda. That would likely be the case at least all through the rest of 2008 season. I also think that 2009 would not be too different. Even if Super Aguri were to build their own cars from 2010, they would need some legal car for 2009. The new rules will require brand new cars and Super Aguri would sure not be able to build that themselves. The car would again have to come from Honda (unless some other team would be willing to chip in spare chassis or two). Honda as it becomes apparent is not willing to finance this any longer. If they see an investor coming to Super Aguri with pockets deep enough to pay Honda for all the supplies I expect Honda to be happy to dance along. So why is Nick Fry that negative about Weigl Group ? I think the answer is simple.

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F1Wolf

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I believe that by now Max Mosley is not the only person with serious doubts about the future of the smallest team on the Formula 1 grid. These are the latest words of Aguri Suzuki, the team owner:

“Super Aguri will not take part in testing in Barcelona this week because of elements out of our control. We plan however to particpate in tests from next week on the Catalunya circuit with two cars.”

It has been only a week ago that Super Aguri postponed their car launch planned for today. However team boss Aguri Suzuki and technical director Mark Preston were to be at the circuit to answer media questions. This is apparently not going to happen today…

There was a bit of good news last week for the team when they finally made it to the test track, although with one car only. Both Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson felt confident they would secure their race seat cotract with the team. Moreover Sato sounded quite sure the team will weather their current financial troubles. That feel good mood did not last for long …

There has been a lot of Superi Aguri rumours in the news - the rumours of team sale to Alejandro Agag, the plans from Indian consortium Spice Group to invest (or purchase the team) and place Narain Karthikeyan into the cockpit. Most recently Russian investment was mentioned in connection with Super Aguri. Nothing however have worked out yet and does not look like it is going to anytime soon …

The time is running out for Super Aguri and if no new money comes buy soon, the team’s future will solely depend on the mercy from Honda, Nick Fry late in January:

The intent for 2008 is that Aguri will be on the grid but clearly what Ross (Brawn) and I need to do, and are doing, is ensure that doesn’t detract from our primary job. At this stage, the intent is that they will be on the grid with Honda engines and support. Exactly how much of that support comes from here is being worked on at the moment.

The last thing the troubled Honda team now needs is a distraction and diversion of resources towards Super Aguri. I am afraid that unless there is some development benefit (more test mileage) from having baby B team on the grid, Honda may want to pull the plug on Super Aguri sooner than later. They do not need 2 teams at the back of the grid …

Let’s see how this develops further. The plans (to show up at the next test and run 2 cars) are just the plans, as was the car launch, as was the appearance of Suzuki and Preston for the media. Once the “elements out of our control” enter the picture, the future is rarely bright and rarely orange. Arrows could talk …

F1Wolf

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This week has been mostly about Honda, thanks to their car launch. Super Aguri also made it to the news thanks to Max Mosley’s doubts about their future. Now the strong words from Honda, namely from Nick Fry (to Reuters) only add to Super Aguri woes:

“The intent for 2008 is that Aguri will be on the grid but clearly what Ross (Brawn) and I need to do, and are doing, is ensure that doesn’t detract from our primary job. At this stage, the intent is that they will be on the grid with Honda engines and support. Exactly how much of that support comes from here is being worked on at the moment. I would not personally be convinced that the driver you mentioned would be of an acceptable standard for us.”

Nick Fry went on to point out that Anthony Davidson is the driver of the appropriate standard.

The driver Reuters mentioned is Narain Karthikeyan. His name came up in connection with Indian telecom company Spice Group. Spice Group is said to be one of the parties in talks with Super Aguri over funding or investment.

Now this is not an easy situation for Super Aguri. Paid drivers have been source of funds for the cash strapped teams for years. And the race seat may be the only thing thatSuper Aguri has to offer at the moment. On the other hand, while they may struggle without new funds coming in, they would surely go down and under and out of business should Honda pull the plug. Super Aguri simply can’t afford to go against Honda’s wishes…

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F1Wolf

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The pursue of Ross Brawn by Nick Fry has been talked about for months but the news still comes as a bit of a surprise. The Telegraph reports that former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn will be unveiled as Honda’s new team principal later today. Nick Fry will continue as chief executive.

Talks with Ferrari about his return after a sabbatical year apparently broke down in October. Brawn made no secret of his desire to become a team principal, but with Jean Todt not planning to leave anytime soon he had to look elsewhere. The downfall of his former colleague Nigel Stepney may also have played some part… Looks like Fry jumped in the moment Brawn’s talks with Ferrari ended and he became available. Fry and Brawn reportedly travelled to Japan for talks with Honda and finally signed the deal last week.

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F1Wolf

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