Agreed - but he did that turn around while Honda still owned the team and he spent a boatload of money to get the results that they have today. Personally, I don't find anything wrong with this, I have always said the budget cap was a joke and the reason for BGP's success this year was because of this...while others said it was because of "advanced engineering"

Honda sells more cars than FIAT so Honda should have been able to cushion it's own racing division, it just chose not to any longer because the Honda name was becoming synonymous with losing. FIAT on the other hand was feeding Ferrari which is synonymous with winning and racing. I am surprised Honda did not pull the plug earlier....

 

Not necessarily - Honda also had KERS so that would have affected the handling as it would have changed the balance of the car as it is today. This was the big problem that Ferrari had to work out while dealing with the double difuser fiasco thanks to unclear rules.

 

Just like he was at the right place at the right time with Benetton...and Ferrari...and Honda.

There is something about the guys strategies that win championships. It's not an instantaneous thing at any team he has been on, but for some reason when he's in charge (even when he doesn't have the best drivers) they win.

 

what's that old adage, 'speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?"

it's also not surprising that honda bailed looking at an annual expense of 750mil.
I'm wondering if they didn't have proper budgetary controls in place and the team just spent like a drunken sailor.

 

No doubt - but I never claimed he was solely responsible for Ferrari's success, in fact the opposite.

Also agree that he is a strategic powerhouse, but that alone does not win championships...

 

Good point - we will never know...

 

Honda cant & wont cushion its racing division because its a marketing expense, especially F1. Ferrari's budget is R&D which can be factored directly into the cost of the vehicle as a production overhead.

Hey nobody wins all the time, I think Honda quitting had more to do with the financial situation than anything else. F1 is only a small part of Honda whereas Ferrari would crash & burn if they were not in F1. They have been a part of F1 and are synonymous with the term F1.

 

Honda had the flywheel KERS which is lighter than the system employed by Ferrari, McL & BMW. They would have been much lighter even with the lighter Honda engine.

If you've ever used an indoor rowing machine you will know what a flywheel KERS system is like. Very compact and light-weight

 

I read somewhere that most of Ferrari's F1 budget comes from the FIA/FOM revenues.

 

And Honda decided to go 2 years with no sponsors and advertise the planet earth... im pretty sure we all know we don't live on Mars.