Comments on: BMW’s win vindicates split from Williams

By: George

George — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:45:05 +0000

Jean – I feel the same about Fry. His CV is indeed impressive, but he is a career manager who has worked in marketing and sales. His CV doesn’t appear to have any involvement in a racing organisation at all until 1999 if I am reading it correctly. There is the reason why Honda have failed to prosper under his reign. There is the reason why Honda have pinned their hopes on Ross Brawn – it leaves Fry free to concentrate on what he is best at and brings a proper, engineering and racing brain into the every day running of the team.

By: gremlin

gremlin — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:59:05 +0000

May I say how good it is to read a blog full of informed, literate comments about F1 and without ill-tempered nationalistic abuse of Lewis Hamilton?

By: Jean

Jean — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:00:35 +0000

F1 freak , thanks for the detailed insight on Nick Fry’s CV – which supports what I’ve thought all along , that he is fairly highly educated , has served time in and excelled in some big corporate structures and basically done everything right , but it still does not make him a racer at heart , like Frank Williams. And the Honda teams poor results in the past few years compared to the vast funding , reflect just that.

By: Diacho

Diacho — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:29:14 +0000

Toby, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Let’s not forget that when BMW joined Williams, they were winning in 1 year, not 3. And arguably, their drivers were less than stellar, with mediocre Ralf and nut job Montoya. In 2001(not sure) JPM was disqualified (or something) in a wet race in Indy, for a crash w/ Barrichello that effectively put the WDC in MS’s hands. So, BMW still has a long, long way to go, while Williams could, indeed, bounce to the top very fast.

On another note, Robert mentioned that the middle way is the hardest way to go when it comes to manufacturer/team partnerships. Well, I don’t know. McLaren has managed that with Mercedes, and they were the very first team on this kind of trend, back in 1995. My point of view is that all that’s important is success. No matter how bad the relations between Theissen and Head/Williams were, had they been champions, I guess they would’ve stuck toghether…

By: Journeyer

Journeyer — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:19:13 +0000

Of course, when I say these teams, I mean the current reincarnations of the teams I just mentioned.

By: Journeyer

Journeyer — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:18:15 +0000

Toby, it IS a shame that we’ve lost Stewart, Tyrrell, Benetton, Jordan, and Minardi. But I think these teams still provide good competition (albeit inconsistently), and that can’t be a bad thing.

As for BMW, I think they’ll cope well with 2009. Although they’ve had a reorg lately, it seems to be well-planned and well-executed. And their methodical methods will continue paying off. I’m sure Dr. Mario saw 2009 coming a long time ago, and planned for it accordingly.

By: Toby

Toby — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:39:44 +0000

I agree with Robert McKay. But I would add that we don’t know the whole story between Williams and BMW. What we DO know is that technology was shared between the two and it reached a crisis point as stated earlier. Williams got the benefit of ultra-powerful BMW engines for a few years, while Patrick Head has already said something along the lines of “BMW took our gearbox and naffed off”, which suggests that this may have been Dr. Mario’s plan all along – join forces with an experienced (and recently successful) team, get the jist of the game, then go and start your own team with existing structure. Smart move, and probably perfect timing. Certainly a wiser move than anything associated with the current Toyota and (in particular) Nick Fry led Honda outfits. BMW have thus far made all the right moves (including both drivers imo).

On a cautionary note however, lets just remind ourselves for a second that BMW have only achieved their first win after 3 seasons (I’m pretty sure a feat bettered by Williams GPE themselves)- not a Championship. With new regs next year, a Championship in either form is by no means guaranteed – see Honda (B.A.R) circa 2004.

Frank and Pat, hold your heads high and go down with the ship if you have to. I’m sick of trying to remember who Red Bull, Honda, Renault, Force India and Toro Rosso used to be.

By: sChUmAcHeRtHeGrEaTeStEvEr

sChUmAcHeRtHeGrEaTeStEvEr — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:26:02 +0000

“That arguably robbed Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams’ best chance of winning an engine with BMW power.”

dont you mean championship?? lol

i dont see private teams having anymore success to be honest, the only way to win now is to have major backing financially. its true with other sports, take footabll and the english premiership for example, the “BIG FOUR” as theyre called, Man utd, chelsea, liverrpool, arsenal are all owned/backed by billionaires, theres such a huge gulf between them and the other teams.

its a similar story in formula 1 now.

By: Journeyer

Journeyer — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:25:43 +0000

Hang on a sec… Nick Fry came from Prodrive? So how come he ended up being the guy who replaced David Richards? It’s like Honda got someone from right under Richards’ nose!

By: f1freak

f1freak — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:45:04 +0000

By the way here is nick fry CV… doesnt look too bad
Descending order (taken frm honda f1 site)

2007: Chief Executive Officer, Honda GP Ltd
2006: Chief Executive Officer, Honda GP Ltd
2005: Chief Executive Officer, B.A.R Honda
2002: Managing Director, B.A.R in addition to Prodrive responsibilities
2001: Managing Director, Prodrive Automotive Technology, leading to position of Group Managing Director, overseeing the company’s engineering and racing operations
1999: Product Planning and Business Director, Ford Europe based in Cologne, Germany
1998: Brand Manager for Large Cars, Ford Europe
1996: Service Director, Ford Europe
1993: Managing Director, Aston Martin – overseeing the development of the DB7 which has since become the best-selling model in the company’s history
1992: Director of Operations, Aston Martin – following Ford’s acquisition of 50% of Aston Martin Lagonda Limited
1979: Moved to Product Development as a Product Planner and developed a variety of models over the next 12 years including several performance models – Escort Cosworth, RS2000 and others
1978: Joined Ford Motor Company working in Sales and then Market Research
1977: Graduated from University of Wales