Honda were ready to leave BAR

By pitpass.com (27/04/2004)
April 27 2004

According to The Guardian, Honda was on the verge of pulling the plug on British American Racing in mid 2001, a move which would have effectively killed-off the Brackley outfit.

British American Tobacco, which had pumped an estimated £500m into the BAR F1 programme, couldn't afford to see its investment go up in smoke - no pun intended - therefore David Richards, whose Prodrive engineering company ran the Subaru rally team, with BAT sponsorship, was approached.

"BAT, which was both part owner and sponsor of the team, approached me and asked me if I could come and help with this programme," says Richards. "So we went and talked about it at some length. I knew the people very well and could speak my mind.

"I wanted the authority to get on with the job, really to do it the way in which I wanted to do it," he continues. "I was very concerned by the fact that they had minority shareholders in there and a rather complicated situation. I didn't want to go in and rattle a few cages only to be thrown out after a short time. We needed the security, and finally agreed a five-year term.

"When we arrived we found a team which clearly had the right resources and all the finances but had still grossly underachieved. In the main there was a lack of leadership and no clear vision of how to achieve their aims.

"There is a peculiar viewpoint in F1 that the more money and the more people you have will make your car go quicker. You have to know how to spend it to best effect."

With team founder Craig Pollock gone, ousted just hours before the launch of the 2002 car, Richards set about rebuilding the team 'his way'. Out went technical director Malcolm Oastler and in came Geoff Willis. In addition to trimming the workforce, Richards set about ridding the team of another costly drain on its resources, Jacques Villeneuve.

The relationship between the two was never good, the Canadian had been very, very close to Pollock and would never have joined the team had it not been for his friend's involvement. The recruitment of Jenson Button was the final straw however.

Richards cold-shouldered Villeneuve who also suffered dreadful reliability. When it was clear that he wasn't to be offered a drive in 2004, the Canadian opted to sit out the final race of the 2003 season. In less than two years Richards had completely restructured the team to his liking.

What is of interest is that due to the tobacco sponsorship ban - though its still unclear when this will come into effect - BAT's involvement with F1 will not last much longer, maybe just a year or two. It remains to be seen who will purchase the Brackley team when that time comes, though many say it won't be Honda.

This article was written by pitpass.com and is used with permission.