BAR Would Sacrifice Championship Spot for Wins

New BAR-Honda boss Nick Fry said in Australia on Friday that the team will happily risk sacrificing their position in the Championship to secure their first ever victory this season.

Fry took over from former team boss David Richards at the end of last season after engine partners Honda bought up 45 percent of the team and strengthened their commitment to future success.

The team finished second in the Championship behind dominant title winners Ferrari last season but have altered their targets to individual victories in a bid to liven up the sport this season.

"Our objective this year is to win a race, even if we have to compromise our Championship position somewhat, we will make the trade-off," said Fry. "It is good fun.

"In the last three years we've gone from eighth to fifth to second and it has been a great improvement but we didn't win a race and we were a country mile behind Ferrari. So, we shouldn't pat ourselves too much on the back."

Fry believes the sport is in desperate need of an injection of fun this season after fans turned away in droves as World Champion Michael Schumacher won 13 of the 18 races last season.

BAR, who are one of the most innovatively marketed teams in the pitlane and have a huge global asset in drivers Jenson Button and Takuma Sato, know exactly who they and the rest of the teams are competing against.

"We are competing as a sport with a whole bunch of other sporting activities like mowing the lawn and watching Desperate Housewives or American Idol, or whatever it happens to be," said Fry.

"And I think there is an increasing realization that while Formula One is very popular our school reports tend to say 'could do better' and that's what we have to do. We need to add more entertainment and listen to the fans. We have a highly-motivated team and two hugely-motivated drivers and a great team spirit. We will go for it."