Q & A with Honda's Nick Fry

Nick Fry - Honda Racing CEO: It was six months of, let's say consistent work, put it this way. When I contacted him I knew we were one of the many who contacted him, but I think I made a difference, I got a positive reaction, and a polite one, he did express interest. I think Ross was extremely honourable.

He did not want to talk to us while he was talking to Ferrari, then I just kept in contact with him on a regular, friendly, social basis. Frankly in the middle of the year I thought he was going to go back to Ferrari, but if it was not for Ferrari it would be with us, and I was confident about that.

Q. What was that finally convinced him in the end?

NF: I don't think I had to do anything in particular. There are similarities between Ferrari and Honda where there is a history of passion for racing. As an engineering company, that is what appeals to high levels of engineers. We have this advantage over some of the others.

Obviously if someone has been with Ferrari for such a long time it is a big attraction to continue, but by the time we got to September it was clear to me the things are not as clear at Ferrari, and that was the point I intensified my attack. It was all concluded very quickly.

Q. Were you relieved when it was finally concluded?

NF: I was excited. The thing I was convinced of was that Ross would fit into the Honda environment, because I had to look at it from both sides, not only the team needs to be attracted to Ross, on the other hand it has to be someone who can fit into Honda's way of working, which is a team-based approach. I was pleased when Ross and I went to Tokyo - Honda's desire to have Ross was made clear. We went there on Friday and Ross and I concluded the major agreement by Monday night.

Q. Were you disappointed in a way that Ross is taking part of your job away?

NF: No, not at all. My job is to get the best out of the Honda team, in whichever form. That is what I am paid for, and that has to be the priority. It is a CEO's job to get the best possible resources. I saw many senior technical people from most teams during the course of the summer, it was all clear to me there was only one possibility. In fact, when I was asked by my Japanese colleague what my fallback plan was ... there was no fallback plan.

I was determined to get Ross. If we had not been able to get Ross then we would have continued with the people we have got. We have a very strong team, it would have been a tougher job but we still had a good chance to succeed, but having someone who has won several world championships, it is not a guarantee for quick success, but my job is to maximise the chances. I am very pleased to be working with Ross. I think I have done my job to improve Honda's chances of becoming champion.

Q. Ross pointed out he was only one element of the successful package in the past decades, so what is your next step?

NF: Yes, absolutely right. With the people we have hired this year, we have a very talented team, but the talented team needs a technical leader. Put it simply, if you are about to do a parachute jump you want someone teaching to have done many parachute jumps. If you have someone who knows the theory, then maybe it is not such a confidence inspiring situation, but Ross has done it before. He can guide the people below who are going to do the work for him in a much better way.

Q. He has proved his worth as a capable technical director, but it is a different capacity in which he finds himself in now....

NF: In fact the reality is that the job he is doing is similar to the job he did at Ferrari. At Ferrari Ross would come to many of the team meetings with Jean (Todt). I think Jean is a very good manager but Ross was doing more than an engineer's job at Ferrari, and here he will be doing all the engineering but will be involved in the decision-making. I am comfortable with how Ross and Jean had worked together and I am going to start work in a similar way with Ross.

Q. There is still a degree of skepticism amongst the team members as to why a person like Ross wanted to join Honda...

NF: People who are professionals in any business look at the big picture. Looking at the performance of a company over one year or even longer is only looking at the small picture. You look at all the assets the company has, facilities, resources, qualities, staff, management, and when you look at the Honda team the reality is that over the last two-three years, we have put together an infrastructure and the facilities which are equal to the best in F1, and we have sufficient budget, we have people resources.

What we have done this year was... we made mistake in the engineering development of the car which has resulted in the poor performance. Most of the people are exactly the same who did rather well in 2006, and in 2004. They have not changed fundamentally and I can see Ross can see the big picture. Ross Brawn would not be with the Honda team if he did not believe we could win the championships. That may not be next year, ma be not the year after next.. That is why we have to develop.