Ross Brawn: Reconnecting the Dots

Thus far in testing the new Honda RA108 has not exactly had the opposition quaking in its boots, and the outfit is something of an easy target for the critics. Nevertheless, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello are doing their best to maintain the optimistic mood that swept through the team when Ross Brawn's appointment was announced in November.

To be fair, we've seen Honda make significant progress during a season before, and they have made it pretty clear that there is much new stuff on the way before Australia - although everyone else is introducing new bits as well, so Honda are aiming at a moving target.

The fact is this is not a sport about overnight miracles. Brawn has not joined a stable, established team, since several key players arrived shortly before he did, and a process of change was already underway. Everyone is still finding their feet, and just like the old cliche about steering an oil tanker, Brawn's input will take some time to work its way through the system.

No team is about one man, but there are few individuals who can have a potential impact as great as Brawn, who achieved huge success with both Benetton and Ferrari. It wasn't just him, of course, but he was the leader and arguably the most important individual in the group, with the possible exception of Michael Schumacher.

He made a difference even before he started work, because news of his impending arrival was met with universal acclaim within the Honda camp, something that doesn't always happen when a company hires a big name who some perceive as a threat.

Everyone could see that his arrival could only make things better, although erstwhile nominal technical boss Shuhei Nakamoto had to accept a demotion.

Brawn himself could hardly be happier at the moment, and he's enjoying every minute. He tells autosport.com he has no regrets about not finding a way to return to Ferrari, and says that he couldn't have found a better home.

"I did have some approaches, but I didn't talk to anyone else apart from Honda," he insists. "I'd come from a team with a very strong racing heritage. For the company to understand what racing is all about is very important. And I felt that Honda was a team that has a long racing heritage, they understand what's needed. And also they are a team quite frankly with potential.

"A team which was already a front-runner was not a team which would have motivated me to get back into F1. Joining a team which has huge potential, huge history - and perhaps having some temporary difficulties - was much more of an exciting challenge for me to become part of than joining a team which is already at the front.

Ross Brawn and Jean Todt © LAT

"And that's why the option to go back to Ferrari never came together, because it didn't offer me that challenge. And I think I knew that really before I started talking to Ferrari, and the discussions with Ferrari confirmed in my own mind that perhaps it wasn't the right thing for me or for them. Me going back there and not being strongly motivated was not very exciting for me, either.

"This was the most exciting challenge I could see, with a company that understands motor racing, and a company that is totally committed to try to succeed. Different companies are racing for different reasons, and the reasons why Honda are in racing are what were attractive to me. I only talked to Honda, and we found a solution."

He's been reunited with his former Ferrari colleague Barrichello, who provides a useful reference point. Ross sought the Brazilian's opinion before joining up.

"I did speak to Rubens before I agreed to join Honda, because I wanted his opinion of what he saw as the Honda situation, because he's someone I've worked with in the past. I was taking a perspective from outside, and it was very useful to have a perspective from inside. Nick [Fry] had given me a very clear picture of the situation, and I have to say everything that Nick said was absolutely true.

"So I've had no surprises joining Honda. It is a big challenge, but everything I've found was as it was told to me - probably even better than it was told to me.

"Rubens is someone whose opinion I value, and I was interested to know what he thought really were the problems he felt the team was facing, to understand if I felt that I could help with those problems. There's no point in coming to a team if you don't feel you can help improve the situation."

Brawn was given the role of team principal by a generous Nick Fry. It's a form of badge engineering, because - as he admits - his job description is very much like the one he had at Ferrari, except that he is taking a step back from the race strategy role that he was so famous for. He's obviously got little interest in the marketing and commercial aspects, so the split with Fry works well.

"My role is to be responsible for the technical and racing side of the team," he says. "That's a pretty sizeable role, certainly big enough for me. I've met a very good attitude in the team from all the facets of the Honda racing programme, both in the UK and in Japan. I'm very encouraged by both the attitude and commitment of the people.

"Sometimes it's difficult to understand the difference between a good team and a bad team, but it's not that much. And even with the difficult year they had last year, there was a huge amount of work being done there that was very, very good.

"Clearly there was something wrong in some of the design areas, and I think particularly with the aerodynamics, it wasn't great. But you see, even a team at that level was actually a very professional and competent team.

"What I met was a team where, let's say, 80 percent was operating at a very, very good level. And there's 20 percent of the team where I think I can give some help and have some influence on joining it together more effectively.

"But manufacturing quality, all of those sorts of areas, work very well here. The resources we've got here, the assets we've got here, are fantastic. There's no real shortage of equipment or the tools that we need. It's just developing the philosophies and ideas of the people that will create the performance in the future."

Ross Brawn inspects the Honda during testing © LAT

Brawn knew when he joined that Honda was not suddenly going to be challenging for podiums, even if the outside world expected to see short-term gains.

"I've mentally set myself out a three-year programme of understanding what needs to be done, putting in place what needs to be done, and then benefiting from what's been done. But in those three years we've got to be seeing progress all the time.

"Of course, your final competitive position depends on how well your competitors progress, and how good a job they do. So you can do your own job, and if someone's even stronger, it's more difficult. But that's what I've got in mind.

"And 2009, which comes in the middle of those three years, is a very important year - because there's a new set of regulations. In some ways it's a clean sheet of paper for everybody, and undoubtedly the strong teams will still produce a very good car. There's no luck involved in designing your racing car, it's a very logical and intense process. But 2009 is a good opportunity for us."

As noted earlier, Ross followed several other key players into the team, and arrived after a major revamping of the aero department that dropped the ball so spectacularly last year. He seems happy with how that has panned out, and says his main task is to get the whole team to gel more effectively.

"I think the team has made some good progress in restructuring the aerodynamic group, so if it is included in that 20 percent, probably a lot of solutions are in place.

"What I see as my focus is to make sure that all the groups are working well together, make sure all the aerodynamics are working well with the structure, the structure is working well with the designers, the chassis group is working well with the engine group, Tochigi is working well with Brackley, and all of those things. That's my priority.

"There's a huge amount of strength in the organisation, but it needs to be a united group of people get the maximum from it. Everyone is very willing, but when you've got differences of opinion, somebody's got to make a decision. And that's what I hope to bring."

Although he does have a huge amount of experience to draw on, he does not want to get bogged down in the sort of design detail that, for example, is Adrian Newey's speciality at Red Bull.

"It's not my forte to come in and say you should put this wing on or you should do this or do that. That's not what I want to bring to Honda. What I want to bring to Honda is development of a philosophy, development of tools, and development of the means of generating the ideas. And a belief in what they're doing, so we can achieve success."

Often a key player arriving in a team brings others with him, either because he head hunts guys he knows and trusts, or because the people concerned simply want to stay with a boss who inspires them. As yet Ross has no plans to bring in any new blood, and that's encouraging for those who have been at the team for the long haul.

The Honda factory in Brackley © XPB/LAT

"There have been some fairly substantial changes in the organisation that were already in place before I arrived. The aerodynamic group had already restructured, it was excellent, and the people they've got in are first class people. There are some other areas that have evolved, with race engineering and design.

"My ambition is to work with the people here and try and achieve our results with them. If we see some areas that need strengthening, then of course we'll need to respond.

"But it's too early for me to say if we are particularly weak in any areas, and I want to give all the people here an opportunity to show what sort of job we can do before we start thinking about strengthening the organisation."

Brawn has clearly been given a lot of power within the team - the job title is not purely for effect - but he won't forget who's paying the bills.

"I think you have to be respectful in these situations. I am an employee of Honda Motor Company, so I have to respect that. I have to respect the fact that I report through [Honda communications boss and board member] Oshima-san to the board of Honda, and I have to justify my decisions. The message I get is that as long as I can justify what I feel we want to do, then Honda will support it.

"But they want to know what's going on, quite rightly, and they want to be kept informed about what's going on. They want to see how the team is developing, and they want to give their input when it's needed.

"That's the situation I've worked with wherever I've been. You get some degree of autonomy on day-to-day matters, and in terms of major strategic issues, you need to respect the company you work for. It was no different at Ferrari.

"It is a big challenge, and a very exciting challenge, and one that I'm proud to be part of. It will be difficult, but there's nobody saying, 'I don't want to do it.' Everybody wants to do it, it's just a question of helping identify how we should do it and how we should go forward. There's nobody with the brakes on. Everybody's got their foot on the accelerator, and I just need to help steer it.

"The people in Tochigi are very enthusiastic, very keen, and very capable. We need to improve the communication, to help people at Tochigi understand what's going on here, and help people here understand what's going on at Tochigi.

"The problem is not just one side. There were many aspects to this issue. The fact that this team grew up with Honda just as an engine supplier I think held it back in some ways, because when Honda became the owner, some people's attitudes didn't necessarily change, and didn't make that transition.

"I've come from an environment where it's one team, there's one entity. And that's the strength of the team. The strength of Honda is that we are one entity with great potential in Tochigi and great potential in other areas of the company. I'm here to try and make sure that works well together.

"The objective, at least initially, is to improve the communications between all the different groups, and to help clearly identify what the objectives are, and who's responsible for which objectives and how the team works, and have multi-disciplinary teams on different projects. So groups from all over the organisation coming together in a team to try and achieve an objective."

Ross Brawn and Yasuhiro Wada © XPB/LAT

Brawn has quickly identified that the key to it all is to make the most out of the resources in Japan. There may be an engine freeze in force at the moment, not to mention a common ECU, but there is still much that can be done at the parent company's R&D facility.

"I think there was a tendency in the past to let Tochigi operate as they wanted to, and see whether anything interesting came out, rather than working with Tochigi to work out what were the priorities, and what were the objectives.

"We've now got two engineers dedicated to Tochigi, Leo Ress and Jacky Eeckelaert, and of course Shuhei Nakamoto is going to help in that process as well. So we're making far more effort to integrate all the sides of our organisation and make it work as one entity.

"I've asked Shuhei to particularly help with developing that side of our organisation. It's a huge effort, and I think something which is key to our success in the future.

"Staying here [in the UK], he'll understand what the priorities are. He'll be able to spend the majority of his time here, but go back to Japan frequently and help make sure that the programmes which are running there will have some clear direction, and everyone understands what's trying to be achieved."

It's still early days of course, and Ross admits that he still has much to learn, and he won't be making any sweeping changes until he fully appreciates the situation.

"It's one of the things I'm keen to understand over the next few months, how the team functions. Probably I won't really understand that until we've had a few races. Until you get to a race, you don't see everybody under pressure, and you don't see how things function."