Winter Wonders: interview with Nick Fry

David Coulthard and Red Bull topped the times in the final day of testing at Barcelona on Wednesday, and it is becoming ever more difficult to judge where the 2007 form book stands. BMW, McLaren, Toyota, Renault and Ferrari have all looked good at various times, and even team insiders admit that the situation is far from clear.

So far, though, we haven't seen too much from Honda, the team that has in the past won the 'winter World Championship'.

Like most of its rivals, the team has been through the inevitable problems that come with a new car - at one point on Tuesday afternoon the machines of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were out of commission with engine related dramas - and that has not helped. But there's still a long way to go, and Ferrari's overnight switch from mechanical mayhem to pacesetters in Barcelona shows that things change quickly.

Lucky Strike is long gone and at the moment the Honda cars are still running in black. February 26 will see the official unveiling of the new livery, which has a green, eco-friendly theme. That is part of the effort to spruce up Honda's image with the aid of the 19 organisation run by Simon Fuller.

Fuller is still best known as the Svengali behind the Spice Girls, but his company has also been associated with a variety of marketing projects for major companies. These include F1 sponsors Vodafone and AT&T and, in the automotive world, BP (now wouldn't that be a handy 'green' partner for Honda?). Fuller is also associated with Greenpeace.

The unveiling will take place in London's famous Natural History Museum, just to underline the credentials of the new project. Hopefully there won't be too many jokes about the RA107 not looking out of place among all those dinosaurs.

Honda and Jenson Button won a race last year, albeit in unusual circumstances, and the aim now has to be to beat all comers in a straight fight. Can that really happen? We spoke to team principal Nick Fry about how the season is shaping up."

Q: What's your overall feeling about this year and the package you've put together?

Nick Fry: "I think at this stage, especially after not very good weather at the first tests, it's a bit difficult to tell. I think any team that is drawing much of a conclusion at this stage is as likely to be wrong as it is right.

"I think what we've found so far is that the car would appear to be quicker than last year's car, and it would appear to have reasonably good balance and more downforce. But to be honest the weather has been so erratic that comparisons with anyone else are very difficult.

"The harder tyres take a bit of time to warm up, and with the variable weather if you hit a sweet spot with the right fuel, with the warm tyres, and the weather's OK, then you probably do a good lap time. I wouldn't like to draw too many conclusions one way or another."

Q: Last year there were suggestions that under Geoff Willis the team had been too conservative. Have you pushed the limits a bit more?

Fry: "If you look at the evolution of the team over the last five years, there was good logic to what we did, in that five years ago the engineering standards weren't particularly high, so there had to be a lot of fixing the basics, because they weren't good engineering standards, they weren't good processes, there wasn't good organisation.

"So all those things had to be put in place, and I believe now those are all at a very high level. What we started to do is to take a few more risks than we did before, because we can isolate the risks from the area of performance, because we know that fundamentally the engineering of the car and the quality of the car will be good. And the philosophy for this year's car is to be a little bit more adventurous, principally aerodynamically.

"Obviously to do it aerodynamically means very clever packaging, so the car is very neat around the rear end. One of our competitors was joking that he thought we must have changed to a V6 engine instead of a V8 because the engine compartment is so small, which is a good sign.

"The guys have done a very good job making the engine, cooling and exhaust package very small indeed. The car does dive down behind the radiators quite dramatically. At the moment it's doing what it's supposed to be doing, so let's wait a couple of weeks and see."

Q: Obviously your guys have been studying the opposition. What's the feeling about what other people have done?

Fry: "I think in terms of general philosophy the lengthening of the wheelbase is something that we've done in two steps, firstly in the August shutdown period last year, and now we've lengthened our wheelbase again.

"That's obviously something that Ferrari have also done, and both we and Ferrari have gone from the short end of the scale and increased presumably for similar reasons, which is a combination of aerodynamics and the mechanical balance of the car.

"As for the others, there does seem to be a fair spread of cars which are on the more conservative side, and cars which are slightly more adventurous."

Q: There are several teams that, like Honda, are now operating without anyone filling the role of technical director. How does that work for you?

Fry: "It's interesting. I think it was evident more than a year ago that it was all too big for any one person. Clearly every team has to have a technical leader, but on the other hand that person is more of a coordinator than he is a designer.

"Looking from the outside that's something that Ferrari moved to some years ago, under the guidance of Ross Brawn. He fulfilled very much that role rather than being the person who was getting involved in the minute detail of drawing the car.

"With us it appears to be working pretty well. Shuhei Nakamoto is doing that co-ordination role and he's doing it very well, and the detail design of the car is split between the chief engineers. All those people work for Nakamoto-san, and all the other manufacturing and other supporting functions report to me.

"The reporting structure is very simple, and under Nakamoto-san it really is split in two ways. Jacky Eeckelaert is responsible for racing and testing the car - so basically everything that happens outside the factory - and Gary Savage is responsible for making the car and everything that happens inside. It's pretty simple - one hands over to the other."

Q: We have a rev limit and frozen engines this year. In terms of where you think you were last year, how much have you gained or lost?

Fry: "I think there are pros and cons. On the one side clearly Honda as an engine company is disappointed to lose the flexibility to be able to push the boundaries, but on the other hand we recognise why it's happened and really look at it from the point of view of the greater good. I think all the engines are going to be very similar to each other.

"The interesting thing about this coming season, with similar engines and the same tyres, albeit with some people probably using them better than others, is that the aerodynamics and the drivers really become paramount."

Q: Any concerns about the policing of the engine freeze?

Fry: "We've seen nothing at all to suggest that we will have a problem in that area, and we're confident that the FIA will police it properly. They've got an engine and they've got drawings, so it should be relatively easy to police. I haven't heard anyone voice a concern about it at the moment. We'll just see what happens.

"I'm sure we can sort it out between us if there is an issue. The manufacturers who produce the engines are pretty close to each other, so it's a situation of what goes around comes around. If someone starts to do something that others consider inappropriate, I'm sure things will be said behind closed doors."

Q: You haven't been with Michelin as long as some other teams. Has that made it a little bit easier to go back to Bridgestone, in terms of the knowledge of how the company works and so on?

Fry: "I think that it possibly is slightly easier for us, but it is swings and roundabouts in that some drivers will be much more familiar with these tyres than others. Obviously Rubens is very familiar with them, and Jenson less so, albeit that I haven't seen any of our drivers jump out of the car and say wow, these are hugely different. Most of the better drivers drive around it. I think we are in reasonable shape."

Q: What is the feeling about the way the tyres behave? There have been suggestions that they suit a smoother style, and that might help Jenson.

Fry: "We haven't noticed the difference that some people claim. I was in the pits at Barcelona when Jenson did his first run. Obviously he hadn't been driving for three months, and when he jumped out of the car there was a sort of a shrug of the shoulders and a 'they're fine.' They clearly do have different characteristics, and going to the harder tyre is another difference, but I really don't think that any of the drivers are going to have too much of a problem.

"If anything, because their transition and breakaway characteristics are somewhat softer, I think that potentially they will be an easier tyre to drive on than last year's tyres, which had a high level of grip but if they got away from you you'd probably had it. With these, if the car gets away from you it's relatively easy to recover."

Q: Most of the other top teams have changed at least one driver. How much of a benefit is the continuity of having two experienced guys?

Fry: "I think it helps a little bit. I doubt whether it will take long for Alonso to settle into McLaren, he's such a good driver. According to Rubens, Ferrari is quite an easy team to settle into, and the cars are relatively docile to drive. So again for someone of Kimi's standard, I don't think that's going to be a big issue. Renault is in a completely different situation, because they've got one relatively new driver, and we have to see how Fisichella gets on."

Q: Rubens struggled a bit early last season, but later gave Jenson a hard time in qualifying. How do you see them shaping up this year?

Fry: "I don't see much difference in the absolute speed of any of the F1 drivers. They can all drive very fast. The issue for me is how many laps can they drive fast for? The difference between the guys at the front of the grid and the guys towards the back is that in a 50-lap race a few of them drive absolutely to perfection for 50 laps, others can do it for 40 laps, others for 30 laps and others for 20. That's the difference, not speed.

"I think Rubens' absolute speed is not to be questioned, and we saw that lots of times last year. It was just more a case of him getting used to the car, so you can drive it under lots of conditions. Certainly with the traction control, early in the year it wasn't to his liking at all. Jenson had just got the experience and the driving style to be able to drive around some of the problems.

"I think Rubens has been good for us in that he's insisted quite rightly that those things had to be fixed, and he was able to say I know it can be done better because I had that at Ferrari. I think this year we'll see a different Rubens, very much so. Over the winter period he's lost over 5kgs in weight, he's very, very motivated, he's thoroughly enjoyed driving on the Bridgestones.

"I think you're going to see a different person, and he'll give Jenson a run for his money."

Q: Do you think you've got the perfect combination?

Fry: "From the beginning of last year I've always been completely confident about our two race drivers, and indeed the test drivers. Although in many ways it was disappointing to lose Anthony because he did such a good job, I have to say that we're very pleased with Christian. He's very much jumped into Anthony's shoes. And James Rossiter has also come on very well.

"Especially post season, with Jenson's cracked ribs, both James and Christian had a bit more running than they bargained for. I'm happy with all four of them."

Q: Super Aguri will obviously have a more competitive package this year. Does that mean they will be more useful to you in terms of sharing information at races?

Fry: "I hope there will be a little bit more crossover, but working with another team is the complete antithesis of what most teams do. The whole thing is highly competitive, and even if we are still sharing the engine and some of the gearbox bits, we are still two different teams. Aguri owns his team and he has to do the best for it.

"I think what we can do this year is put in place more basics in terms of some processes and getting the two teams to work in a similar fashion, because when customer cars are allowed (in 2008) that experience of working together will then pay dividends. But if you've got two different cars there's a limit to what you can do. You can certainly go off on a complete tangent trying to transfer from one to the other.

"It's a bit like us and McLaren with the Michelin tyres last year. There was a certain amount of sharing of information, but you had to be very careful with what you shared and what you tried to copy, because the cars react so differently."

Q: What's the story with your new 'eco' livery?

Fry: "It's been fixed in terms of concept since Imola last year. The green theme is loosely what we're going for, but all will be revealed on February 26! Wait and see what's going to happen. It is a different approach."

Q: Personally, are you excited to see how this year turns out, bearing in mind that Michael has gone and we've had all the other changes?

Fry: "I think people are motivated this time of year anyway. Even when Michael was around there was still a sense of anticipation. Last year the Ferrari wasn't so good in pre-season testing, and there was a lot of intrigue then as to who was going to be the quickest. I don't see any difference now. Not having Michael around makes life slightly easier for the rest of us, but with Kimi and Fernando, it's going to be tough."

Q: Finally, you went to Abu Dhabi recently. What do you think of the plans for the Grand Prix in 2009?

Fry: "Clearly the amount of investment that's gone into the building of the town is substantial, and the track looks like a huge investment. One thing I particularly liked was the additional variety. If you go back a few decades to when I was a fan watching from the outside, F1 used to go places as disparate as Kyalami and Anderstorp. Some of them didn't look dreadfully safe, but the variety was huge.

"Basically, we now go to three circuits - Monaco, Monza, and everywhere else, and the settings for the 'everywhere else' circuits are much the same.

"I think by having more variety it will make the number of teams competing at the top level bigger, because you will have to design for more conditions, and some people will have packages that might suit one type of circuit rather than another. To see a circuit which has got a combination of street bits and waterfront is great."

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