Honda to continue as 'Brawn GP'

Eurosport - Sat, 07 Mar 16:18:00 2009

The former Honda Formula One team has been saved and will race this season as Brawn GP under team principal and new owner Ross Brawn.

FORMULA 1 Ross Brawn Honda F1 08 - 0

Britain's Jenson Button and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, last year's Honda line-up, will continue to drive for the British-based team with the first race in Australia little more than three weeks away on March 29.

Brawn GP, whose change of name is subject to the agreement of the governing FIA, will use Mercedes engines under a deal with McLaren's partners.

No financial details were given.

"Honda Motor Company Limited and Ross Brawn are pleased to confirm that they have reached agreement to secure the future of the former Honda Racing F1 Team," the statement said.

"With immediate effect, Honda will pass ownership to Ross Brawn, team principal of the new Brawn GP Formula One Team."

Brawn, a former Ferrari technical director, looked forward to the new season after months of doubt about the team's survival following Honda's announcement in December they were pulling out due to the credit crunch.

"The past few months have been extremely challenging for the team but today's announcement is the very pleasing conclusion to the strenuous efforts that have been made to secure its future," he said.

"I would like to thank Honda for the fantastic co-operation and support we have received throughout this process, particularly those members of the senior management who were closely involved with concluding our agreement, and for the faith they have demonstrated in myself and our team."

The team said Nick Fry, the former Honda Racing chief executive who attended a news conference held by the Formula One Teams' Association in Geneva on Thursday, will remain as part of Brawn's senior management team.

However the Brackley-based team, formerly the sport's biggest spenders, are likely to shed a considerable number of their 700 employees.

They are due to hold a private shakedown of the new car at the Silverstone circuit in England on Friday before travelling to Spain for their first test of the year in Barcelona on Monday.

They will also hold a final pre-season test in Jerez.

Barrichello is F1's most experienced driver with a record 270 starts and his partnership with Button, reported in the British media to have taken a significant pay cut, represents a combined total of 423 grands prix.

Brawn's move, effectively a management buy-out, rescued both men's careers with 36-year-old Barrichello out of contract while Button was facing a year on the sidelines with all other teams completing their line-ups.

With the team's survival, Formula One will start the season with 10 teams - one fewer than at the beginning of 2008 before Super Aguri folded.

Reuters

Comment 199 - 218 of 258

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  1. I see that the thumbs down nutters are back so I will­ bid you good evening and catch up with the real F1 fans­ some other time...

    From USA 1, on Sat 7 Mar 10:36PM

  2. The article was about Mr. Brawn acquiring ownership of­ the former Honda team not a test of our understanding­ of English. The really interesting issue is the source­ of his funding which to this point, has not been­ revealed.

    From USA 1, on Sat 7 Mar 10:16PM

  3. m.e.: It seems that teachers today are unable to admit­ their mistakes, they just get abusive instead. Or they­ merely pretend to be teachers in the first place. ­ I'm more than happy to admit my mistake and pay the­ full amount once evidence has been provided.

    Hunchy: ­ stop hanging around here and go feed some starving­ people, then.

    From Adam L, on Sat 7 Mar 10:06PM

  4. brilliant adum ,,, just did not think of that Ha Ha­ many thanks ,,, a,Dumb

    Well said

    From pam_wallis60, on Sat 7 Mar 10:04PM

  5. You could get abusive - OR you could just provide­ evidence that I'm incorrect. If I'm wrong,­ I'm happy to pay the full amount.

    From Adam L, on Sat 7 Mar 10:04PM
  6. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Now these peasants are at each others throats over­ atrostrophies.

    typical i know a coupl complete noheadz­ that argue all day long over this kinda shiiite.
    whilst­ people are starving and dying all over the­ world........!!!

    From , on Sat 7 Mar 10:03PM

  7. Adam, I believe there was even talk of doing away with­ the apostrophe altogether - yikes. When I was at­ school, a few years ago now and some (!) it was drummed­ into us until we got it right, and once you understand­ it, you never forget it. But you're right,­ teachers today have been badly taught themselves and so­ on and so on.....

    From m.e.jenner, on Sat 7 Mar 10:03PM

  8. well joker adum your policy seems to be

    you might not­ always be right ----BUT

    you are never WRONG ,,,, ha­ ha

    a real impossible character to live with ..Ha

    From pam_wallis60, on Sat 7 Mar 10:01PM

  9. And it's spelt "Adam", which doesn't­ say much for your English skills. If you were making a­ pun, then it would be "Adumb" - but that­ would be ill advised, since I'm correct on this­ occasion.

    From Adam L, on Sat 7 Mar 9:56PM

  10. Pam: please provide evidence that I am incorrect. ­ I'm hardly just going to take your word for it, am­ I?

    From Adam L, on Sat 7 Mar 9:55PM

  11. so Adum just send the cheque
    to head of English Dept at­ Oxford Univ
    Tks

    From pam_wallis60, on Sat 7 Mar 9:54PM

  12. 77777 well adum
    666 just send a msg to head­ of English Studies at Oxford University
    7676 to­ say he is incorrect ..!

    From pam_wallis60, on Sat 7 Mar 9:51PM

  13. Pam: you may be getting confused, as I noticed you said­ that Scottish C has been making untrue comments. ­ Agreed! His comments on punctuation are the opposite­ of mine. He is advocating the apostrophe, I am not. ­ We can't both be wrong!

    From Adam L, on Sat 7 Mar 9:51PM

  14. Education ain't what it used to be ah Adam?? !!

    From m.e.jenner, on Sat 7 Mar 9:44PM

  15. Bernie -- one of top 6 richest men in World may have­ offered assistance

    certainly joker Branson disappeared­ fast ..!

    From pam_wallis60, on Sat 7 Mar 9:35PM

  16. scot C should banned for posting untrue comments

    From pam_wallis60, on Sat 7 Mar 9:33PM

  17. You can mark me down all you want, I'm still right.

    From Adam L, on Sat 7 Mar 9:33PM

  18. adam 222 TOTALLY WRONG AGAIN

    we bet you 5000 euros ­ -- we right ==u wrong

    after teaching advanced English­ for 25 years we know a little about it

    or R U too­ chicken .. Ha Ha

    From pam_wallis60, on Sat 7 Mar 9:32PM

  19. "Its" is definitely correct. ­ "It's" is definitely incorrect. ­ There's no apostrophe in "hers", and­ "its" runs to that rule. It's a pronoun­ thing.

    From Adam L, on Sat 7 Mar 9:20PM

  20. I wish Mr. Brawn and his team the best of good fortune­ but the lack of information regarding his financial­ backers is odd. Typically, the money flow is highly­ visible but in this instance, we have no details at­ all. That causes me to question who really owns this­ team, and, how strong their financial commitment might­ be? It will not be of any significance if the money­ continues to flow but the complete lack of financial­ information is rather curious.

    From USA 1, on Sat 7 Mar 9:10PM
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