Honda F1 team boss Nick Fry has spoken on the collapse of Super Aguri.After being chided for his comments in the press by Aguri Suzuki and later Josef Weigl, who’s offer never materialized at the 11th hour, Nick has offered some insight:
“The reality is that when you looking at entering grand prix racing, you have to look at the medium and long-term, as well as the short-term. I think Mr. Mateschitz (Red Bull owner) has been quoted as saying that when you buy a team, that is when your problems really start.
“The reality is for Aguri, we were looking for a serious long-term partner and that takes very substantial resources. The one that we hoped would come to fruition was the Magma/DIC deal, but unfortunately that didn’t.”
Now that doesn’t really say he wasn’t involved in the collapse of Super Aguri. It appears to me that he played a larger part in the decision or recommendations to the 8-ball committee than he is leading on. Although many news sites are carrying mastheads that read; “Nick denies involvement in scuppering Super Aguri”, I do not find that in this statement. Just my opinion. However, he does say he had little to do with keeping them out of the Turkish circuit:
“Bernie has been fully informed about what has been going on from the start, as you would expect from a person who is promoting the whole event. Obviously I think it would be presumptuous in the extreme for people to think I have control over who gets into the paddock.
“But Bernie was aware of what was going on, and made his own decision. Once you get things into the paddock, from a logistical point of view it can get difficult (to move things around).
“You can understand him wanting to wait until a decision had been made before allowing people to set up.”
That being said, I am sure if one reads into the black and white; his keeping Bernie apprised of the happenings probably came along with a suggestion to not let them enter the paddock as Honda would not be footing the bill. Bernie seems an easy target to be the bad cop and Nick takes the opportunity to place him in that role. Nice job Nick.
