SA withdraws from F1

[Dare]

As Scotty already noted SA has with drawn from
the 2008 season,

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=34710

[Alianora La Canta]

This is really, really stupid. Honda would have been better off giving the Wiegl Group a chance - and certainly the Wiegl Group and Super Aguri would have been better off!

[cosworth151]

I just posted Aguri-san's statement on the other thread.

Honda has said that it is saddened by Super Aguri's demise.

Yea, right.

"Honda has continued to support the team as much as possible but Aguri Suzuki has come to Honda and expressed his decision to withdraw from Formula One as he is not capable of establishing a foundation for independent operation of the team.

"The Super Aguri F1 Team's withdrawal is indeed very disappointing for us but we understand that it was inevitable unless the team could find a way to stand alone by itself in the future.

"We would like to express our thankfulness to the Super Aguri F1 Team and all the fans who have supported them for sharing the dreams and fighting together with Honda."

I can't help but think of a little song that Stephane Miller plays on her radio program after a tape of some especially bad politicial statement. It starts "You're a lying sack of crap."

[Alianora La Canta]

I don't believe Honda for a minute either.

[FW14B]

It's a sad day.  Honda backed this team to begin with but now just drop them.  Super Aguri were a great little team and I think most people had a soft spot for them.  I feel for Aguri Suzuki, Taku Sato, Anthony Davidson and everyone who made the team work. 

[cosworth151]

The question now is, what does this say about the future of F1? There were supposed to be 22 teams this season. Prodrive never came about and now Super Aguri is gone. It looks like only a major manufacturer will be able to start a new team from scratch. What will now happen to the two vacant slots in the paddock?

[cosworth151]

Sorry about the typo. I meant 24 cars, not 22 teams. I'm more than a little upset this morning.

[Scott]

Aguri slams Nick the *rick:

I love it.  He is saying what we've all been saying...From F1 Live:

On the day of Super Aguri's final demise, disappointed former team boss and co-owner Aguri Suzuki has hit out at Nick Fry.

Fry, the CEO of Honda's racing division but no longer the works outfit's Team Principal, has been recently pessimistic about Super Aguri's future, earlier this week pouring cold water on the proposed Weigl buyout.

The Briton had said in March that Honda's support for the struggling outfit would from now on be on a 'diminishing basis', adding that he would forthwith 'push' for the Japanese manufacturer's focus on F1 to be 'more singular'.

Fry also said prior to the 2008 season that he did not approve of Aguri's reported desire to sign pay-driver Narain Karthikeyan, and an official source confirmed this week that the 52-year-old was behind the lockout of the team's transporters from the Istanbul paddock, and perhaps also the quarantine of its cars in the UK.   
 
"I don't understand how suddenly Nick Fry needs to be commenting on everything," Suzuki said in the Tokyo press conference on Tuesday.

"Honda were our backers and he's not the CEO of Honda.

"I have no interest in Nick Fry whatsoever and have no idea what he was talking about," the Japanese added.

[cosworth151]

A good article from Pitpass.com about the situation:

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=34721

[Steven Roy]

This whole saga sums up Honda's ineptness.  They set up SA in the first place to avoid the bad publicity of putting Sato out of a drive and then in the most public way pull the rug from under them and in the process put Sato out of a drive.  What kind of lunatic blows $100 million to get worse publicity than they would have got in the first place.

I think someone gave the Honda board stupid pills a few years ago because the have gone from a company that continually made the right decision to one that cocks up everythng they do.  They blew $100 million on SA when they could have used that money to hold on to Valentino Rossi and racked up a string of Moto GP titles.

This also puts Bernie in a tricky position because he has to deliver 20 cars to every race.  If another team runs into trouble it would start to affect Bernie's income.  I bet he wishes he had done more to get Prodrive in now.

[John S]

Come on Guy n Gals do you really expect Honda to bank roll SA continually I bet most of us faced with the losses they racked up would pull the plug at some time.

Yeah sure Suzuki is upset but beating up on Honda and Nick Fry is hardly justifiable when he has burnt through so much of their money.

This had to come to a head because customer cars or 2nd teams, whichever you want to call them, are out; hence Red Bull unloading Torro Rosso. Prodrive's forced withdrawal started the pressure to wind down customer teams and the world credit crisis made this end game inevitable.

Tail end teams have always struggled to stay in the sport and we have lost many over the years, instead of burying SA by trying to lay blame why don't we instead praise their remarkable season last year and remember the good things Aguri san brought to F1, with the help of Honda.

[Scott]

Was the $100m even on the books?  Because if it was, continuing to fund them until a proper buyer was found is a helluva lot cheaper than writing off $100m along with a bunch of employee/supplier lawsuits.  With Singapore and China on the books and two races in the Middle East in 2009, there are certainly a few billionaires willing to get into the sport to show off in their backyard - they would just have to be coddled a bit.  Even Ford and Minardi figured that one out....and then Bernie took away Dieter's home GP anyway!
 

I gotta say, I'm a bit surprised that Bernie didn't over-rule Nick on the Turkey episode.  I would have thought he would tell Honda to stuff themselves to suggest he not let a legitimate team into the paddock even to set up.

[Alianora La Canta]

Honda didn't need to bankroll Super Aguri for another day if it didn't want to (apart from the engines and the IP for next year's car, and there's nothing unusual about those). It could have just let the Weigl Group see whether it was serious when it said it was going to try rescuing Super Aguri. Give it no more money (just the engines) and give it a long time (like 5 years or more) to pay back the full cost of Aguri's support. Super Aguri could subcontract the construction of the chassis to one of the composites workshops (DPS built most of the Jordans, the only exceptions being the prototypes and initial chassis which were built at Silverstone). If it missed a payment, then Honda could take Super Aguri back and if nobody was willing to take it off their hands, then they would be justified in closing it down.

But to close Super Aguri down when someone was willing to try to rescue it is pretty pathetic.

[SennaMan]

well, nick FRY's days are numbered and it amazes me he is still there

sorry, I am quite upset about this and F1 generally - it no longer captures my spirit as F1 has very little of it now

follow the money, just follow the money mate

[cosworth151]

It doesn't appear to Honda pulling their money, but Honda blocking someone else's money. Again, I think this is just sour grapes over SAF1 out performing them last year.