Well Done Honda F1!

[Duncan]

I am sure all Honda F1 fans will be happy with the outcome of the F1 race this weekend.

Honda seems to have made a huge leap in development.

Really happy for JB as well as RB and Honda in general.

Though not much of a Honda f1 fan, I was quite pleased to have seen a South African behind the teams success.

Cheers

[isurujosh]

I am sure all Honda F1 fans will be happy with the outcome of the F1 race this weekend.

Honda seems to have made a huge leap in development.

Really happy for JB as well as RB and Honda in general.

Though not much of a Honda f1 fan, I was quite pleased to have seen a South African behind the teams success.

Cheers

[isurujosh]

I am sure all Honda F1 fans will be happy with the outcome of the F1 race this weekend.

Honda seems to have made a huge leap in development.

Really happy for JB as well as RB and Honda in general.

Though not much of a Honda f1 fan, I was quite pleased to have seen a South African behind the teams success.

Cheers

Cudnt watch the race my self, my friends at office keep bugging me dat it was because the track was wet and it was raining? (attributing success solely to tyres) can you comment a little bit more about the race?

[Duncan]

Cudnt watch the race my self, my friends at office keep bugging me dat it was because the track was wet and it was raining? (attributing success solely to tyres) can you comment a little bit more about the race?

Hi there

Well yes the rain and tyres did play a big role in the outcome of the race. But thats racing, come rain or shine at the end of the day it is the team with the best package that wins.

Bridgestone did not have a good enough wet wheather tyre to compete with Michelin. But I felt a bit let down by Ferrari. During MS's final pit stop they could have changed to a fresh set of dry tyres but they opted to run the intermidiates that had by then turned slicks. This to me seemed pretty foolish from such an experienced team. 95% of the track had dried and dry tyres seemed to make sense. So instead of finishing with some solid points and capitalising on FA's retirement, Ferrari chucked it all away.

So it was Honda who got it all right with the right package and right strategy. They deserved the win.

[isurujosh]

Hi there

Well yes the rain and tyres did play a big role in the outcome of the race. But thats racing, come rain or shine at the end of the day it is the team with the best package that wins.

Bridgestone did not have a good enough wet wheather tyre to compete with Michelin. But I felt a bit let down by Ferrari. During MS's final pit stop they could have changed to a fresh set of dry tyres but they opted to run the intermidiates that had by then turned slicks. This to me seemed pretty foolish from such an experienced team. 95% of the track had dried and dry tyres seemed to make sense. So instead of finishing with some solid points and capitalising on FA's retirement, Ferrari chucked it all away.

So it was Honda who got it all right with the right package and right strategy. They deserved the win.

Hey Tnx so much for the info.! so FA's retirement may also have played a big role

I wish Honda all the very best!

[GTAm]

Even though the win came because the big 3 messed up, I think Honda deserved the win since they've been trying very very hard with very little success until now. However one win does not mean they are going to be a great force to reckon with IMHO.

Considering the size of Honda's and Toyota's budgets their performances are very dissapointing. It goes to show that simply throwing money at a racing programme will never do. Especially if all you want is commercial gains. There has to be PASSION in it.

If you read the history of Ferarri you will undertsand and agree!

[isurujosh]

Even though the win came because the big 3 messed up, I think Honda deserved the win since they've been trying very very hard with very little success until now. However one win does not mean they are going to be a great force to reckon with IMHO.

Considering the size of Honda's and Toyota's budgets their performances are very dissapointing. It goes to show that simply throwing money at a racing programme will never do. Especially if all you want is commercial gains. There has to be PASSION in it.

If you read the history of Ferarri you will undertsand and agree!

Very true I have heard that for ferrari, no. 1 is winning races and selling cars come second!

[Elvis_Pil]

Even though the win came because the big 3 messed up, I think Honda deserved the win since they've been trying very very hard with very little success until now. However one win does not mean they are going to be a great force to reckon with IMHO.

Considering the size of Honda's and Toyota's budgets their performances are very dissapointing. It goes to show that simply throwing money at a racing programme will never do. Especially if all you want is commercial gains. There has to be PASSION in it.

If you read the history of Ferarri you will undertsand and agree!

I'm not sure about this year- but Ferrari is known to have one of the largets budgets in F1 in recent years..

[isurujosh]

I'm not sure about this year- but Ferrari is known to have one of the largets budgets in F1 in recent years..

don't know about budgets but i guess the passion factor is very much present (to a greater extent) in the european teams (ferrari, renault...) than in the japz.

[Pericles]

don't know about budgets but i guess the passion factor is very much present (to a greater extent) in the european teams (ferrari, renault...) than in the japz.

Tell that to Jaguar. Not to mention BMW and Mercedes in recent years.

[Duncan]

Development levels in F1 is next to none other. So every team, no matter what amount of money they have at their disposal goes through differing stages.

Just look at McLaren. I've even forgotten the last time they had a decent season. However, they are a team to be looked up to.

Every team goes through this. IMO it will only be a matter of time before Honda is in form again. Infact we should see a lot more of this in the remainder of the season.

As for Toyota, they have only been in F1 for five years. Thats very short to make any significant achievements.

[GTAm]

I'm not sure about this year- but Ferrari is known to have one of the largets budgets in F1 in recent years..

Toyota has the largest budget in F1. Take away Michael Shcumacher's fee and the Ferarri budget becomes an average one .

[GTAm]

Tell that to Jaguar. Not to mention BMW and Mercedes in recent years.

Jaguar came to F1 under Ford another big corporation who is more concerned only commercial gains. And so it was a disaster. Just look at when they were independent how they won Le Mans in the late 80s early 90s with much smaller budget than Mercedes and Porsche at that time.

Mercedes again is a big corporation. But they have a great racing heritage. However their marriage with McLaren has quite a disaster from day one.

BMW only just took control of Sauber so they are yet to go all out. I think next year they will be very strong as they offered MS that huge sum to get him. This shows they are serious. As you'll know they were extremely successful in the 80s with Brabham and their 1500bhp four cylinder 1.5 liter turbo engine is still the most powerful in F1 history. So when they get serious they will do well. They are totally committed to Motor sport.

Out of the Jap companies Honda has the biggest heritage and most passion for racing. So they deserve to succeed.

It's amazing how all these teams are located in England except Ferarri.

[Blazin]

Out of the Jap companies Honda has the biggest heritage and most passion for racing. So they deserve to succeed.

It's amazing how all these teams are located in England except Ferarri.

I don't agree with that mate. I think Ferrari, Williams and Mclaren have a bigger racing heritage than Honda.

[isurujosh]

Out of the Jap companies Honda has the biggest heritage and most passion for racing. So they deserve to succeed.

It's amazing how all these teams are located in England except Ferarri.

I don't agree with that mate. I think Ferrari, Williams and Mclaren have a bigger racing heritage than Honda.

da guy had said Out of the Jap companies

Out of the Jap companies Honda has the biggest heritage and most passion for racing. So they deserve to succeed.

boy i love hearing those kinda words

but since the demise of Mr. Soichiro, Honda seems to have lost the passion up to a certain extent ... of course they are moving mainstream (like nissan and toyota) but they shouldn't forget their roots of success!

starting from dropping the all double wishbone line-up, to dropping of integra, taking money away from HSC project and injecting them to hybrid program to the softer suspesion tuing in the 8th generation civic sedans have all signalled a move towards mainstream

[Elvis_Pil]

Out of the Jap companies Honda has the biggest heritage and most passion for racing. So they deserve to succeed.

It's amazing how all these teams are located in England except Ferarri.

I don't agree with that mate. I think Ferrari, Williams and Mclaren have a bigger racing heritage than Honda.

Music to my ears.. seriously Blazin you summed up F1 really.. the sport is edged in tradition and heritage and would be nothing without the three teams you mentioned. Infact I remember reading some where that Ferrari, Williams, McLaren & Monaco have the biggest brand value in the sport.. Honda's been around but still has loooooong way to go..

Toyota has the largest budget in F1. Take away Michael Shcumacher's fee and the Ferarri budget becomes an average one .

Maybe.. but Ferrari tests almost twice as much as some of the other teams.. at that takes big bucks!

And the boys in red know how to spend wisely.. unlike the rocket scientists at Toyota..

Mercedes again is a big corporation. But they have a great racing heritage. However their marriage with McLaren has quite a disaster from day one.

hmmm not really.. the first year Mercedes teamed up with McLaren that is in 1997- they had one victory if I'm not mistaken.. And in 1998 Mika Hakkinen pulled off the Drivers & constructor's championship and again the Driver's in 1999.. So the the combo did have early enough success

[tuk tuk]

Actually Ferarri has a lower budget than Toyota, Honda, McLaren and BMW. This sums up very well the point some of you guys made earlier about how F1 sucess is not all about money & budgets, but about the passion and technical expertise that teams have.

Summary of budgets for 2006 (as reported by Business F1 magazine)

* McLaren Mercedes: $400M

* Toyota: $393M

* Honda : $382M

* BMW Sauber: $378M

* Ferrari: $329M

* Renault: $300M

* R*D B*LL Racing: $201M

* Williams: $134

* Super Aguri: $95M

* Midland F1: $76M

* Scuderia Toro Rosso: $66M

Estimated driver salaries (unverified and outdated: Purely for drooling purposes only )

Quote:

* Mika Hakkinen estimated at $16 million and David Coulthard $5 million for 1999 - (http://atlasf1.autosport.com/news/1999/aug/1504.htm)

* Jacques Villeneuve renewed his contract at BAR for a speculated $20 million per year - (http://atlasf1.autosport.com/news/report.php?id=2680)

* Michael Schumacher's salary is said to be $41 million - (http://atlasf1.autosport.com/news/1998/741.htm)

* Heinz-Harald Frentzen allegedly receives about $3.7 million at Jordan - (http://atlasf1.autosport.com/news/1998/835.htm)

* And According to our F1 Grapevine, Eddie Irvine is now making $10 million - (http://atlasf1.autosport.com/99/aut/preview/grapevine.html)

This, however, is by no means everything they get. Some drivers, such as Schumacher, earn money from other sources such as endorsements and merchandise sales.

End of Quote.

Edited August 10, 2006 by tuk tuk

[Elvis_Pil]

Good info dude! on the budgets I'n not too sure:

"F1 Racing, a British magazine, reported in its March 2006 edition that the 10 F1 teams that competed in 2005 spent a combined $2.8 billion to go racing. The three biggest spenders were Toyota, $499.05 million; Ferrari, $432.98 million and McLaren-Mercedes, $419.95 million.

Toyota's cost breakdown included $63.4 million for research and development; $2.8 million for car-manufacturing costs; $13.14 million for wind tunnel costs; $77.5 million for operating cars at tests; $29.71 million for operating cars at races; $68.53 million for team salaries; $180 million for engine budgets; $39.5 million for driver salaries; $12.97 million for travel and accommodation; and $11.5 million for corporate entertainment"

http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/story....b1f&k=51065

[tuk tuk]

Yeap that was in 2005, I figuare these are the 2006 budgets for if you look at the article I linked you'll see it says: Mercedes-powered McLaren has beaten Toyota to the mantle as F1's biggest spender.

Regardless 'Pillawoos' I'm not disputing your stats. They could well be more accurate than mine.

My point is: The largest budget does not necessarily mean the best. It take a whole lot of passion, good management, and technical know-how to run a sucessful F1 team.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Interestingly the article 'Pillawoos' linked has an interesting bit on Schumacher's earnings.

Quote:

speaking of wallets, the biggest one among F1 drivers belongs to Michael Schumacher, who earned $60 million US last year, according to Forbes magazine. That put the Ferrari driver No. 2 on Forbes's list of highest-earning athletes, behind golfer Tiger Woods at $87 million.

To put Schumacher's earnings into perspective, that's $21 million more than the salary cap for an entire NHL team this past season. It also works out to $164,383.56 per day every day or $6,849.32 an hour 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Makes you wonder why Schumacher doesn't smile more often.

End Quote.

Edited August 10, 2006 by tuk tuk

[GTAm]

Yeap that was in 2005, these are the 2006 budgets.

If you look at the article I linked you see it says: Mercedes-powered McLaren has beaten Toyota to the mantle as F1's biggest spender.

Regardless 'Pillawoos' I'm not desputing you stats. They could well be more accurate than mine.

My point is: The largest budget does not necessarily mean the best. It take a whole lot of passion, good management, and technical know-how to run a sucessful F1 team.

Very true. I agree with your last para totally. But you can't trust Toyota for disclosing anything to officiel sources.

Don't forget they were caught pinching senstive technology from Ferarri and they sacked a few of their top eexecutives "officially". Everyone knows that it was to please the FIA and not get banned or penalties. Those guys probably still work for them secretly.

They've pinched so many personell from other teams. Like Gascoyne from Renault. They have the money to double or triple anyones' pay........but as you say that's not enough sometimes.

In their first two seasons they sunk 900 million POUNDS.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Interestingly the article Pillawoos linked has a interesting bit on Schumacher's earnings.

Quote:

speaking of wallets, the biggest one among F1 drivers belongs to Michael Schumacher, who earned $60 million US last year, according to Forbes magazine. That put the Ferrari driver No. 2 on Forbes's list of highest-earning athletes, behind golfer Tiger Woods at $87 million.

To put Schumacher's earnings into perspective, that's $21 million more than the salary cap for an entire NHL team this past season. It also works out to $164,383.56 per day every day or $6,849.32 an hour 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Makes you wonder why Schumacher doesn't smile more often.

End Quote.

Oh he's laughing all the time. Especially when he on top of the no.1 podium. And anyway I think he's worth every penny .

[Blazin]

Guys, you can't blame teams for having big budgets. You shouldn't forget that most of these teams cover their spending through their sponsers anyway. And you need big budgets to attract big guns like Gascoyne and Newey. The teams need to show that their are commited to F1.

I know Honda makes it out like they have a big heritage in motor sports but I think thats mainly due to their clever marketing strategies.

2007 Japanese grand prix has been stripped from Honda owned Suzuka to the Toyota owned Fiji circuit. That says a lot!

[Elvis_Pil]

Yeap that was in 2005, I figuare these are the 2006 budgets for if you look at the article I linked you'll see it says: Mercedes-powered McLaren has beaten Toyota to the mantle as F1's biggest spender.

Regardless 'Pillawoos' I'm not disputing your stats. They could well be more accurate than mine.

My point is: The largest budget does not necessarily mean the best. It take a whole lot of passion, good management, and technical know-how to run a sucessful F1 team.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Interestingly the article 'Pillawoos' linked has an interesting bit on Schumacher's earnings.

Quote:

speaking of wallets, the biggest one among F1 drivers belongs to Michael Schumacher, who earned $60 million US last year, according to Forbes magazine. That put the Ferrari driver No. 2 on Forbes's list of highest-earning athletes, behind golfer Tiger Woods at $87 million.

To put Schumacher's earnings into perspective, that's $21 million more than the salary cap for an entire NHL team this past season. It also works out to $164,383.56 per day every day or $6,849.32 an hour 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Makes you wonder why Schumacher doesn't smile more often.

End Quote.

Dude was not disputing either lol

[Pericles]

* Michael Schumacher's salary is said to be $41 million - (http://atlasf1.autosport.com/news/1998/741.htm)

This, however, is by no means everything they get. Some drivers, such as Schumacher, earn money from other sources such as endorsements and merchandise sales.

Quote:

speaking of wallets, the biggest one among F1 drivers belongs to Michael Schumacher, who earned $60 million US last year, according to Forbes magazine. That put the Ferrari driver No. 2 on Forbes's list of highest-earning athletes, behind golfer Tiger Woods at $87 million.

To put Schumacher's earnings into perspective, that's $21 million more than the salary cap for an entire NHL team this past season. It also works out to $164,383.56 per day every day or $6,849.32 an hour 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Makes you wonder why Schumacher doesn't smile more often.

End Quote.

According to my calcs, that means Shumi makes only 21 mill on endorsements? Odd. I'm sure Tiger Woods and guys like LeBron James get far higher endorsement income than pro-earnings, despite the astronomical figures they get.

[isurujosh]

According to my calcs, that means Shumi makes only 21 mill on endorsements? Odd. I'm sure Tiger Woods and guys like LeBron James get far higher endorsement income than pro-earnings, despite the astronomical figures they get.

F1 drivers are underpaid when u consider

the mumber of kilos they loose in a race?

the number of gear shifts they have to do in a race?

the fact that they hav to drink water while driving albeit w/out interference to driving?

the mere risk on life... does a golfer ever have to go through these

[Elvis_Pil]

F1 cars have 'semi automatic' transmissions FYI

F1 Drivers have a controlled enviroment to race in unlike say WRC Drivers

All forms of racing carry an element of danger & risk of life!

Close to all fortune 500 CEO's play golf..