Monaco: Fry talks of rules, fans and the future

By Phil Huff
May 24 2007

Honda Racing F1's team boss Nick Fry took part in the FIA's press conference today, speaking to the assembled media about the future of Formula One, 'green' issues, testing, the fans, and so much more. And, as if it's the law, he was also asked about Lewis Hamilton. Here's everything he had to say...

Do you think this year's rule changes have worked? And what do you think of the future plans as being considered for 2011?

I think this year's rules have had some benefits in closing up the field. From our own point of view, it has not been beneficial yet, but I think for the quality of the grid and the racing it has been a good thing. One thing I would say is the absolute importance of aerodynamics in the framework of the current rules with the engines similar to each other and the tyres the same, it does throw a lot of emphasis on one particular area and the question really is the relevance of that area. We are all working like crazy on very clever aerodynamics, a lot of time and money is going into that, but the question is does it have any real relevance to the outside world. I'll save my answer on that one for the second part of your question.

But in general about this year's rules, it is good?

Yes, it is favourable.

Are we moving in the right direction with the paper that you received recently about the 'green' direction for the future?

I think it is important as you said at first to look at the philosophy, or strategy, behind the proposals and they are ones that we strongly endorse. If you stand back and look at what the proposals are trying to do – in the first instance they are trying to improve the efficiency of the power trains that we use through the addition of energy-efficient technologies and from our point of view that can only be a good thing. In our view, it is completely mandatory… i.e. there is unlikely to be a Formula One in the future without steps in that direction. So, that is one we give a big tick. The second one is the encouragement of what we call road relevant technologies. I don’t think it is likely that car manufacturers and other parties are likely to invest so heavily as we all are unless there is a by-product from the technology and to try and route F1 in terms of its spending into areas where it would have been spent anyway if it is money that Honda was going to spend on its road car technology than by spending it in F1, it is not needless spending, it is money that would have been spent anyway and through the competition of F1 it is likely to happen much faster. So I think in our view these are two good reasons why it is exactly the right direction. I won't go into detail, but would say we would support 80 per cent of the detail of the proposal as well. What we are seeing here is some really game-changing leadership from the FIA and I think that is what is required and I think the whole thing is to be applauded.

Is it fair to say that with testing restrictions the team with most cars has an advantage and that a top team therefore needs a customer team running the same cars?

Although within the constraints of the current rules there is a reasonable amount of testing available to us and notwithstanding the fact that a lot of the work is done on rigs or in simulated conditions, at the end of the day having a greater number of products on the track doing that last residual validation test has to be an advantage. I think it would be something that would be an advantage for the teams with more cars running.

Could you comment on Lewis Hamilton in his first four races; what do you think of him?

I think expectations of Lewis at the beginning of the year were high and I believe he's exceeded those expectations. He’s done an outstanding job and from the minimal contact that I've had with him, seems to be a really nice guy to go with it, so I hope he continues to be successful. I'm sure he will be and I just say well done.

We were talking earlier on about the spectacle of Formula One, and the need to improve that. To what extent do you think the spectacle needs improving or the TV coverage needs improving, because some people think the spectacle is good enough if we can portray it properly?

I think the spectacle, especially at a circuit like this, is fantastic so I'm not sure that is a particular issue. I think the future regulations may help the overtaking which we all aspire to. I think the media coverage could always be improved and when I look at the coverage of other sports, including some other motor sports, Moto GP, some of the American motor sports, I would say that on average it seems to be of a higher standard, but I'm talking from a very limited base of just the countries where I watch Formula One. There may be others that cover it to a greater extent, but I think we should work on that. I think the viewer, to properly understand the complexity of Formula One, could do with more information, and some of that maybe should come from the teams, in terms of what actually is happening behind the scenes. And although I do accept the points that Ron's making with "we have a job to do and it's difficult to satisfy everyone's requirements," I think access is part of that and people, fans are not prepared to sit on the outside and just look at certain selective things that we allow them to. They really want to be part of the experience and I think it's our duty to try and provide that. And, again, going back to some comments that were made earlier, I think that it's not just car manufacturers, it's all the investors in Formula One will remain in Formula One if the value equation is a good one, and the value equation has to have the technology part of it for technology companies like ourselves. But it's also got to have an entertainment side to it too to attract the fans and it all becomes a vicious circle. So I do think we've got to work hard on both.