By Phil Huff
March 31 2006

Nick Fry headed into the Friday Five press conference today, and the Honda Racing F1 team boss discussed the past, the future, and even touched on hybrid technology. Read what he had to say right here. A quick GPMA question: the fact that the GPMA has entered the 2008 World Championship, does that mean that any thoughts of a rival series are now dead? What is the role now of the GPMA, Nick?

I think it's got an on-going role, regardless of whether everything's sorted out. I think the big car companies are obviously spending large amounts of money on Formula One and I think the dialogue between them has been a) better than it's ever been, and b) allows them, if you like, to get their act together before talking to the FIA or other outside bodies. So I would see an on-going role for that type of group. Whether it would be called GPMA or whatever is neither here nor there, because I think it's a constructive thing to do.

What do you feel about these engine regulations that have been suggested and the freeze on development?

I think the saving of money is something we would completely support. The car manufacturers are saving enormous amounts on changing the engines year after year, so to reduce that is clearly something we would want. I think the question is the way that you go about it, and we’re not at all convinced that a freeze is a good idea. As you probably know, that was tried in North America in oval racing and kind of almost directly led to one manufacturer pulling out and then the other one did so shortly or a couple of years later. So I don't think there's any good evidence that that's a good thing for racing. I think that what we've got to do over the next couple of months is sit down as a group and work out the best way to save money. I think the meeting that took place at Ferrari last week was a first step, but no doubt between now and June there will be more of those meetings.

Quick question for you about qualifying; do you feel it still needs to be tweaked a little, one or two small modifications?

I think we're quite happy with it as it is at the moment. I think that after just two races where I think that it's shown to be extremely exciting it's a bit too soon to talk about changing it, so I would leave as it is for the moment. I know that some people have suggested that the first part of the third section is a bit dull with just running down fuel but I think there's probably so much excitement in the second part that having ten minutes with maybe slightly less action before building up to a crescendo at the end is quite nice, so I think we should leave it and see, that would be my recommendation.

And do you feel that you've got to the bottom of Rubens's problems in the last couple of races?

There's a couple of things on the car which are very different from the car he drove before. I wouldn't expect it to change overnight. We did some testing at Vallelunga last week, where we made some changes to the traction control system which works in a very different way. They're not the final solution, as it were. We've made some mods which will help but we've got more work to do and I would expect Rubens's performance to improve race by race as he gets more used to the team, but I think the thing that is a huge benefit is that these are genuine improvements to the car so if it helps Rubens, it will help both Jenson and Anthony as well, so I see it as win-win situation here.

We are hearing a lot of conciliatory noises about how it [cost cutting] is all going to be sorted out before June, but if you look at it from a philosophical point of view, you have the FIA who are trying to slash costs and Honda who believe in open development and pushing to the limit of that. Surely we are looking at something that is impossible to please everybody?

I think there is a reasonable compromise to be found. We do, as you know, believe in a more liberal approach on development because it is very much an engineering project for Honda. Its developing the engineers and the technology that feeds into the road cars and that is important, but at the end of the day we don't want to end up competing with ourselves. So, I think there is some common ground that can be found and that is all around what I call useable technology that can be used in a road car environment or in other fields. So I think what we've got to do between us is to sort out the wheat from the chaff – for example, some of the material development is very applicable and some of it is less so. And we are quite happy to be part of that process.

You were talking about things that were applicable to road cars. Specifically, are you talking about hybrid systems that use different kinds of energy? Because if you have all the same engines, how are we going to see overtaking, particularly if you have standard tyres and standard aerodynamics and standard this and that?

On hybrid, for example, I think Formula One has to move with the times and it has to be applicable to road cars and I think as road cars move ever more environmentally friendly and efficient I think Formula One needs to move in the same direction and that is something that needs to be done gradually because the cost of that kind of technology is enormous. Honda are quite adept at hybrid technology so we might be at quite an advantageous position, but I don't think we'd advocate doing it quickly because the costs are so enormous, but I can certainly see an environment in five years time where that type of technology is employed on Formula One cars.

Most of us have seen the era of the four wheel development Lotus, the six wheel Tyrrell, the Brabham and you all know it better than I know, so I would like to ask you what would be your personal favourite as a racing car – how many litres, how many cylinders, tyres – grooved or slicks?, four-wheel drive or whatever, regardless of Charlie or Bernie and so on… Just what you personally would like…

I think that so long as whatever it is brings out the driver's skill and that things sound fast, look fast and there is overtaking and it is entertaining and it is great fun and I don't think it matters on the technical details. I don't think we have to worry too much about the technical details but think about what is entertaining to start with and work backwards from there. I think a surfeit of power over grip tends to help.

Is there any way we can make this Friday session more attractive, exciting, sexy so we don't fall asleep?

It is quite interesting Nicky that you know about a year ago when the GPMA, or whatever its predecessor was called, the teams started to work together, one of the early things we looked at was just doing something different on Friday and it comes to what Pat said that from a racing point of view, Friday is unnecessary and one of the ideas for Friday is to make it more of a promotional, sponsors and fun day and do different things at the circuit. The teams would be there, but it would do something much more outward facing giving members of the public and fans more access to the teams. But not necessarily practicing in the way we do at the moment and that is something we should consider. I think we are all in favour of racing more and testing less and doing things that have got wider appeal than what we do at the moment.