Will opinions change on Ross Brawn now?

[Tres_Bien]

Maybe I'm wrong but there seems to be a vague feeling that RB has always been "tainted" with his MS and Ferrari connections. He played the political and gamesmanship card as much as Todt (and Dennis and Briatore, let's be equitable here)..

I mean he's clearly and demonstrably superb at his job but...is there an undercurrent of ill feeling from non MS and Ferrari fans (of which there are fair few, although i don't count myself among them..I've warmed to MS in particular)?

Will his appointment to Honda see this change?

I guess I'm speaking to people less "favourably inclined" toward Ferrari/MS

[nerf]

i like the man, i like the fact he ate a banana on the pit wall in the middle of a race. as you say he's a very clever man and extremely good at what he does. never been a ferrari fan, wouldnt p*ss on one if it was on fire. i think brawn always behaved excepionally well considering he was contracted to a team with a very strange concept of sportsmanship...

[ELAN+2]

Ultimately Ross Brawn is a team player and would therefore toe the coporate line for who ever he worked, his track record speaks for itself and I'm sure his influence will bring Honda to the front of the grid in the next couple of seasons, that is if the commitee mentality at Honda can be bypassed.

[Tres_Bien]

Got to say, I like him too and daresay he was toeing the party line when at Ferrari...although weren't there also cases of "interpreting the rules in a flexible fashion" when he was at Renault too?

I guess my question was prompted by the flak that Todt gets when Brawn wasn't whiter than white either. Having said that, i do take the view that all's fair in love and war and what one side calls whinging, the other will call protecting the integrity of the sport. Somewhere in the middle lies the truth.

In fact, there's not really anyone i particularly dislike in F1 as realistically they are all doing their paid job at the end of the day.

Ha! Sorry, I forgot the obvious exception of Max "cock-knocker" Mosely. What a singularly unpleasant and odious man he really is.

[toomuchbeer]

ELAN+2 said:

Ultimately Ross Brawn is a team player and would therefore toe the coporate line for who ever he worked, his track record speaks for itself and I'm sure his influence will bring Honda to the front of the grid in the next couple of seasons, that is if the commitee mentality at Honda can be bypassed.

I think that is the real question. If Brawn is allowed to make quick responsive discissions, and not have to report back to Honda, then things will start to happen. If this does not happen, he'll need more than a banana at track side to start winning points.

Good luck to him I say.

[patmahe]

Yep given a free hand at Honda Ross Brawn could make them champions (not this year but soon) I just hope honda have the good sense to let him off the leash and get the job done.

He has earned the respect he has, throught being consistantly good anywhere he has gone - I hope he does the same at Honda, if only to give Jenson Button some reward for putting up with a crap car all last year

[cougarracing]

ive always liked ross brawn, as ppl have said, hes an extremely intelligant man.......god knowss what spins around in his head!

[spectatorsam]

I always rated him, and when I met him he was a real gent. Had time for you, spoke at length, happy to have a laugh no ego, ( at the time anyway) it would be great if he does well with honda, 'cause JB is not as shit as the car makes him look

[Muzzer]

I think he suffered from the 'Schumacher is god and no-one is better ever' syndrome like a lot of others at Ferrari*

But, if Fry can keep the board at bay at Honda he should do OK. I like him, he's a proper British engineer.

• Montezemelo and Todt still harp on about him far too much. In the close season they basically said "He's the best driver around but he's retired so we have to make do with Raikonnen and Massa" Bet that was real good motivation for Kimi and Felipe....

[hostile17]

I look forward to the first time he and Honda are subject to either the FIA seeming to favour Ferrari, or Ferrari getting away unpunished with something questionable(1) which then impacts on Honda. Having been on the inside for so long, I wonder how Brawn will react when he's on the receiving end of the Scuderia's tactics.

(1) like running an illegal floor in the first race of the season...

[rev-erend]

Always respected the guy - the Brawn and Burn partnership worked well..

Now will he still achieve greatness again as Rory Burn is still at Ferrari.. (I believe..)

[stuttgartmetal]

At Spa in 2002, I was up at the circuit on the night before the race. At about half ten and Merc Sprinter van/bus toots at the crowd which were all in the road. As I turned round and looked into the front passenger seat, there's RB sitting there. He's a bit smaller than you'd imagine.
Struck me that he was leaving the circuit at that time.
The mans a born winner.
A genius, and a physicist to boot.
Watch Honda rise to the top.

[10 Pence Short]

I thought you said Honda didn't have the class?

[stuttgartmetal]

10 Pence Short said:

I thought you said Honda didn't have the class?

Touche Daniel, mon ami.

They've just bought it, and I hope it works out for them.
Brawn had to be number one choice to have any chance of fixing the team, shirley ?

Anyone have any idea of his retainer ?

Edited by stuttgartmetal on Wednesday 9th January 16:35

[10 Pence Short]

He must be the best person to have employed, that's for sure!

[MrKipling43]

I've always been a fan of Ross Brawn - he seems like a very straightforward, no BS sort of chaps.

Also, I seriously doubt he would have gone to Honda under anything but his own terms (i.e. free reign from Honda Japan), it's not like he would struggle to get a job, he'd just announce that he was on the market and wait three milliseconds for the phone to ring!

Does anyone else get the impression that he'd be one of the THE worst people to disappoint, professionally?

[LocoBlade]

MrKipling43 said:

Also, I seriously doubt he would have gone to Honda under anything but his own terms (i.e. free reign from Honda Japan), it's not like he would struggle to get a job, he'd just announce that he was on the market and wait three milliseconds for the phone to ring!

Yep completely agree, I can't see him signing up without some pretty cast iron guarantees from the Honda bigwigs that he'll be able to make the decisions and changes he feels are required without it needing to go through endless board meetings in Japan, particularly as he's on a performance based contract.

Edited by LocoBlade on Wednesday 9th January 20:42