F1 RACING DECEMBER 2019 91
Even as negotiationswith Mercedes
proceeded, there was noguarantee the sale
would be completed – oreven that therewould
be enough budget to compete as Brawn the
following season. The budget hadgone fromTHERE WAS A
CONTINGENCY PLAN
TO CLOSE DOWN AT
THE END OF 2009
£200m a year to £2m. Money was so tight that
any expenditure over £75 had to be signed off
by Brawn, Fry or Nigel Kerr.
Nick Fry:“We were eking out the moneyas best
we could.How far could we get into2010 before
we went belly-up?Thefin ances were done ina
very simplistic way: thegoing-in positi on [wit h
the mana gement buy-out] was that we would
pay off everybodyat the end of the 2009 seaso n
on the same terms Honda would havegiven if it
shut down at theend of 2008.Wehad a mora l
obligation. So we putthat money aside, asit were,
to give people if theworst came to theworst.
“And what was left wasthe budget. IfI
remember rightly, upuntil the summer shutdown
we spent £600,000on development of the car.
Red Bullwere rumoured to be spendingone
or two million per race. We knew they were
going to catchupbecausethey were throwing so
much money at it.After the summershutdown
we turned thetap on briefly – the others were
catching upfast and Jenson [Button] washaving
a wobble – but it was a matter of spending the
minimum we could to get acrossthe line. We
didn’t know what was on the other side.”Post-acquisitionbyMercedes, the team
struggled for the next three seasons – partly as
a consequenceofunder-investment in2009,
but also because it was followingthe glidepath
towards the ResourceRestrictionAgreement.
This initiativewas proposed bythe teams to kerb
expenditure,but collapsed as the teams’unity
fragmented.Mercedesfounditselfspendingmuch
more than expectedin order tobe competitive.
Fry remained part of the team until 2013.
Nick Fry:“The followingyear espe cially [2010],
we did poorly. That’s because youwould have one
team workingon the current ca r and an other – or
somebody –working on th e future.Wecouldn’t
afford that. So,when the budget cutsdidn’t come
into action wewere left highand dry with acar
that had suffered pretty much no development.
“Mercedesare realists. They may not have
liked it but they understood thegame. We’d
underinvested and had ahard timefor a couple
of years catchingup again.We went on a huge
recruiting spree. I hired a seniorhumanresource s
personspecifically to re-hire engineers. We were
on a mission to get back some of those t alented
people we’dhad to let go. Itwas slow going.
“At Bra ckley now,there are 1200people.Tha t’s
an incredible amount of money being spent on
just the chassis alone, as well as maybe800 on
the engine.Unless there’s a top-down approach
I don’t knowhow you can resolve it. I remember
in 2009-2010 having aconve rsation with [FIA
president] Jean Todtand pleadingwith himto
sort thisout – to dictate what neededtobe don e
in the same wayMax [Mosely] would havedone.
“There’s been 10lost years [ for F1]. Yes,the
team I waslucky enoughto ownand run ha s
continued todo brilliantly, and that’s fantastic in
one way, but thingscould have been different if
the income had beenspread fairlyand t he cost of
competing had been more moderate.”BUDGET CUT FAILURE
FORCED MERCEDES
TO DOUBLE DOWN
“WHEN THE BUDGET CUTS DIDN’T COME INTO ACTION
WE WERE LEFT HIGH AND DRY WITH A CAR THAT HAD
SUFFERED PRETTY MUCH NO DEVELOPMENT”
The euphoria of
2009’s unheralded
championship
success (far left and
left) gave way to
some fallow years.
Mercedes hadto
play catch upto
reverse a lack of
development
when the proposed
F1 cost cap failed
to materialiseF1 RACING DECEMBER 2019 91
Even as negotiationswith Mercedes
proceeded, there was noguarantee the sale
would be completed – oreven that therewould
be enough budget to compete as Brawn the
following season. The budget hadgone from
THERE WAS A
CONTINGENCY PLAN
TO CLOSE DOWN AT
THE END OF 2009
£200m a year to £2m. Money was so tight that
any expenditure over £75 had to be signed off
by Brawn, Fry or Nigel Kerr.
Nick Fry:“We were eking out the moneyas best
we could.How far could we get into2010 before
we went belly-up?Thefin ances were done ina
very simplistic way: thegoing-in positi on [wit h
the mana gement buy-out] was that we would
pay off everybodyat the end of the 2009 seaso n
on the same terms Honda would havegiven if it
shut down at theend of 2008.Wehad a mora l
obligation. So we putthat money aside, asit were,
to give people if theworst came to theworst.
“And what was left wasthe budget. IfI
remember rightly, upuntil the summer shutdown
we spent £600,000on development of the car.
Red Bullwere rumoured to be spendingone
or two million per race. We knew they were
going to catchupbecausethey were throwing so
much money at it.After the summershutdown
we turned thetap on briefly – the others were
catching upfast and Jenson [Button] washaving
a wobble – but it was a matter of spending the
minimum we could to get acrossthe line. We
didn’t know what was on the other side.”Post-acquisitionbyMercedes, the team
struggled for the next three seasons – partly as
a consequenceofunder-investment in2009,
but also because it was followingthe glidepath
towards the ResourceRestrictionAgreement.
This initiativewas proposed bythe teams to kerb
expenditure,but collapsed as the teams’unity
fragmented.Mercedesfounditselfspendingmuch
more than expectedin order tobe competitive.
Fry remained part of the team until 2013.
Nick Fry:“The followingyear espe cially [2010],
we did poorly. That’s because youwould have one
team workingon the current ca r and an other – or
somebody –working on th e future.Wecouldn’t
afford that. So,when the budget cutsdidn’t come
into action wewere left highand dry with acar
that had suffered pretty much no development.
“Mercedesare realists. They may not have
liked it but they understood thegame. We’d
underinvested and had ahard timefor a couple
of years catchingup again.We went on a huge
recruiting spree. I hired a seniorhumanresource s
personspecifically to re-hire engineers. We were
on a mission to get back some of those t alented
people we’dhad to let go. Itwas slow going.
“At Bra ckley now,there are 1200people.Tha t’s
an incredible amount of money being spent on
just the chassis alone, as well as maybe800 on
the engine.Unless there’s a top-down approach
I don’t knowhow you can resolve it. I remember
in 2009-2010 having aconve rsation with [FIA
president] Jean Todtand pleadingwith himto
sort thisout – to dictate what neededtobe don e
in the same wayMax [Mosely] would havedone.
“There’s been 10lost years [ for F1]. Yes,the
team I waslucky enoughto ownand run ha s
continued todo brilliantly, and that’s fantastic in
one way, but thingscould have been different if
the income had beenspread fairlyand t he cost of
competing had been more moderate.”BUDGET CUT FAILURE
FORCED MERCEDES
TO DOUBLE DOWN
“WHEN THE BUDGET CUTS DIDN’T COME INTOACTION
WE WERE LEFT HIGH AND DRY WITH A CAR THAT HAD
SUFFERED PRETTY MUCH NO DEVELOPMENT”
The euphoria of
2009’s unheralded
championship
success (far left and
left) gave way to
some fallow years.
Mercedes hadto
play catch upto
reverse a lack of
development
when the proposed
F1 cost cap failed
to materialise