The latest episode of our Bring Back V10s classic F1 podcast looks back on Honda’s aborted plans to enter its own team in 2000.
In early 1999 Jos Verstappen drove a test car as part of Honda’s evaluation of an F1 project, but two months after the car ran alongside most of the grid in pre-season testing, the idea was canned and Honda signed a works engine deal with BAR instead.
Glenn Freeman is joined by Gary Anderson and Scott Mitchell to look back on the 1999 Honda project, from early discussions with Eddie Jordan about buying his team (and why he turned the offer down), how it put together a test team under the guidance of Harvey Postelthwaite, why Postelthwaite’s HRD group pitched for a budget as big as Ferrari’s and the possible impact that had on the direction of Honda’s F1 ambitions, and how the Japanese manufacturer’s mind was already made up before Postelthwaite’s untimely death when the test car was still running in April.
We then look at how BAR’s deal came together, how Flavio Briatore tried to stop it, and why Honda chose to partner up with the team that only joined F1 in 1999.
Remember to ask a question for our series finale either by leaving us a review on your podcast platform of choice, or with #BringBackV10s on Twitter.
