Know Your Enemy: What Can Honda Learn from Toyota?

Honda have had a difficult time in F1 since taking over the reins from British American Racing at the end of 2005. A promising first season, including a maiden victory, beckoned in 2006; but what has followed has been little more than a disaster.

First there was the difficult start to 2007, with the car woefully off the pace of its main rivals. Worse still, customer team Super Aguri were using Honda's 2006 chassis, so the gulf in class between the '07 Honda and the previous year's car was apparent for all to see.

Then there was the hiring of Ross Brawn, with all the renewed promise that came with the brain behind Michael Schumacher's seven world championships, two for Benetton and five for Ferrari.

But Brawn's tenure has so far been troubled, with the team only slightly more competitive this year than it was in 2007.

Honda have again taken the risk of abandoning development on their 2008 car early, to focus more of their energies and resources into creating a truly competitive machine for next season. However, they took this gamble last year and it failed to pay off.

What can Honda hope for in 2009? The introduction of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) for next season gives them and Toyota a slight advantage, as the road car divisions of the Japanese manufacturers have already begun producing KERS systems for the next generation of road cars.

However, questions have already been raised about the impact KERS will have on F1 when it arrives; it is rumoured that the power advantage provided by an effective KERS system will be small, insufficient to make up the kind of aerodynamic shortfall that Honda currently suffers from.

Moreover, the FIA are apparently intent on capping KERS development, so any progress in KERS technology beyond a certain level will not be able to affect the performance of the F1 cars. This move has reportedly angered Toyota, whose KERS systems are already developed beyond the artificial cap proposed by the FIA.

Perhaps Honda could take another lesson from Toyota, who spent a couple of years in the doldrums before bouncing back to competitiveness, of a fashion, this season. Toyota currently lie fourth in the constructor's championship standings (Honda are ninth), with a podium finish each for Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock.

Honda's only visit to the podium this season came at the rain-soaked British Grand Prix, where Rubens Barrichello made an inspired switch to extreme-weather tyres and finished third as a result. On a normal, dry day, however, the best Honda can hope for is to run at the rear of the midfield, and pick up a point or two due to attrition.

One of the biggest changes that Toyota made between last season, where they scored just 13 points, and this season, where in the 13 races so far they have scored 41, is that they no longer employ Ralf Schumacher.

The German, who drove for the team between 2005 and 2007, commanded a salary of around $25 million, making him in his last year of service among the three highest-paid drivers in Formula One. At $5 million per point, Schumacher must have been at that time one of the worst-value drivers in Formula One history.

Now that Schumacher is no longer around, Toyota have freed up the vast majority of that money (Timo Glock, Schumacher's replacement, earns only a fraction of what his predecessor commanded), and it shows in the improved performance of the car.

Since arriving in Formula One in 2002, Toyota have gained a reputation of spending plenty of money, but achieving little success. Perhaps now that the money is being spent on the car rather than the drivers, the success is beginning to come.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that Honda could attempt to do something similar. Rather than using the promise of endless wads of cash to attract Fernando Alonso to the team for 2009, Ross Brawn would perhaps do better taking a good, hard look at his team's account book, and asking himself whether the results of his current drivers justify the expense.

In particular, Jenson Button is at present a real drain on resources. Honda have fought hard in the past to keep Button, even increasing his salary so that the Briton could afford to buy his way out of a contract he had signed with Frank Williams, but with the uncompetitive 2007 and 2008 seasons, the British driver has looked less and less motivated.

Now he is being outpaced by Rubens Barrichello, a driver seven years his senior who is surely knocking on the door of retirement. Button's reputedly $20 million salary, which seemed such good value when he was coming close to winning Grands Prix on occasion between 2004 and 2006, is now looking more and more like money wasted.

Button's contract expires at the end of this year. Honda should be looking at every possibility of replacing the British driver, or at the very least negotiating a considerable pay cut. Renault showed in 2005 and 2006 that you do not need massively-paid drivers to win championships, and Toyota are again showing that cheaper drivers can free up resources for improving the car.

Honda appear to be making the same mistake Toyota have been making all these years; they are throwing money at their drivers in the hope they will improve, rather than spending the money more wisely on things that can be quantitatively improved in the foreseeable future.

Perhaps Honda would be advised to spend less on paying Jenson Button's salary, and more on building a competitive car. Only then will Button, if he is still around, begin to show what he is made of.