The misconception of the fate of the Honda F1 project is still persistent to this day. Harvey Postlethwaite’s tragic fate is completely different from the truth.
Harvey Postlethwaite It happened to the chest.
But it doesn’t help to complain. Work must be done. After all, it was about your own project, millions of euros and dozens of jobs.
Eventually, the legendary F1 designer returned to the hotel after a hard test day on the Barcelona motorway. As soon as he arrived in the lobby, he was lying to the ground.
The heart attack decided on the earthly hike of Harvey Postlethwaite on April 15, 1999. He was only 55 years old.
The death of Postlethwaite, which has become completely from the puff, was shocked by the entire formula world during the test day.
In addition, his death gave birth to one of the persistently living but unprecedented myths.
Honda’s plan
Harvey Postlethwaite photographed in the Barcelona depot in January 1999. Aop
Postlethwaite had created a reputation as one of the best car designers of its era. At the end of the millennium, for example, Ferrari and Tyrrel, who created competitive cars, were offered a very interesting job.
Honda, who retired from the series a couple of years earlier, wanted to return to Formula One. But now I was interested in more than just the role of the engine manufacturer.
When the negotiations on buying existing F1 stables fell to Kari, Honda announced that she would join Formula One in the 2000 season in the 2000 season.
Postlethwaite was hired as technical director of the Japanese F1 project. Expectations were high. As McLaren and Williams’ engine supplier, Honda had captured championships. Thanks to Postlethwaite’s skills and Honda’s money, the same was expected to repeat.
A surprise muhi
The round times run by Verstappen were amazed by the F1 people, Zumawire / mvphotos
As early as January 1999, big headlines were torn from Honda when If Verstappen Shocked the fastest round time of the test day by a second to the next.
Less noise was considered that the second fastest round time was answered by the BAR team Ricardo zonta. And that other stables were mainly focused on testing the reliability of their new cars, not speed.
A couple of weeks later, however, other stables were forced to admit the Honda F1 project was a worthwhile factor. Verstappen was once again at the end of the test day, although other stables did their best.
Suddenly, a stable that was not even in the competition was one of the most sought -after jobs in the driver market. Iltalehti reported in April Mika Salon Honda agreement all the way to the cover of the magazine.
However, Salo never got to drive a meter by Honda’s F1 car.
The story goes on after the picture.
Bosses retreated
Iltalehti reported on Mika Salo’s Honda Agreement in April 1999. IL Archive
Despite the first steps that promises promised, a funeral was already planned for the Postplethwaite F1 project.
The reason was a steep disagreement in the Honda Board of Directors of how the F1 project should be implemented. There had been significant changes at the table of the big grooves of the listed company after the decision to return as a factory stable was just a couple of months earlier.
The problem was old familiar: money.
Postlethwaite, who had spent more than 20 years on the F1 depot, knew how much F1 stable would require money. Those who opposed the project thought the amounts he had proposed were far too great.
Disputes supported a model where Honda would be the engine supplier of some existing F1 stable, ready to buy the stable for themselves later. This idea was fueled by Honda Motor Men-Honda, who already participated in the F1 series.
Because the engine dilat was seen as a much safer and, above all, a cheaper option, Honda chose it as its new strategy. Postlethwaite tried to turn the Japanese heads by providing a interlocutor solution where Honda would support the F1 team he already assembled, without success.
Last encounter
This is how Iltalehti told about the death of Postlethwaite in his magazine in April 1999. IL Archive
Postlethwaite knew the Honda F1 project he pulled was doomed when his life was broken in April 1999.
If Verstappen remembered a fatal day a couple of years ago at the F1 Series Beyond the Grid podcast.
– I sat on the depot bus when Harvey came to me and my engineer. His face was gray. He rubbed his chest and complained about pain. We said with my engineer that now you have to go to the hospital. Then he was shy at the hotel, Verstappen said.
Incorrect myth
Honda returned to Formula One for the 2000 Bar stable as engine supplier. Zumawire / mvphotos
It is often claimed that Honda would have ended her F1 project as a result of the death of Postlethwaite.
It’s an incorrect argument. A tough myth that lives year after year.
In reality, the decision to pitcock the project had already been made. From the death of Postlethwaite, Honda only got a good excuse for closing the project.
In the spring of 1999, Honda announced that it would not be related to Formula One as a stable. The news was clad to look like the death of Postlethwaite would have affected the decision.
Honda’s decision was disappointing for fans and the International Automobile Federation.
With the Honda Ohari, the FIA changed the rules so that in the future, the new stable will have to pay a “pledge” costing millions of euros when accepted in the F1 series. A couple of years later, Toyota, who was in her own F1 arrival, lost over € 10 million.
How did you go
Honda returned to Formula One in the 2000 BAR team as a engine supplier. A couple of years later, the Japanese brand bought the stable. As a Honda factory stable, the “Brackley team” was known in 2006-2008.
With weak results Ross Brawn Already in good time, he decided to concentrate the massive resources of the car manufacturer on the 2009 car.
As the financial crisis hit the global economy, the Honda Board of Directors once again made a big impact on the formula world.
It was decided to abandon the Huge F1 project, which is seen as a huge expenditure item, immediately after the 2008 season.
Brawn, who knew what kind of diamond Honda had grinding, bought the F1 stable with a nominal one pound. Brawn GP came, saw and won the 2009 World Championship in a technically superior car.
Although Honda had developed a car and even agreed to pay for the maintenance of the Brawn stable, it did not get any honor for the championships. On the contrary, the Japanese brand decision was laughed at openly.
After winning the championship, Brawn sold his team to Mercedes. After a couple of years of growth pain, the silver arrow rose to dominate the species for years.
Would anything have happened if Honda’s leadership had not changed its plans in early 1999?
Honda developed one of the best cars in F1 history, but the fruits of the work were collected by the Brawn GP. Aop