FORMULA ONE: Bruno Senna thinks he would have a mountain to climb if suddenly thrown into the formula one hot seat with Honda Racing, who are in buyout talks with the Virgin Group and are still hopeful of being on the grid for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in just over five weeks.
Honda announced its intention to withdraw from the sport last December and since then a planned management buyout was mentioned, led by chief executive Nick Fry, but the team’s owners in Japan were not interested.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Group now look like potential new owners. "We are negotiating with several buyers and one of these parties is the Virgin Group," said a Honda spokesman today.
Reports suggest as little as €1 would be required to buy the team but the new owners would then need to provide a budget of at least €45million if the team is to make the grid in Australia on March 30th.
It is not the first time that the Virgin Group have been associated with F1, Virgin Mobile sponsored Jordan in 2002, and Virgin Atlantic Japan have backed driver Takuma Sato for many years.
Branson himself is said to be a F1 fan, having previously attended a number of races. He also has links to of Adrian Reynard, one of the founders of the BAR team that was re-branded Honda four years ago.
Although work at the team’s factory headquarters in Brackley has continued over the winter, it is felt the end of next week is the deadline if they are to be ready in time for Melbourne.
On the driving side, Senna, the nephew of the late three-time world champion Ayrton, is the driver strongly tipped to join forces with Jenson Button should Honda survive. But the 25-year-old, who finished second in GP2 last season, knows “it would certainly be a big challenge” if thrown in at the deep end.
“To race in F1 you need to grab all chances with both hands, even when they look very difficult, because you may get no more of them after that,” said the Brazilian.
“I think no driver in the last few years has had his F1 debut with so little testing mileage. However, it’s always better to be in F1, even under difficult conditions, than to be out of it.
“To race in GP2 for another season would have been useless for me.
“It would be a difficult debut, I know, but initially there won’t be big pressure or expectations, because at the moment no-one considers the ex-Honda squad a top team.
“So the pressure would be less and I’ll eventually adapt in a quicker and easier way.
“At least I can say I know the (Melbourne) track, having already raced and won there in Australian F3.”
Senna has revealed Honda are ready with a car for the new season, even if it has yet to be put through on-track testing.
“Since Honda announced its retirement, the team have carried on working,” he added.
“Maybe not as intensively as they would have had Honda kept going, but the technicians have nevertheless carried on with the project of the new car according to schedule.
“Let’s just say that, if before the Australian GP I managed to run for at least three, four days, doing about 1,200km, then that’d be a dream.”