Motor Racing: Honda Face Backroom Shake-up

The Honda formula one team was yesterday on the verge of a major management reshuffle as their drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello prepared to fly to Montreal for the Canadian grand prix on Sunday.

After a succession of disappointing race results culminating in an oil leak that caused Button to spin into retirement in his home grand prix at Silverstone, Honda's senior management have appointed Shuhei Nakamoto to the position of senior technical director to shake up the Brackley-based organisation.

It positions the 49-year-old engineer above the technical director Geoff Willis in the team's hierarchy and places a question mark over his future with the organisation. "Discussions are currently taking place [with Willis] regarding his future role with the team," said an official communique.

The news comes less than a fortnight after it was announced that Willis would be attending fewer races over the balance of the season in order to concentrate on developing the new wind tunnel that recently came on stream at the team's headquarters.

"Honda has set itself some very tough targets for its formula one team and made a considerable investment in order to achieve them, so we have to ensure that we do everything necessary to pursue those objectives," said Nick Fry, the chief executive officer of the Honda team.

"Shuhei Nakamoto has an excellent record of achievement with Honda and we have confidence that his appointment, together with our investments at the Brackley HQ, will help us towards our goal."

Nakamoto has been a key part of Honda's third generation of formula one involvement for the past six years and has also been a member of the Honda Racing management board since Honda acquired full ownership of the team in December 2005.

Button, still searching for an elusive first formula one victory, is hoping for a better showing this weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where he qualified on pole position last year only to crash out on race day.

"Montreal is a great circuit and I really enjoy racing there," he said. "Our car seems to be well suited to the track. It's a medium downforce circuit which requires much less wing than we have run in the last few races and the car seems to work well on that wing level.

"We've done some good work in testing, but the critical thing is to make sure we get the very best out of what we have."