when I worked at Honda, Bernie several times rang the president of Honda to discuss something he wasn’t happy about. And on every occasion the president referred him back to me. ‘It’s Ross Brawn’s team, I’m sorry you are going to have to speak to him. I’m not going to get into it.’ And that was perhaps typically Japanese in a way. Also Honda had had some issues with Bernie in the past. I don’t recall what they were, but they were very uncomfortable in dealing with Bernie directly. They knew he was the exact opposite of their philosophy and culture and they didn’t know how to deal with him.
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