Honda Racing F1
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| Full name | Honda Racing F1 Team |
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| Base | Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom |
| Team principal/s |  Nick Fry |
| Technical director |  Shuhei Nakamoto |
| Race drivers | 7. Jenson Button 8.  Rubens Barrichello |
| Test drivers |  Christian Klien James Rossiter |
| Chassis | Honda RA107 |
| Engine | Honda RA807E |
| Tyres | Bridgestone |
| World Championship Career | |
| Debut | 1964 German Grand Prix |
| Latest race | 2007 Australian Grand Prix |
| Races competed | 65 |
| Constructors' Championships | none |
| Drivers' Championships | none |
| Race victories | 3 |
| Pole positions | 2 |
| Fastest laps | 3 |
| 2006 position | 4th (86 points) |
Honda Racing F1 Team is a Formula One team run by Japanese car manufacturer Honda. The team is based in Brackley, United Kingdom, and uses the facilities of former British American Racing, which Honda fully acquired in 2005. Engines are built at the Honda R&D facility in Tochigi, Japan. The Honda team is led by Nick Fry and currently has drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team began by using the same predominantly white livery that Honda used in the sport during the 1960s, but has since switched to a more environmentally friendly livery. The car entry for the 2006 season was the RA106 with the RA806E V8 Honda Engine, consistent with the nomenclature from its previous two generations of F1 competition.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early success
Honda surprised everyone by entering Formula One Grand Prix racing in 1963, just three years after producing their first road car. They began development of the RA271 in 1962 and startled the European-dominated Formula One garages with their all-Japanese factory team (except for American drivers Ronnie Bucknum and Richie Ginther). More startling was the fact that Honda built their own engine and chassis, something only Ferrari and BRM - of the other teams still running in 1962 - had previously done. In only their second year of competition, Honda reached the coveted top step of the podium with Ginther's win in the RA272 at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. For the new 3.0L rules from 1966, Honda introduced the Honda RA273. Although the RA273's engine was a well-designed, ~360bhp V12, the car was let down by a relatively heavy and unwieldy in-house chassis. Honda returned to the winner's circle in 1967 with the new Honda RA300, driven by John Surtees. This won the 1967 Italian Grand Prix in only its first F1 race. The RA300 chassis was partly designed by Lola in the UK, and this resulted in the car being nicknamed the Hondola by the motoring press. Unfortunately this was the last truly competitive car that Honda produced for F1 in the 1960s; the following year's Honda RA301 only reached the podium twice and Honda withdrew from F1 at the end of the 1969 Formula One season. Honda backed up their Grand Prix victories by dominating the 1966 Formula 2 season, winning every race that year with Jack Brabham's team. Honda competed as a constructor in 47 Grands Prix in the 1960s.
[edit] Honda as an engine supplier, 1983-1992
Honda returned to Formula One in 1983 as an engine supplier for Spirit and stayed in the sport for a decade, at various times teaming with Lotus, McLaren, Tyrrell and Williams. Honda engines were considered the ticket to Grand Prix glory due to their power, reliability, and winning track record. Honda supplied its engines to six constructor champions, as well as five driver championships (3 by Senna, 1 by Piquet, and another by Prost), before dropping out of the sport again. Honda-powered cars had won 71 Grands Prix, by the end of the 1992 season.
[edit] Aborted F1 project, 1999
From 1993 to 1998, Honda's only presence in F1 was as an engine supplier through its associates Mugen Motorsports, who supplied engines to teams such as Ligier, Prost and Jordan. Mugen-powered cars had won 4 Grands Prix by the end of the 1999 season. In 1998, Honda was seriously considering entry in Formula One as a constructor, going as far as producing an engine and hiring Harvey Postlethwaite as technical director and designer. A test car, RA099, designed by Postlethwaite and built by Dallara, was made and tested during 1999, driven by Jos Verstappen. At a test of this car, Postlethwaite suffered a fatal heart attack, the project was later shelved and Honda decided to merely recommit as a full works engine supplier to BAR, starting in 2000.
[edit] Partnership with British American Racing
Honda returned yet again in 2000, providing engines for BAR. They also supplied engines to Jordan Grand Prix for 2001 and 2002. This would lead to a battle for the right to use the Honda engines in the long term. In 2003, despite their better showing in the previous 2 seasons, Honda dropped Jordan Grand Prix. In mid-November 2004 Honda purchased 45% of the BAR team from British American Tobacco (BAT, the founder and owner of BAR) following BAR's best season, when they were able to achieve second place in the 2004 Formula One season, a year dominated by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. In 2007, British American Tobacco & Lucky Strike will no longer sponsor Honda F1. No title sponsor has yet been announced however it has been mentioned by the team leader Nick Fry that a "New Marketing Approach" is being taken with the RA-107, rumored to be green in colour. On February 24, 2007, images were leaked of the RA-107 without advertisements, but coloured in a complete Google Earth world map livery.
[edit] Return
In September 2005 Honda purchased the remaining 55% share of BAR to become the sole owner. BAT continued as title sponsor with the Lucky Strike brand in 2006, but have withdrawn from Formula 1 for 2007. It has been decided that team would race under the name Honda Racing F1 Team in 2006.
Despite showing promise pre-season (with the RA806 being considered one of the most powerful of the new V8 engines), Honda demonstrated fairly mediocre performance at the start of the 2006 season despite a pole position at Australia. Prior to their win at Hungary, they had only accumulated a single podium finish, a third place from Jenson Button at Malaysia. The main reason for lack of form (the team was expecting to challenge for the championship) has been down to reliability, with the team dropping out of contention for race victories many times. Pit-stop problems also hampered the team early on, in one case effectively ruining Jenson Button's chances for a good result and possible podium at Imola. Rubens Barrichello has not had a good season for the team, down to the fact that he has had to get used to the new brakes and traction control, after moving from a very successful six year stint at Ferrari. Nevertheless Rubens had out-qualified his team-mate in the final four races.
Honda had a particularly poor showing at the British Grand Prix in 2006. In particular, Jenson Button was eliminated after the first portion of qualifying after the team failed to get him out for a second run. This resulted in his qualifying 19th. He then retired with an oil leak. In light of this poor form, it was announced that Geoff Willis would be adopting a factory-based role to concentrate on aerodynamics. Following the appointment of Senior Technical Director Shuhei Nakamoto over Willis' head and Mariano Alperin-Bruvera as Chief Aerodynamicist Willis' position appears difficult, and reports indicate that he has left the team.
At the Hungaroring, fortunes changed. Barrichello and Button qualified third and fourth, though Button had to drop ten places, following an engine change. In an incident-packed race, Jenson came from fourteenth on the grid to win his first race, with Barrichello finishing fourth. After this win, the team's performance went up noticeably, displaying consistency (if not overall performance) arguably better than championship leaders Ferrari and Renault. Button scored as many points as championship runner up Michael Schumacher in the last third of the season. Both drivers earned points finishes in almost all the remaining races (with the exception of Barrichello's 12th place finish in Japan), with the season ending high note with Button's 3rd place finish in the Brazil - less than a second behind 2nd place Fernando Alonso - after having to start from 14th on the grid.
On November 15, 2006, it was announced that long time BAR Honda and Honda test driver, Anthony Davidson is heading to Super Aguri F1 to race alongside Takuma Sato. He will be replaced by ex-Red Bull racer Christian Klien for the 2007 season and possibly beyond.
[edit] 2007 and post BAT sponsorship
With Tobacco now in full decline in F1, 2007 also sees the time the British American Tobacco sponsorship with the team ends allowing Honda to chose a livery that reflects their corporate image. Unveiled on February 26, the RA107 car features minimal corporate advertising, instead focusing on Honda's environmental desires, with a livery depicting the planet Earth against the black background of space. On the rear wing is the web address of environmental awareness website myearthdream.com.
This site was launched February 27, 2007, immediately after the official launch of the 2007 car.
Reactions to the new Honda livery have been mixed, with Friends of the Earth accusing the team of being hypocritical, given how polluting F1 is, but there are hopes this new dynamic look will also show on track with some fans of Honda saying this is their best year yet for a championship.
The team's form in pre-season testing was patchy, and Jenson Button urged the squad to improve. The RA-107's sheer lack of pace was evident at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 18th, with Button and Barrichello qualifying 14th and 17th respectively (well behind the 'customer' Super Aguri team, whose car is effectively an update of last year's Honda, the RA-106). Barrichello finished the race in 11th place, with Button in 15th after receiving a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
[edit] Results
[edit] Grand Prix wins
[edit] Pole Positions
[edit] References
- "Honda announce name for F1 team". NewsOnF1, 01 December 2005.
- "Honda announce 2007 test driver line-up". NewsOnF1, 15 November 2006.
- "Honda F1 reveal 2007 launch date".Sport Network 1 January 2007
[edit] External links
- Honda F1's website
- RealHondaF1.com Unofficial Fan Site
- Honda F1 history
- Honda Racing F1 'View Suspended'
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| McLaren | Renault | Ferrari | Honda | BMW | Toyota | Red Bull | Williams | Toro Rosso | Spyker | Super Aguri |
| 1 Alonso 2 Hamilton |
3 Fisichella 4 Kovalainen |
5 Massa 6 Räikkönen |
7 Button 8 Barrichello |
9 Heidfeld 10 Kubica |
11 Schumacher 12 Trulli |
14 Coulthard 15 Webber |
16 Rosberg 17 Wurz |
18 Liuzzi 19 Speed |
20 Sutil 21 Albers |
22 Sato 23 Davidson |
| Honda Racing F1 |
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Personnel: |
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Current drivers: |
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Formula One cars: RA271 | RA272 | RA273 | RA300 | RA301 | RA302 | RA106 | RA107 |
