Honda Racing F1

Honda F1

Full name	Honda Racing F1 Team
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 Mike Conway
Chassis	Honda RA107
Engine	Honda RA807E
Tyres	Bridgestone
Formula One World Championship Career
Debut	1964 German Grand Prix
Latest race	2007 Chinese Grand Prix
Races competed	80
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
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 livery dubbed the "Earth Car", depicting the planet earth and space.

History

Early success

Restored 1965 Honda RA272, the first Japanese car ever to win in Formula One. The car is painted in the racing colors of Japan.

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.

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.

Aborted F1 project (Honda Racing Developments), 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 Footwork, Lotus, 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. The team impressed at test sessions, beating some more experienced and better financed teams, even if they were mostly in the midfield. 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.

Partnership with British American Racing

Honda RA005E Engine as supplied to BAR for 2005.

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.

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.

The Honda F1 Racing 2006 livery.

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.

Rubens Barrichello driving for Honda at the 2006 Brazilian GP.

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.

2007 and post BAT sponsorship

Rubens Barrichello driving the Honda RA107 at the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix.

With tobacco sponsorship in F1 now in full decline, 2007 also sees the end of British American Tobacco's sponsorship of Honda, allowing the team to choose a livery that reflects their corporate image. Unveiled on 26 February 2007, the RA107 car features the bare minimum of corporate advertising (advertising required by the FIA), 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 Greenpeace accusing the team of being hypocritical, given how polluting F1 is.^[1]

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 'satellite' 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. The team also failed to score points in the four subsequent races, their best finish being 10th in Spain and Monaco, scored both times by Rubens Barrichello. Honda finally scored a point in the French Grand Prix, courtesy of Button's eighth place finish.

From July 2007, recognising the aerodynamic problems within the car, Honda began to recruit a new team from across the Formula 1 paddock. Chief aerdynamist Loic Bigois and assistant Francois Martinet were signed from WilliamsF1; Jörg Zander and John Owen from BMW Sauber either later in 2007 or early in 2008.^[2]

On July 19, 2007, it was announced that Barrichello and Button will continue the factory effort as teammates into 2008.^[3]

Results

Grand Prix wins

• 1965 Mexican Grand Prix
• 1967 Italian Grand Prix
• 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix

Pole Positions

• 1968 Italian Grand Prix
• 2006 Australian Grand Prix

Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

* Season in progress

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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Honda F1

• Honda F1's website
• RealHondaF1.com Unofficial Fan Site
• Honda F1 history
• Honda Racing F1 'View Suspended'
• Honda Formula 1 (Worldwide site)

Honda Racing F1
Personnel: Nick Fry | Yasuhiro Wada | Shuhei Nakamoto Current drivers: Jenson Button | Rubens Barrichello | Christian Klien | Mike Conway Formula One cars: RA271 | RA272 | RA273 | RA300 | RA301 | RA302 | RC100 | RA099 | RA106 | RA107

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