Honda RA108

Honda officially unveiled its 2008 challenger at the companies Brackley factory on January 29th, although the car first broke cover at Valencia on January 22nd in the hands of Rubens Barrichello before Jenson Button got behind the wheel.

The team’s new test and reserve driver Alex Wurz then got his first taste of the RA108 when he drove it several metres at the official launch party. Like most of its competition, the RA108 is an evolution of its predecessor, yet in Honda’s case hopefully it’s a major evolution after the dismal performance of the RA107.

Honda has reverted back to a variation of its traditional white paint scheme while blending the Earth “Friendly” theme Honda and the rest of the major auto manufacturers are so keen to promote…

Brawn joins Honda

Honda F1 has announced the signing of Ross Brawn as their newly hired Team Principal, responsible for the Day to Day operations of the team, while current Team Boss Nick Fry will stay on as CEO. Fry will now concentrate upon the commercial side of the team, leaving Brawn in charge of turning the team into a championship challenger.

Brawn, who’s spent the past year on “Fishing Sabbatical,” was long rumoured to be seeking a new role at Ferrari where he oversaw Michael Schumacher’s Grand Prix dominance. As Technical Director of both Benetton and Ferrari, Brawn was instrumental in all seven of Schuey’s titles and was part of the “Brain Trust” that followed the German’s move to the Prancing Horse in 1996.

Interestingly Brawn has been out of the spotlight the entire year except for serving as a witness in the “Stepney-Gate” proceedings, as Nigel Stepney had originally hoped to entice Brawn to join him while he was in possession of the 780 pages of documents that ultimately winded up in Mike Coughlin’s hands.

Brawn will begin his tenure at Honda on November 26, planning to work with the current staff on hand and will report directly to Fry.

NOT so green at Honda

I’m sure that everyone by now has heard about Honda’s massive struggles this season to get up to speed with the rest of the F1 frontrunners.

Yet Honda seems to be walloping in the hinterlands towards coming to grip with its Planet Earth RA107 chassis as driver Ruben Barrichello has called it a “Parachute!”

And Jense doesn’t have much good to say about the wayward chassis himself as its given him nothing but grief… Especially during the Friday practice when the “Lump” went “KABLAMOE!”

Apparently Honda’s “Design by Committee” seems to be not working very effectively as its little Sister’s team, “Super Best Friends” continues to outshine the mighty Honda factory team with last year’s RA106.

And it seems a long time ago when Prodrive’s David Richards brought respectability to the BAR squad by clinching second in the Constructor’s championship. Also the firing of Technical Director Geoff Willis seems to have not been such a wise decision…

Honda Turning Green

Interestingly I just had a discussion two weeks ago about the virtues of seeing Formula 1 chassis devoid of the obligatory sponsorship decals and how AWESOME the all black Honda test chassis looked.

But I seriously doubt anybody expected this paint scheme as the new livery for the Honda’s “Planet Earth” RA107. (Actually its done with decals) And I think it’s totally COOL!

Yet while cynics might suggest that Honda has taken this unusual route due to lack of landing any new title sponsors, Adam Cooper’s lengthy commentary: Honda’s World Car gives some pretty good insights on this issue. Meanwhil Honda is already hard at work on producing a revised RA107 in time for the second Grand Prix in Malaysia…

Marco seeing double

Marco Andretti has just made his second trek “Across the Pond” along with his chaperone, none other then Grandpa-pa Mario…

The young IRL phenom has completed testing for Honda Racing in Jerez aboard last year’s Honda RA06. While the team kept a low profile towards the young American’s progress, it was hard to not focus upon Marco’s return… (Especially with grandpa Mario wandering the pits)

While Honda F1 Racing boss Nick Frye stated that there’s no future plans to test Marco any further this year, it’s quite possible that Tony George may hope to trot out the youngster in front of the USGP fans this summer. Honda is also quite keen to use the star power of the Andretti name. Is a Formula 1 drive on the horizon for Marco?

Honda RA107

Honda unveiled its newest creation, the RA107 at Barcelona last week. And to keep the suspense going Honda unveiled the chassis in their winter’s testing scheme of black with a separate February launch to unveil the teams new racing colors…

Rubeins Barrichello gave the RA107 its initial shakedown test while Jenson “Crash” Button was on hand and seems to have healed from his cracked ribs…

To read about Renault's 2007 Launch, see: Renault R27

Honda Blacks Out

In deference to McLaren’s tradition of running it’s interim test cars in founder Bruce McLaren’s “Kiwi Orange.” Honda is sporting a solid black chassis during this years winter testing.
For the upcoming season Formula 1 will be “Tobacco Free,” with no cigarette title sponsorships, nor “fag” logos adorning race cars. The only Constructor not conforming to the Anti-Tobacco universe of Formula 1 will be the Prancing Horse: Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, which will continue in its traditional red and white paint scheme. The Scuderia may be able to run with BAD HABITS decals in selected markets since it’s an Italian Constructor allowing it to “skirt” British regulations…
BAR-Honda’s majority stake holder, BAT (British American Tobacco) campaigned their cars as Lucky Strike/Honda’s. Lucky Strike and 555 are both BAT brands. Upon Honda’s takeover of BAR last year, BAT’s Lucky Strike title sponsorship deal was curtailed… (Renault will also drop its Mild Seven title sponsorship in 2007)
In order to spruce up its image, Honda has hired Simon Fuller to supervise the teams impending makeover. With four F1 Constructors sporting primarily white paint schemes last year, (BMW-Sauber, Honda, Toyota, Williams) hopefully Honda will sport a new unique colour in 2007…
Meanwhile in a further effort to project its environmentally friendly image, (Is this possible from a major automobile manufacturer?) Honda will sport solar panels on its F1 truck transporters and motor homes next season in concert with Honda’s marketing of it’s new spin-off: Honda Soltec Co. Ltd. (Specializing in thin film solar cell technology) Honda Racing boss Nick Fry says that its probably too early to see solar paneling on its 2007 F1 chassis…

Button Banged-Up

Not surprisingly after suffering hairline cracks to two ribs, Jense “Crash” Button missed Formula 1’s first winter test in Barcelona. Button will now remain “grounded” for the remainder of the year spending the holidays drinking eggnog. Button will forgo this week’s upcoming F1 test at Jerez and most likely cancelling his appearance in the upcoming ROC (Race Of Champions) at the Staid de Paris…

“Jense” Cracks Up

Honda Racing has recently revealed that Jenson Button has sustained two cracked ribs from a go karting accident. The go kart testing was part of Honda’s preparations for winter testing prior to the team’s first test at Barcelona this week. Apparently “Jense” has been taking notes from “Sand Dune” Tracy and will not take part in testing at Barcelona…

Klien and Honda?

Apparently Johannes Klien, Christian Klien’s father and manager has been seen spending considerable time with Honda Racing in the paddock at both Shanghai and Suzuka.
Speculation suggests that Klien could become Honda’s test driver next season with current test driver Anthony Davidson expected to become a race driver with super Aguri in 2007.