Honda launch radical, sponsor-free livery

Race drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello were both on hand as Honda unveiled a radical new livery set to feature none other than an image of Earth itself. While sponsor-free to the naked eye, people can actually pledge to have their name as part of the pixels used to build that very image of Earth on the car, all for a good cause.

Here's a sample image of the car, courtesy of HondaF1.com:


And here's an exerpt from HondaF1's official press release:

Honda Racing F1 Team launches pioneering environmental concept

The Honda Racing F1 Team today announced a major new initiative for the 2007 Formula 1 season. To help raise awareness of the environmental issues facing the planet, the RA107 F1 car will simply feature a huge image of earth, in place of the advertising and sponsor logos which have featured and dominated all other F1 cars for decades.

The car’s new look is a powerful call to action for fans, sponsors, customers and members of the public to join Honda’s commitment to help address the environmental issues facing the world.

Via the websitewww.myearthdream.com, anyone who wishes, will have the opportunity to have their name on the car, make a pledge to make a lifestyle change to improve the environment and make a donation to an environmental charity. Under the concept of “our car is your car”, each name will form a tiny individual pixel which will help build the image of planet earth on the car. Each name will be visible on the website when you make the pledge or under a microscope on the car.

More news and images at Honda's official website, of course.

You can also check out major f1 news sites, like this one from f1.gpudate.net.

It'll be interesting to see these Google Earth... I'm sorry, Honda Earth cars line up alongside the more conventionally-liveried cars come Melbourne. ;)

Livery launch date set

From F1Technical:

The Honda Racing F1 Team will present the RA107's new livery on 26 February. In January, the team already launched the challenger, but the livery still hasn't been released. According to Nick Fry, the new livery will be something that has never been seen in F1. Rumours have been spread for months now that BP will be the new main sponsor of the team, which would result in a green livery.

Can't wait to see it. One more month til the season kicks off, too. Hurrah!

Latest testing report - Barcelona

Another week of testing wraps up. Here's Honda's official press release:

Honda concludes three day Barcelona test

And here's the ever-growing worry over Honda's seemingly dismal pace:

What's wrong with the performance of the RA107?
Honda's pace cause for concern?

Talk, talk, talk. Pft.

As teams continue to run their cars through testing sessions, the rest of us can only watch and speculate as the season draws closer to its starting date. And so it's this driver this, this driver that or the car might be this, etc. To be quite honest, all of it's gotten rather old and tedious for me to listen to and read, and I would much rather watch the first race of the season before making any real assessment of where everyone stands.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really hoping that Honda does well this season, and I can't wait to see what livery they'll be running with. And I'm particularly pleased that Jenson's karting shunt doesn't seem to have affected his fitness level at all, as he's consistently been putting in a ton of laps as he begins to grow more and more comfortable in the RA107. But all this talk is just driving me nuts. I mean, if I was at Honda, I'd just keep mum and focus on devolopment and get the best car out there by Melbourne.

Let's just get this out of the way then. Here's the latest buzz to come out on Jenson, Mike Gascoyne Button-bashing:

'Button lacks spark needed to win title'

Honda's Jenson Button lacks the "spark" that marks out potential World Champions, according to Spyker technical boss Mike Gascoyne.

Button has won just one race in seven seasons of Formula One - last year's rain-hit Hungarian GP - but has often been likened in ability to double World Champion Fernando Alonso and Ferrari new boy and multiple race-winner Kimi Raikkonen.

But that is not a view subscribed to by Gascoyne, who worked with Button at what is now Renault in 2001 and 2002, before Alonso took the Briton's seat for the 2003 campaign.

Can't win over everyone, I suppose. And Honda haven't exactly been blowing away the competition at the timesheets lately. But considering Jenson's been putting in a ton of laps getting comfy with the car and giving priority to the car's balance instead of just gunning for outright pace, and the second driver (be it Klien or Andretti) has been running the old chassis, I'd say there isn't any real reason to panic. I'll just be looking for Jenson and Honda's performance at the start of the season to do all the real talking (and I am hoping for it to be on the positive side).

So, for the next 36ish days, my posts might be few and far between. I will try to keep tabs on very important updates and events, but I can't promise much at the moment. Rest assured, once the season gets underway, I will get back to posting regularly. Whatever the talk that comes out. Do check back then. :)

So much has happened in just a week...

Gosh, so much to report on. Let's see... where do I start?

Jenson's back in form, which is the best news of all. His ribs are healed up, and he looks to be in top shape.

"Although I have been out of the car for a while, I am very pleased with my return to the cockpit and also my fitness level, which I have been working hard on since
Christmas."

That's from Jenson talking about his immediate future with Honda, as he hopes to move closer to his first ever F1 Title. He also talked about his plans further up ahead (like at age 34) in "the Times", a copy of which is in the official forums I think.

Jenson really does look set to present a serious challenge for this year's championship, and others are taking notice as well. Here's DC proclaiming, Jenson Button's gonna conquer F1". From a fan's perspective, that's a pretty good headline if I ever saw one. Hehe. And I am praying and hoping that it holds true.

He's a man on a mission this year. And I hope the entire Honda team does get behind him and challenges for the top spot. Honda seems ready enough, and they've recently launched their new car (sans the new livery, which happens next month) at Barcelona. Jenson was able to drive both the RA106 and the new RA107 for some direct comparison, and he looks to have come away feeling good about the new car. It did stall on his first lap out, but once Jenson got going he was able to put in a well-driven 86 laps.

That about does my week ending report for now. For all that you've missed, you can catch up by checking out Honda's offical site at HondaRacingF1.com, or at Jenson's official site at JensonButton.com. To make things easy, you can also Google News for the latest on Jenson (I've set the link to already filter things out).

New cars, new looks, same contenders

From the official (see the likes of McLaren's MP4-22), to the not so official (see Renault's R27 racer), new cars are rolling out for 2007, giving us sneak peeks into what the cars will look like once they take to the circuits for a brand new season of Formula One racing.

It's all very exciting to see what shapes and liveries the new cars take on, and even seeing the drivers in their all new looks and do's as well. Fernie with his new haircut and Vodafone suit, Kimi in red (which I personally find not to be his color at all). Unfortunately for us Honda and Jenson fans, we have and will continue to be waiting a tad longer to see what the new car will look and drive like (RA107 launch is late January, with the livery to follow at a yet to be announced date the following month). And because of Jenson's injury, we have also yet to see Jenson suit up and drive during winter testing.

No matter though, a lot if it should still stay the same for Honda and its drivers. It's arguably got the most continuity and stability going for it among the top teams (Gil de Ferran has gone on record saying that it is a positive, as has Nick, although we best not get our hopes up too much). Fernando Alonso echoed these sentiments recently, when sharing how he "fully expects" Jenson to be one of his main rivals for this year's championship (*knock on wood*).

So has anything really changed? In terms of who's favored, probably not. Jenson, Kimi and Fernie are still up there; Massa and Fischi are bound to be mixing it up as well. It's all speculation at this point anyway. But, as a fan, I do hope 2007 will be more exciting, and have more surprises in store for us. And hopefully for Jense fans, it'll be of the good kind - plenty of exciting racing capped by both expected and unexpected wins galore.

Anyone got a fast forward Button? :P

Hill drops a word on Button, too

Here's former world champion Damon Hill dropping a word on Jenson, as he talks about Britain's current crop of hopefuls for the 2007 season:

Hill said Button, who took his first grand prix win in Hungary last August, was a much stronger driver than the appearances suggested.

"This year has to be the best chance we've had since I won the championship for there to be another British world champion," he said.

"I have great faith in Jenson. I think he has a whole team around him so you can compare his position quite well to that of Michael Schumacher at Ferrari...He's got a very good chance of winning on a regular basis."

I can't wait for the season to start. These outlooks and predictions are wearing thin. I wish the actual racing would get on soon. And I do hope Jenson's completely healed up from his injury by now. Can't wait to see him back behind the wheel.

Back to blogging for the new year!

Internet's back! Wohoo! Well, sort of at least. So sorry that I've been unable to update for the past two weeks. I feel like I've missed out on so much already.

So to start off the new year, I'll just be posting some links to some stories that came out the past weeks that might be of interest:

Kimi mentions Jenson as a possible contender, behind Fernando and Felipe.

Honda to unveil RA107 on January 25. Sorry though, it's going to be coming out in its testing colors (likely black). The livery launch will be held at a later date, sometime in February.

Jenson on how winning has... or hasn't changed him.

Button urging Honda to make relaxed predictions. Less time with the press, more time with the car? :P

Blundell on the Brits. With an excerpt (sorry, just couldn't resist with this one :P):

ITV-F1.com: Jenson certainly finished the year with some classy performances following his first win; do you expect that level to continue into the coming season?

Mark: It has to continue.

The raising of his game highlights the increased confidence following his win.

Whenever you get a result like that your confidence level does grow.

And now in the eyes of everybody he is exactly what it says in the history books – a grand prix winner.

He goes into next year with that mindset and that’s the level he has to work from to go and achieve something greater.

There are no ifs and buts any more; he has now achieved what everybody has been waiting for over the past few years.

Britain’s next best hopes are now waiting in the wings, so the current hope needs to deliver the results.

and last but not the least, Honda convinced of competitive engine.

Rubens says Jenson needs to complain more

Seriously, Rubens wants Jenson to complain a bit more. Hahaha.

Taken in the right context though, he was talking about complacency that may have settled in with Jenson about the way things work around Honda. Rubens was simply encouraging Jenson to be a bit more assertive in asking for changes for him to be able to craft a better, race-winning car. I think Jenson has already started to do so, really making the team his and getting them behind him and getting that race pace back, specially after that win. It never hurts for your number two to give a bit more of a push. Rubens wants Honda to improve just as much, and I bet everyone at Honda will be on the same page too. :)

Anyhow, here's an excerpt from the article of Barrichello talking about Honda still having more work to do, from Autosport.com:

Jenson Button and Honda Racing still have work to do if they are to make the steps forward needed to fight for regular race wins, claims Rubens Barrichello.

Although Button finished off the season as the highest points-scorer from the Hungarian Grand Prix onward, Barrichello is under no illusions about the progress that it still needed ahead of 2007.

"I think that this team has a huge amount of potential, but still has some work to do if we are to become consistent winners," said Barrichello, who joined the team at the start of this year.

Happy reading!

Defending Jenson Button

Jenson's been coming under a lot of heavy criticism lately for his nomination in BBC's Sports Personality of the Year Awards. I say lay off the guy. It's not his fault he got nominated. It's a recognition of excellence, and that he has been.

People keep referring to the fact that he's only got one win, blah blah blah. That's one win more than he started the season isn't it? Look at the way he won it, and look at the way he's been driving since! Absolutely driven and competitive. He scored more points than anyone, even both Schumi and Fernando, during that time period. He's at the pinnacle of motorsports, and he's been driving well. Really well. That deserves some recognition, doesn't it? And the simple fact is that there were at least some people out there that saw that. That's why he got into the final nomination list.

I can't wait for 2007 season to start. I really, really hope Jenson does well. He's poised for big things, and as much as I wouldn't want to put any more pressure on Jenson (as if I could actually do that), I'm really hoping he gets to silence even more critics this year. He's one of the best drivers in the world right now. I hope he really gets to showcase those talents in the RA107.

Jenson gets some love from Big Fry

Some nice words from his boss, quoted from BBC Sport:

Button in F1 elite, says boss Fry

Honda boss Nick Fry believes Jenson Button has now joined the ranks of Formula One's top drivers.

The Briton won his first Grand Prix in Hungary last August, and Fry is expecting more success next season.

"I believe that Jenson is up there with both Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen in the top three," he said.

"There are others that will do well from time to time, but in terms of consistently high performance, he's in the top three."

It's nice to see Nick boosting Jense's confidence even more.

Jenson, you're definitely tops to us fans. Make us proud! :)

Honda to keep new livery a secret... for now

This should get very interesting...

Honda’s Formula One CEO Nick Fry has hinted at an exciting new livery for the team’s 2007 car, as part of an innovative marketing strategy designed to fill the void left by departing title sponsors British American Tobacco.

“We have a marketing plan, which will surprise a lot of people and get them interested by our approach for next year,” Fry told Formula1.com. “. You will not see a car covered in Honda logos, it will be something very different.”

Honda’s 2007 car, expected to be called the RA107, is scheduled to make its track debut late next month. However, its livery is unlikely to be revealed until shortly before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 18.

I wonder what the new car's livery will look like? There have been some really... uhm... creative ideas at the official forum's livery thread. :) Feel free to participate in discussions there too!

The way I see it, Honda's got a chance to put on a fresh splash of colors to go along with their impending championship run. Something stlyish to highlight all those sleek contours in the car I hope. Ooh... maybe they can carry special fan-voted liveries! Haha. Just a thought. Anyway, whatever they end up deciding on, I just want them to do all of it right and proper. :)

In the meantime, we can expect to see more of those striking black cars to run until the livery launch mentioned above. You can read more of it at the link to F1.com's official site above, or at Crash.net They're also carrying an interview with team CEO Nick Fry, in which he mentions the livery plans as well. :)

Jenson misses out on fourth award, set to miss ROC and Jerez tests as well

I'm sorry that I hadn't been able to post the past two days. Got sick and had to take some time out to rest. Anyhow, on to some Jenson news. :)

Jenson Button was in the running for a fourth award of the offseason, making it into the final ten nominees of this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. The award, however, went to Zara Phillips, with Jenson earlier being tagged as "fourth favorite" to win the award. You can read more about the official list of winners here, and more on the award from Wikipedia here.

Meanwhile, there's now apparently been confirmation that Jenson will indeed miss this week's final tests at Jerez, as well as the Race of Champions, which takes place in just 4 days' time. I'm awaiting official word from either Honda or ROC's site, but I suppose that's as good as certain already. Maybe next year then. For now, I hope Jenson spends his holidays wisely and heals those ribs up properly. Can't wait to see Jenson in the new RA107 when it comes out. :)

Honda tops timesheets at Jerez testing

Good sign for Honda, as they've topped the timesheets 1-2 at Jerez on Friday. Despite a rain-soaked morning, the track dried up well enough in the afternoon, and the Hondas were able to take advantage with some quick runs. Rubens Barichello set the fastest lap of the day with a time 1:20.008, with tester James Rossiter a close second with a time of 1:20.171. Rossiter was also able to complete 108 laps, good for second most on the day.

Not sure if Jenson was on hand for the day, but it must be encouraging to see your team at the top of the timesheets, even if it is just testing.

Go Honda!

Oh Jenson's ribs!

Here's how the news on Jenson seems to have gone these past few days: Ribs, Award, Ribs, Award, Ribs, Award, Ribs.

Funniest take I've seen on it so far was by Kay_zee at the forums right here.

Newsflash!

Jenson has further strained his ribs this week, even though he's been told to play it safe for a few weeks.

It's believed the strain was caused by carrying all his awards home.

Hahaha. Not that Jenson's ribs are a laughing matter at all, it's just funny given the media coverage he's been getting for the combination of both.

I do hope he just heals up in peace. I want to see a healthy Button for 2007. And I don't think he's at much of a disadvantage at all. Despite getting the holidays off like Fernando and Kimi both have, Jenson has the advantage of already knowing who's who in his team. And he's able to attending testing sessions to monitor progress and obtain feedback from Rossiter and Klein. If anything, the rest should do Jenson some good and keep him fresh for his run at the title. :)

There's been talk of how Jenson's time out might negatively affect Honda's chances. Jenson's a pretty resilient driver though, and he's one of the best at adjusting at changing conditions (I read that somewhere, but I've forgotten where), so he should bounce back just fine.

He'll do well in 2007. And we'll all be happily cheering him on. Less ribs, more awards next year aye? :)

Jenson gets more rest

Jenson will be sitting out this week's tests at Jerez, and possibly next week's as well.

A team spokeswoman said: "The doctors took the view today that they would rather let it heal. We will think again later this week about the final test."

Senior Honda sources suggest that they would actually be happier for Button to sit out the final Jerez test next week, so that he is fully fit for the first running of Honda's 2007 challenger in the next year.

"It is better for him to rest and recover fully in time for the new car," said one source.

I think it'd better for him to rest it out, too. I wonder how this'll affect his ROC entry though. Surely it'd be better for him to sit that one out too. Maybe he can have more time to push for that book of his to get finished up and published. :)

Anyhow, that means that three of the top contenders for next year's championship, Jenson, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, will all be getting extra rest this holiday season. Think it'll do the three of them good? Well, I hope it does for Jenson. :)

Jenson's keeping it real for 2007

Looks like Jense is keeping it real this time around. Here's an exerpt from Autosport.com:

Jenson Button is trying hard to keep a lid on expectations for 2007, after Honda Racing failed to live up to the high target they had set themselves for this season.

Button and Honda had gone into 2006 predicting that they would be challenging for wins at every event.

Although that did not happen, the team did recover from a poor start to the campaign to post their maiden victory in Hungary, while Button was the highest points scorer in the final segment of the championship.

The lessons of last year, when the failure to deliver early in the season left the team facing a barrage of questions from the media, have been learned - and Button is keen not to hype things up too much this time around.

I think it's great that Jenson and his team aren't putting too much pressure on themselves like they did last year. They've got reasonably better chances at a more wide-open 2007, and with less pressure on themselves, they (and us fans) should be able to enjoy success that comes their way to start the season.

Is black the new white?

Formula One testing kicked off yesterday at Barcelona, and Formula1.com had this to say about Jenson and Honda:

Another man missing from this week’s line-up - though for very different reasons to Alonso and Raikkonen - is Honda’s Jenson Button. The British driver managed to crack two of his ribs in a recent karting accident and has opted to sit out the test to avoid aggravating the injury.

Honda are running their car with a black livery in Spain, and do not be surprised if other teams are sporting new graphics this week in light of the ban on tobacco advertising from 2007.

Black? Could they be running with that for the 2007 season? Hmm. (Formula1.com carries a picture of the black Honda in the article mentioned above... I'll try posting a picture as soon as one is made available).

I'm partial to the white and red that they've been running with since their launch as BAR. The new ban on tobacco ads takes that red Lucky Strike branding away though, so it will be interesting to see what colors Honda takes on for the 2007 season. I suppose black would be much better the potential green one.

Oh, and get well soon Jense!

*edit: It's been brought to my attention that Honda has run black before (Yup, on concept cars). With the Lucky strike branding out though, it's always fun to speculate on which livery Honda will take on for the 2007 season. Just like the green one. :)

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On a side note, yup, that article from Linksheaven.com (above) was written by yours truly. Yay! I've become a contributor. Wish me luck these next few weeks as I work to establish myself as a permanent writer for this great F1 blog. :)

Get well soon Jenson!

Oh no.. Here's an exerpt from a Honda F1 report on the start of their winter testing program (and Jenson's health):

Jenson Button is currently en route from Japan where he attended the Honda Racing Thank You Day at the Motegi circuit on Thursday. There he met some of the 26,000 Honda customers invited to a special celebration of Honda’s motorsport participation. He recently sustained two hairline cracks to his ribs whilst participating in a karting test scheduled as part of his winter preparation. As a result, Jenson will not take part in next week’s test to ensure that the condition is not further aggravated.

I hope it heals up soon. It's currently being discussed in the forums here and here.

On the 2007 Formula One race calendar

The 2007 F1 race calendar has gotten a bit shorter again, hasn't it? After reaching a peak of 19 races in 2005, the line-up has gone from 18 in 2006 to 17 for 2007 (with the very real prospect of getting trimmed to an even lower 16 with the possibility of alternating Magny-Cours and Silverstone in the years to come).

These changes can't be good for fans, can it? I mean, I know they're trying to cut down on costs and all, even getting the cars trimmed down to make it more competitive for everyone involved in the sport. But can Formula One really afford to continue cutting back on the number of races?

Formula One is supposed to showcase the very best drivers driving the very best, cutting-edge cars. It brands itself as the penultimate event in open-wheel racing. It even makes a solid case for the best in all of motorsport. That's what makes it so fun to watch. Yet here they go limiting development on the cars WHILE giving us less races to watch? Nearly a month in between Bahrain and the launch of the European leg in Catalunya? C'mon. What can they be thinking?

*sigh*

I just really think it would be better for the sport if it was able to showcase the amazing machines that are Formula One cars on a more regular and frequent basis. As a fan, I would definitely love even more races to watch (and cheer Jenson on his impending championship run). Wouldn't you?

Then again, I really don't know all that much yet about what goes on behind the scenes. Maybe the constructors prefer a lighter schedule to give us better performing cars for the race weekends. I don't know. So if anyone can, please, do enlighten me.