From HondaRacingF1.com:
Jenson Button joined the team in Sepang this afternoon to take over the test programme from Rubens for the remainder of the test. He completed a couple of runs to acclimatise himself with the circuit and conditions before working through a chassis set-up evaluation completing 24 laps.
Jenson will complete the final day of testing tomorrow.
So you've seen the car and heard about Honda raising awareness for environmental change. But how exactly do they plan on going about it all?
In SportNetwork.net's How are Honda going to make a difference?, Phil Huff reports on the car manufacturer's plan of action.
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. ;)
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!
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?
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. :)
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).
Honda's launch is less than a week away (Thursday, January 25)! Wohoo!
Even better, their shakedown is set for this Monday at Silverstone.Honda will shake down their new Formula One car at Silverstone next week before shipping it to Barcelona for the team launch.
The team's senior technical director Shuhei Nakamoto told autosport.com that the new car will have a shakedown at Silverstone on the morning of Monday, January 22, just to ensure there are no niggling problems before its first serious test at Barcelona.
After the shakedown the car will be transported immediately to Spain.
Reporters'll very likely be there to report on how the car goes... and looks, even if the livery hasn't been set yet. You can check out the thread at the official forum here.
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
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.
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.
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'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. :)
