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!

Year-end Recaps

First off from Formula One's official site, a 2006 race by race recap, part 5 featuring the the Hungarian, Turkish and Italian Grands Prix. I'd never noticed Nick Fry's expression before (he's the one behind Jenson in the pictures). Both of them look kinda funny... hahaha. That must've been such a fun feeling having all that elation surging through your body though... hence the funny faces... hahaha. :)

Here's a short excerpt:

As the title rivals struggled, the Hungaroring meeting belonged to Honda’s Jenson Button, who came from 14th on the grid to score his maiden Formula One win. The changeable weather played a huge part in the race, but Button’s victory was totally deserved, the Briton keeping his cool in tricky conditions to finally triumph on his 113th attempt.

Also, from ITV.com, an in-depth discussion of Honda's first full season at the helm, featuring all the ups and downs of 2006. The article's title, Finishing with a Flourish" sums it up quite well though. ;)

Here's an excerpt:

The highlight, of course, was Jenson Button’s long-overdue maiden grand prix victory in Hungary, Honda’s first as a constructor since the 1960s.

Although that watershed signalled that the team had shrugged off its mid-season blues, it was above all a supreme personal achievement from Button.

In tricky wet-but-drying weather conditions that turned the race into a lottery, Jenson’s delicacy of touch came to the fore and he thoroughly earned his place on the top step of the podium.

At a stroke, the 26-year-old from Frome silenced those increasingly prevalent voices that doubted he would ever shake off his ‘nearly man’ status.

Lastly, here's a feature, again by ITV.com, of their picks for pictures of the year. Jenson Button's in there of course. :P

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. :)