Information about Honda

Honda have been involved in F1 since 1964, but only as an engine supplier. The early years saw a few success in between lots of experimentation. Their best achievement was fourth in the Constructors’ Championship in 1967, with John Surtees winning in Italy, but the death of Jo Schlesser in the innovative RA302 machine during French Grand Prix caused them to bow out. They continued to supply engines to successful Williams and McLaren teams through the 80s and 90s and finally returned as a fully fledged team in 2006 by buying out British American Racing. It didn’t exactly get off to an auspicious start although pole position at round three looked promising. They consistently failed to compete at the top, with underperforming and occasionally unreliable cars, but it finally all came together at Hungary to gift Jenson Button his first chequered flag in 116 starts. They finished a commendable fourth overall. They went on to have a dismal year in 2007 scoring just six points and finishing eighth overall, with their two very talented drivers finishing 15th and 20th, thanks to an unreliable and underperforming car. It can only get better in 2008 for this team.

Base: Brackley, UK
Drivers: Jenson Button (GBR), Rubens Barrichello (BRA) ), (test drivers: M. Conway, A. Wurz).

Jenson Button had just two years experience in Formula Ford, when he became the youngest British driver ever to enter Formula One in March 2000, having signed with the BMW-Williams. Although Button had a decent first season with BMW-Williams, he was forced to move to Renault to make way for Juan Pablo Montoya. Although his two seasons at Renault were disappointing, in 2003 he signed up with BAR-Honda. During 2003, he had several points finishes, and finally made an impact, briefly leading the US and Japanese Grand Prix, but ultimately finished 9th. The following year Button excelled as arguably the most promising new driver in F1, scoring in every single race he finished, including 10 podium places to finish third in the Drivers' Championship and help BAR to an unprecedented second in the Constructors’ Championship. A bad accident in the Monaco Grand Prix that year didn't dampen his enthusiasm, but he found himself locked in a contractual dispute with Williams, eventually buying himself out to stay at BAR-Honda. However 2005 proved to be a miserable season as he scored 36 points to finish a lowly ninth in an uncompetitive car. He also managed to achieve the unwanted record for the most points amassed by a driver without ever having won a race. This finally came to an end at Hungary in 2006 but he had an otherwise unremarkable season in an unremarkable car, finishing sixth in the championships. In 2007 he scored all 6 of the teams’ measley points in an awful season driving a car which he described as ‘a dog’, finishing a disappointing 15th overall.

Statistics
Date of birth: 19 January 1980
First Grand Prix win: Hungary 2006
Number of Grand Prix driven: 137
Grand Prix wins: 1
Pole positions: 3
Podiums: 15
Career points: 229

Rubens Barrichello began his career racing karts in Sao Paolo and by the age of 17 had five national karting titles to his name. He moved onto Formula Ford and then Formula 3, where he won his first title in 1991. People thought he would go straight into F1, but he first joined the F3000. However, by 1993, before he was 21, Barrichello was signed up by Jordan to race F1, winning his first pole position in 1994 at the Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps. In 1997, he joined the newly formed Steward team in Monaco, but mechanical failures doomed him there until 2000, when Barrichello signed with Ferrari. That year he won his first Grand Prix in Germany and won four in 2002 and three in 2003. in 2004 he scored four pole positions, two wins and 12 podiums on his way to a convincing second place in the driver standings as Ferrari again dominate the championship. However 2005 was a forgettable year for Ferrari and Barrichello only manage a second at Melbourne and scored in eight more races to finish eighth. In 2006 he was replaced by Felipe Massa as he moved to Honda. With a slower car, he achieved few notable results and consistently finished behind his teammate, including seventh in the championships, with two fourth places during the season. . Last season he failed to score a single point as the team proved disappointingly uncompetitive and suffered a high retirement rate, uncharacteristic territory for a nine time chequered flag driver.

Statistics
Date of birth: 23 May 1972
First Grand Prix win: Hockenheim 2000
Number of Grand Prix driven: 253
Grand Prix wins: 9
Pole positions: 13
Podiums: 61
Career points: 519

Technical details and statistics:
Chassis: RA108
Engine: Honda RA808E
Tyres: Bridgestone
First season: 1964
World championships: 0
Highest race finish (number of times): 1 (3)
Pole position: 2
Official web-site: http://www.barf1.com

note: Statistics up to the end of 2007 season