Honda

With just three race wins to their credit, Honda doesn't exactly have a glittering Formula 1 history... However, they are clearly not new to Formula 1, having initially made their debut in 1963.

In the early days, they surprised everyone by deciding to construct their own engine and chassis. But this decision proved good when they showed early success in the mid-1960s. Thereafter, however, the going got tough and Honda had little or no success for a while forcing them to quit F1.

As the company grew, so did their interest in F1 and in 1983, they returned to Formula 1 as an engine supplier. Although they did not have a team, their involvement as engine manufacturer saw them win six constructors' titles and five drivers' championships. Once again, though, at the end of 1992, they quit the sport. They were involved in F1 from 1993 to 1999 mainly through their associates Mugen Motorsports as engine suppliers to Ligier, Prost and Jordan. But in 2000, they entered the Formula 1 circuit again and this time, as partners with BAR.

By 2005, they had bought out the majority stake in BAR and were the sole owners of the team. After restrictions on tobacco advertising in Formula 1, British-American Tobacco, the original title sponsors have withdrawn support and since 2006, the team has raced under the name of Honda Racing F1 Team.

In 2006, the V8 Honda engine was touted as the most powerful on the grid, but after a pole position in Australia - they could not keep up with the expectations. Reliability and pit-stop issues were the main reasons! Rubens Barrichello, after a long stint at Ferrari, was still getting used to the new car and its behaviour while Jenson Button was generally off the boil in the initial part of the season. But the win at Hungary proved to be just the shot in the arm they needed as their performances peaked.

Button finished 2006 in 6th place with 56 points while Barrichello finished 7th with 30 points. Honda finished 4th in the Constructors' race and 2007 certainly promises to be a good year for the Japanese Manufacturer.


Team Boss: Nick Fry

Races: 63

Race Wins: 3

Constructor's Championships: 0

Engine: Honda V8 RA807E

Chassis: RA107 - Honda

Suspension: Showa

Brakes: Alcon Carbon

Tyres: Bridgestone

Transmission: 7-speed unit + reverse

Other:
Engine power: Over 18,500 rpm
GearBox: 7-speed Honda, sequential, semi-automatic, hydraulic activation
Weight: 605 kgs (including driver, camera and ballast)
Dimensions: 4675mm x 1800mm x 950 mm
Valves: 4 valves per cylinder; pneumatic valve system
Total displacement: 2.4 litres


Team Personnel:
Team manager:
Designer:
Chief engineer:
Drivers: Rubens Barrichello (Brazil), Jenson Button (Great Britain)
Test driver: Christian Klien, James Rossiter

New designer for struggling Honda

The Honda team have signed BMW Sauber's chief designer Jorg Zander as they attempt to improve their poor form.

Honda, who won their first race of the modern era last year, have slumped this season and scored only one point in the first nine Grands Prix.

Their fortunes contrast with BMW Sauber, who have progressively improved and have this year's third fastest car.

Named deputy technical director, Zander is part of a recruitment drive aimed at improving Honda's performances.

Honda's senior technical director, Shuhei Nakamoto, said: "This is the latest in a series of key appointments that we have made in order to bolster our team.

"With the steady performance improvements we have made over the past few races and a strengthened technical team, I am sure the difficulties we have seen in the first half of 2007 are now behind us."

Zander is the second of those major appointments. The first was Frenchman Loic Bigois, who joined as head of aerodynamics last month. Bigois and Zander previously worked together at the Williams team.

Jenson Button won last year's Hungarian Grand Prix for Honda - but the victory came in an unpredictable wet-dry race and only after Fernando Alonso's leading Renault retired.

The win came towards the end of what had been a troubled season, and only after a major development programme aimed at improving a struggling car.

This year, Honda's form was even worse than at the beginning of last year, and so far they are showing scant evidence of being able to repeat the improvements they made in 2006.

Raikkonen gatecrashes Hamilton party

Kimi Raikkonen spectacularly gatecrashed Lewis Hamilton's hoped-for British Grand Prix party by claiming his first Silverstone victory.

All the hype had surrounded Hamilton in the build-up to the race, in particular after the world championship leader put his McLaren on pole.

But it was Ferrari star Raikkonen who stole his thunder, claiming back-to-back victories for the first time in almost two years.

Hamilton was forced to settle for third - extending his run of podium finishes to nine - as a combination of one bad pit stop and seemingly poor tyre choice allowed team-mate Fernando Alonso to take second.

But with eight grands prix remaining, Hamilton still has a 12-point lead over Alonso, with Raikkonen now third in the title race and 18 points adrift.

Felipe Massa has dropped to fourth in the standings as he could only take fifth after an aborted start led to him beginning the race from the pit lane instead of from fourth on the grid.

The Brazilian, though, still managed to blitz his way through the field to claim four precious points.

As such, if he had managed a clean getaway, he would almost certainly have knocked Hamilton off the podium for the first time.

But what a shame for Hamilton, in particular after making the start he would have dreamed about overnight.

McLaren, though, gambled by preferring the harder compound tyre from the off, compared to the soft option for the Ferraris, so giving them extra grip.

Once the five red lights disappeared at least there was no repeat of Hamilton's poor start in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours a week ago.

On that occasion Hamilton was overtaken - for the first time in his Formula One career - by Raikkonen, helping the Finn to his second win for the Maranello marque.

This time around Hamilton was clean away, cutting from left to right across the track to defend the inside line heading into the first corner at Copse.

It was perfect, but at no stage over the following 16 laps was Hamilton able to open any kind of gap on Raikkonen, who remained within a second as he hounded the young Briton.

At one stage on lap 14 'The Iceman' was virtually alongside his McLaren rival, whose first stop two laps later did not go to plan.

Hamilton went to pull away as the lollipop man flicked the sign telling him to engage first gear, despite the fact his car was still being refuelled.

With clean air for two laps Raikkonen put his foot to the floor, and it proved crucial as he emerged from the pit lane ahead of Hamilton.

That battle, though, had deflected the attention off Alonso, who had managed to stay on the coat-tails of the leading duo over the first third of the race.

When he pitted on lap 20 for a 6.3secs stop, it came as a major surprise when he grabbed the lead, with Raikkonen and Hamilton in his wing mirrors.

From that moment hopes of a win on home soil disappeared for the 22-year-old because as the laps ebbed away, so he dropped further and further behind Alonso.

It then became a battle between Alonso and Raikkonen, who held a gap of around five seconds to the Spaniard throughout the middle stint until the second round of pit stops.

Raikkonen stayed out six laps longer than Alonso, providing the second turning point of the race as the Ferrari star reversed the positions, and with it ultimately taking the victory by 2.4secs.

Robert Kubica was fourth for the second successive race for BMW Sauber, holding off Massa in the final third of the race in an enthralling battle.

The remaining points places were taken by the second BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld, followed by the Renaults of Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella.

In the constructors' battle, McLaren hold their 25-point cushion to Ferrari.

British Grand Prix Results

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	59	Winner	2	10
2	1	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes	59	+2.4 secs	3	8
3	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	59	+39.3 secs	1	6
4	10	Robert Kubica	BMW	59	+53.3 secs	5	5
5	5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	59	+54.0 secs	4	4
6	9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	59	+56.3 secs	9	3
7	4	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	58	+1 Lap	7	2
8	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	58	+1 Lap	8	1
9	8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	58	+1 Lap	14
10	7	Jenson Button	Honda	58	+1 Lap	18
11	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	58	+1 Lap	12
12	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	58	+1 Lap	17
13	17	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota	58	+1 Lap	13
14	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	57	+2 Laps	21
15	21	Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari	57	+2 Laps	22
16	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	STR-Ferrari	53	+6 Laps	16
Ret	12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	43	+16 Laps	10
Ret	23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	35	+24 Laps	19
Ret	19	Scott Speed	STR-Ferrari	29	+30 Laps	15
Ret	11	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	22	+37 Laps	6
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari	16	+43 Laps	20
Ret	15	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	8	+51 Laps	11