Monaco Without the Good Bits! Another Disappointing Race for Honda

The Valencia GP was, in many ways, similar to Honda F1 Racing’s weekend. It showed initial promise, but ultimately it disappointed.

I have to admit, being an old fart in a young man’s body, I was at first very skeptical about another street race to add to the ‘glamorous’ social procession event that is Monaco (don’t even get me started on the ridiculous Singapore night race).

However, as the buildup continued, I heard the track being described as similar to Melbourne, Montreal, and even Silverstone, which got me a little excited.

Unfortunately, the reality of the Valencia GP was simply yet another procession race where the only overtaking took place in pit stops.

Though both Honda drivers seemed to like the track after initial tests, neither managed to achieve much in the race on Sunday, with Jenson finishing 13^th and Rubens 16^th.

For Jenson at least, the weekend had started so promisingly. Both RA108s had been initially slow until the last practice when, after significant set up changes, Jenson managed to get himself up to third.

Steve Clark (Head of Race and Test Engineering) stated afterwards on Honda’s website that Friday’s success seemed to show the rewards of the three-week tweaking of new parts for the car. Unfortunately for Rubens, his Friday went backwards and any chances of getting Car 17 high on Saturday’s grid looked slim.

The Toro Rosso’s Sebastiens, who had also been surprisingly fast on Friday, managed to continue their success with Vettel qualifying in 6^th and Bourdais in 10^th. Poor old Rubens struggled for the whole of qualie one, not even able to break higher than 19^th (though he would eventually end up starting from the pits due to gear box troubles).

Jenson’s problems were linked to tyre selections. Whereas before he had been quick on Primes, the switch to Option tyres had led to a change of set up and thus a totally different feeling car; the best he could manage was p16.

Surprisingly, and unfortunately for the fans and drivers, Valencia proved to be another track with limited options for overtaking manoeuvres. As Jenson stated himself on Honda’s website, the team’s chances of a decent result were gravely hindered by their poor starting positions on the grid.

Though both drivers got off to good starts with Jenson earning 13^th place and Rubens 17^th, neither driver was able to capitalise on a one-stop strategy that basically depended on a nonexistent safety car period.

Perhaps if Jenson could have continued Friday’s positive steps forward into Sunday, like the Toro Rosso drivers, he too might have brought home a few decent points (like Vettel). As for Rubens, it seemed as if he spent the whole race weekend with his head down. Much like me, I think he found Valencia to be a great disappointment.

It is possible, however, to end on a positive note. As Ross Brawn pointed out, the Honda had made visible improvements over August, it was more a case of bad luck than a continuation of bad things that began back in 2007.

I truly hope the technical changes next year will make for a better show. Otherwise, F1 will become no more than a social event that only fans who can afford over £100 for a decent seat will be able to attend.