Honda 2008 Review: A Suprisingly Good Start!

Ok Honda fans, here they come, the articles you’ve all been waiting for! I present to you a series of season reviews of Honda’s best…erm no not best…..most encouraging….no not that either….the first time in which a Honda driver stood on the podium for a year!

So 2008 was not a great year for Honda, and you’re probably wondering why I want to bother writing up the events.  Despite the last two dismal seasons I still love Honda F1 and believe that things will get better (they can hardly get much worse).

I guess I’m writing this, first because I enjoy writing about ‘my’ team. 

Secondly, so in a couple of years when a driver in a Honda race suit (fingers crossed Jenson) holds his Brazilian winners trophy aloft, signifying not only a race win, but a World Championship win, we can look back at this season and marvel at how far the Japanese team has come. 

Thirdly, and I think most importantly, because as I discovered when I looked back it wasn’t actually all that bad for Honda.  A good start to the season only got worse when the team decided to concentrate on 2009.  It’s not as depressing as you might think!

I thought I’d review three races at a time.  This way readers won’t be overloaded with information (and, it will take me less time to write each time!)

2008 Season review of Honda Racing F1: Part One, Down Under to the desert.

Australia: 16th March 2008

Qualifying:
Jenson Button (JB): 13
Rubens Barrichello (RB): 11

Race:
JB: DNF
RB: DSQ

Going by the results, not a great start then! Lewis Hamilton wins very comfortably from a front row start. 

However, not all doom and gloom. 

Honda were yet to test publicly their new aero package; their decent pace in Qualifying therefore positively surprised everyone.  Both RA108s qualified exceptionally well in comparison to last season, and as you can see very nearly made it into Q3!(in fact both Jens and Rubens were only 0.2 secs off a Q3 place).  This was an amazing result for the first race back after the hell that was 2007!

The race was a different story.  Jenson unfortunately crashed out at the first corner and Rubens’s race was ruined by the hugely controversial and stupid pit lane rules!  Rubens had been in a very strong position to do the unthinkable….score points! 

Then a safety car period came just at the worst time (lap 45).  The Brazilian had to stop and of course earned himself a stupid 10 second penalty….but it got worse: he left the pit box with the Honda fuel hose still attached and then drove through a red light which meant disqualification.

Australia was a mixed bag.  Honda looked very strong in Qualifying but it ran away from them in the race.  Still compared to last year a fantastic beginning! 

One thing I will say, that I had forgotten,  Though Jenson is my hero, Rubens outperformed him in both qualifying and the race.  Just another reason why I’m so disappointed with Honda for leaving him in Limbo at the moment! For god’s sake give him his drive!!

Malaysia: 23 March 2008  

Qualifying:
JB: 11
RB: 14

Race:
JB: 10
RB: 13

This is pretty good! Jenson gets himself into Q3 and then goes and finishes in the top ten.  Rubens is comfortably into Q2 and makes up a place in the race.  The team website credits the success largely to consistency and reliability (both very good signs). 

Both cars started the race well in the scorching conditions and both kept up with the rest of the cars around them.  Jenson battled with Renault’s Piquet and had got himself up to sixth at one point (the cars in front had made their first stops, but still good stuff for Jens). 

When Jenson rejoined the race in fourteenth after his stop he fought his way back up to tenth.  Before his second stop Jenson had made it up to seventh, but after his stop put him back to tenth again he remained committed to pushing right until the end.

Rubens was hindered by slower cars in front of him (YES!! Slower than the RA108!).  He was only able to get to twelfth by his first stop as a result of this.  Unfortunately for Rubens another pit stop drama (speeding) gave him a drive through penalty and effectively ended his chances of anything higher than thirteenth.

Both drivers and team principle Ross Brawn were very satisfied with the team’s performance.  They all believed Malaysia was a better reflection of the car’s true standing and all believed the team was moving in the right direction.

Bahrain: 6th April 2008-11-08

Qualifying:
JB: 9
RB: 12

Race:
JB: DNF
RB: 11

Forget the race here for a minute and look at the qualifying result.  Within just three races Honda managed to get a driver into Q3 and hold a comfortable place in Q2.  I must admit, and repeat, I had forgotten how well Honda really did in the early stages. 

This must be good news for 2009!  Jenson drove well initially but unfortunately contact with his friend David Coulthard led to car number 16’s retirement.  Rubens simply drove consistently and managed to finish a position higher than he started.

That was part one, Part two will hopefully follow next week.  I think it is extremely interesting and encouraging to re-discover how well Honda actually fared initially in 2008. 

This shows clearly that their drop off later was due to commitment to 2009 and also that the team is able to quickly improve what they have (the RA108 was bad, but in a different league when compared to the RA107). 

I’ll say it at the end of all of my reviews…. Fingers crossed for next year!