Honda 2008 F1 Review, Part Four: One Step Forward...Five Steps Back

OK, so here comes part four, covering Germany to Valencia, and I’m afraid from this point things don’t look good for Honda. 

After the glory of Britain, neither Honda driver excelled in Germany. Jenson had to lap around the track of his maiden victory with no hope of even points, for the second year running, and Valencia gave us one of the most boring races of the year. Notice, too, that, at this point in the season, Jenson took over from Rubens and began to qualify and finish better than the Brazilian veteran.

Germany: July 20, 2008

Qualifying
Jenson Button (JB): 14
Rubens Barrichello (RB): 18

Race
JB: 17
RB: 18

Qualifying was a close thing in Germany with the entire grid being separated by only 2 seconds in Qualifying one. Despite the RA108s improving every lap, Rubens was unable to make it into Q2 despite being just 0.1s slower than Jens. After two runs in Q2 Jenson managed an encouraging P14, which was an improvement on his recent Saturday form.  Rubans was disappointed but keen to remind everyone of his efforts in 2000 when he won from 18th. Unfortunately Rubens mate, in 2000 you were driving a World Championship winning Ferrari F2000.

The race didn’t give Rubens his race win, or even a second podium of the season; contact with David Coulthard on lap 50 proved fatal for car 17. As was the case for most of the races this year, both cars started well, taking positions from the start.  Rubens made up a place and Jenson fought well with fellow Brit DC for 14 laps before yielding and falling back to 15th. 

After his pit stop Jenson struggled with his new prime tyres (having started on the options). He was losing so much time that when the safety car came out, he changed back to primes. This scuppered his race and by the time the race began again he was down in 18th. Jens only made up one more place and thus the weekend ended in disappointment. The team unanimously agreed that the car simply didn’t have the pace.  

Hungary: Aug. 3, 2008

Qualifying
JB: 12
RB: 18

Race
JB: 12
RB: 16

Another mixed Saturday, Jenson made Q2 and achieved a decent P12 whilst Rubens pushed himself a little too hard leading to a mistake on a crucial flying lap. Both RA108s had been very strong and close all session with Jenson just in front.  Rubens mistake cost him a chance of Q2 but Jenson was happy with his best qualifying since Monaco. Not hugely exciting prospects for the next day, but hey, Jenson won from P14 in 2006 it wasn’t all bad...was it?

On the face of it, not a terrible weekend for Honda. Rubens made up two places and Jenson managed to keep P12 but neither was able to threaten points paying positions.  Rubens had a much better start than Jens who struggled more from the "curse of the dirty side" (of the track) than his teammate.

The Brazilian made up four places, whilst the Brit lost two as he struggled to get away. For this race the Hondas did pretty well on the primes, both fast enough to be held up by one-stopper Heidfeld in his BMW. Jenson’s first stop went well, but a fuel rig problem in Rubens’s stop ruined his race. 

The second stops were event-less, Jenson and Rubens rejoined 13th and 17th respectively. When poor old Massa broke down (in my mind costing him the deserved Championship) both drivers gained a place and that’s where they finished on lap 70. 

The team concluded that the race showed that Honda had made positive steps forward. Given the result I’m not to sure about that statement.

Europe (Valencia): Aug. 24, 2008

Qualifying
JB: 16
RB: 19

Race
JB: 13
RB: 16

It was at this race that I began writing for B/R. Could I have chosen a more boring race to start with? My first ever article was "Monaco...without the good bits! Another disappointing race for Honda." This title basically summed up Honda’s race weekend.

I wasn’t convinced by the track but both  Rubens and Jenson gave it a positive review after initial tests.  The weekend started pretty predictably with both RA108s initially slow until the last practice when, after significant set up changes, Jenson managed to get himself up to third.

Now I’m going to tell you a sad secret...erm I was so chuffed to see on my computer screen that Jenson had put in a third best time (and it had been so long since I’d seen such a result) that I took a photo of the screen on my phone!  Desperate I know, but I really wasn’t sure when I’d see a similar thing again.

Unfortunately for Rubens, his Friday went backwards and any chances of getting Car 17 high on Saturday’s grid looked slim.

Rubens seemed to show that when his head drops...he has to drag it around with him for the rest of the weekend (perhaps a reason for him being so slow here). He struggled for the whole first session and couldn’t even get higher than 19th. 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.

Suprisingly, 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.

Both drivers got off to good starts with Jenson clawing his way up to P13, and Rubens (having started from the pits due to gear box woes) fought to P17. Unfortunately, neither driver was able to capitalise on a one stop strategy that basically depended on a non existent safety car period.  

Perhaps if Jenson could have continued Friday’s positive steps forward into Sunday, like the Torro Rosso drivers, he too might have brought home a few decent points like Vettel (who was about to show the world quite how special he is!). As for Rubens, things were never going to go his way. Much like me I think he found Valencia to be a great disappointment.

At the time I ended my article on a positive note stating that Ross Brawn thought the Team had made visible improvements over August, and that it was more a case of bad luck than a continuation of bad things that began back in 2007. I was encouraged at the time, but now with hindsight and the results in front of me I can see that unfortunately it was more a case of bad car than bad luck.  

There isn’t really much more to say about these races, apart from sorry for the depressing read! I love the Honda Team and wish them all the best in the future. The team would have to do something pretty drastic to ever lose my support, I hope many other fans feel this way too.

Next three coming up next week.