Honda Launch RA108

Honda officially unveiled the RA108 at their Brackley headquarters today, admitting they can't afford another season like last year.

The launch followed an initial shakedown period with the all-new RA108 in Valencia last week, in which the team's race driver line-up of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button put evaluation mileage on the car in preparation for the start of its pre-season testing programme later this week.

The role of unveiling the RA108 in the team's 2008 livery today was assigned to test driver Alex Wurz. At the wheel of the car for the very first time, Wurz drove the RA108 through the pitlane themed auditorium in front of the assembled crowd of 300 international media and guests.

Honda laid out its plans for 2008 and the longer-term, reaffirming its commitment to the sport and underlining the determination of a revitalised team to realise its ambitions.

"Following a year where we failed to live up to our own expectations, the team has made a number of key appointments in the second half of 2007 to strengthen our existing resource as well as bringing on board new knowledge and different experience," said chief executive Nick Fry.

"In particular, the arrival of Ross (Brawn) in the position of Team Principal has brought new impetus and confidence to the whole organisation. This time last year saw the beginning of a downward curve for us and there is a determined sense that this year we are back on track.

"We have done everything possible to honestly address the issues, which we have to view as valuable experiences which have helped to put us in better shape for this year and for the years ahead. Every area, from technical and aerodynamics to marketing, has been strengthened with world class resource. The disappointments of 2007 power our desire to do well in 2008.

"I am very pleased for our whole team that their hard work has resulted in the RA108 meeting all its design targets on paper. We now need to work hard between now and Melbourne to make sure that those translate into good track performance and to discover whether these targets are sufficiently high compared with the achievements of our competitors.



Ross Brawn is keeping Honda's goals for this season in check, saying he'll be happy if the team find themselves fighting for points at every race.

After claiming their first grand prix victory in 2006, Honda had high hopes for last year's Championship.

However, instead of fighting for wins and titles, Honda were lapping at the back of the field as the team struggled with lack of pace and an ill-handling car.

And although Brawn firmly believes Honda will produce better results this season, the former Ferrari man isn't predicting Championships and titles just yet.

"Our target for 2008 is to get back to the position occupied during the second half of the 2006 season when Honda fought for points at every race," he said during Tuesday's launch.

"Only then will we have a stable base from which to target more ambitious results."

Honda's 2008 challenger is also vastly different to last year's car as team has re-evaluated its design philosophy.

"The RA108 car is a wholly different concept to its predecessors, in terms of its aerodynamic layout and mechanical structure," said Brawn.

"The design philosophy has been developed to allow greater scope for aerodynamic packaging and exploitation, particularly to facilitate the introduction of performance upgrades through the season."

Honda F1

Q & A with Ross Brawn

Q. What are the feelings about the new car following the Valencia test?

Ross Brawn: It's difficult to know what to expect as that particular car was a collection of bits that had never been run in the wind tunnel. Because we had to pick a point last November when parts were frozen. So the car we ran in Valencia had never been run as a collection of parts in the wind tunnel.

It was a combination of wings and bits and pieces which we didn't know about. We've got some extra bits on the car for Barcelona and by then, we'll have the bits on the car that have all been in the wind tunnel. So I don't think you can read anything into Valencia.

What was encouraging was the car looked far more stable than the old car, I went out to have a look on the circuit. And while the old car had quite a reasonable level of downforce, it was very pitch sensitive and difficult to drive. This car looked nice and stable - the early signs are encouraging but we've still got to introduce the downforce and aero performance and start to see what the laptimes are like.

Q. Is there greater potential for aero development now?

RB: Most of the development for this year will be lost for 2009. And also 2009, being such a different set of aero regulations, teams have got to get more resource to it earlier than they would have done if it was a regular season.

We need to see where we are at the start of the season and then decide on the merits of what sort of programme we have with this car and what we put into 2009. It's difficult to say how that balance will work out – there may be things we do want to do with this car to learn for 2009.

Suspension characteristics will still be relevant even if the tyres are different; braking systems; so there will be work we can do that will be relevant for 2009. But the aero package is unique.

We do have planning in place to do several upgrades to the car throughout the year. The first one is loosely targeted around Barcelona. Then every three or four races well have a reasonable update. We have to take a very strong view for the future and make sure 2009 is a strong barometer for the future. I'll be looking at balancing resources for the future.

Q. Is there pressure from Honda to get face-saving results?

RB: As long as there's a sensible argument, they will support the right strategy for the future. They're not interested in short-term face-saving solutions – Honda's a strong company and are obviously very disappointed about what happened in 2007 and want to see some progress in 2008.

But from my discussions they want to see step-by-step progress and the team going in the right direction. There's no deadline. We'll change things and if they see progress over the next few years they'll be happy.

Q. Have you had any input into this car?

RB: To be frank, I haven't had a large input into this year's car – I probably changed a priorities a bit of the development programme – things in my experience that could perhaps bring good benefits. During the year, there are some development programmes where I want to put some particular emphasis on.

But this car – I've had very little influence. But when I arrived and had a presentation from the engineers about why they'd arrived at the car they have, it was a very intelligent response to the problems they had last year.

They identified the ride-height maps and aerodynamic performance were pretty unstable and it's a long time since I was involved deeply in a wind tunnel but I know the right kind of characteristics a good F1 car needs. And what we're now trying to achieve is much more towards what will make a good aerodynamic platform.

One of my priorities is to get the working methods and philosophies in place over the next couple of years so we have the right approach. Obviously, the team is focused on the aerodynamic performance because that was a glaringly obvious weakness with 2007's car but you cannot ignore any of the other performance factors if you're going to be successful in Formula One: brakes, suspension, structure, efficiency, driveability of the engine – everything has to be top level.

And we have to make sure we put all our top efforts into all those other areas. Our aero programme is now going in the right direction so I've got to make sure we're putting equal effort into all the other areas.

Q. How do you rate your drivers?

RB: I only know Rubens, to be frank. And Rubens would have won the world championship a couple of times if a certain Mr Schumacher hadn't been around. He's capable of winning the world championship if he has the right equipment. Jenson, I've only viewed from a distance, but I've always been very impressed.

I think his performance in 2007 was exceptional in very difficult circumstances. He actually had some very good races which were difficult to spot in the middle of the pack. We've got two very good drivers and I don't think they're a consideration in achieving our objective. They're both more than capable of winning races – and they've demonstrated that.

Q. What will it take from Honda to turn Button into race-winner again?

RB: Just the equipment; we've got to give him the car because he's maintained his confidence and commitment. His preparation for the new season is as good as any driver I've seen. So it's really just down to the car – and then he'll be able to win races.

Q. Can you teach him anything you gained from Michael?

RB: What I will help Jenson with, I hope, is the work approach to the technical side. I'm not an expert in driving the car, but I can help him work effectively with the engineers and find out how to extract the most from the car. One thing I learned from Michael was that work ethic: it was very strong with him and I saw the benefits it brought.

Rubens has learned that very well (from Ferrari) and I'm sure Jenson does too but I'll certainly be encouraging him. I'm not an expert in driving but I can see where things are going wrong but I'm not the person to advise him on what lines to take into corners etc.

But the work ethic is very important in F1 and you can miss a lot if you leave early after practice and don't talk to your engineers and work diligently with the groups and giving them the encouragement they need.

I don't think Jenson's lacking, I just haven't worked with him yet. So I don't want to criticise him at all. But how can I help Jenson? First of all by giving him a good car and I want to see how he works with the team and then see if I can help strengthen that relationship. I'm not making any criticisms but I know that relationship has to be of a very high standard if you're to succeed in F1.

Q. Will you return to pitwall strategy?

RB: We're evolving a structure where I probably won't be involved intimately but I will know intimately what's going on: it's striking that fine balance between giving responsibility to people and not interfering afterwards! Sometimes that's difficult in a race.

But I think the guys here do a good job, we've got Steve Clark joined from McLaren who's very experienced. And it would free me up to do more things if I was relieved of that duty. So if I can, I'd like to encourage the others to step in and that would give me a little more time on other matters.

But I do love the racing and have a lot of experience so there will be matters of the process where I am involved. It's just a question of whether I'm on the pitwall calling the shots.