- 29 Jan 08, 14:16#30738From autosport.com:
Honda want no more mistakes
By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Tuesday, January 29th 2008, 11:33 GMT
Ross Bran with the Honda RA108Honda Racing cannot afford any more mistakes in Formula One following their dismal 2007 season, the team's chairman Yasuhiro Wada said during the official launch of the 2008 car.
The team scored their maiden victory in 2006 but then suffered a big slump in form last year, going on to score just six points on their way to eighth place in the standings.
Since then, Honda have been on a recruitment drive to strengthen their team and are now aiming to bounce back in 2008.
"As you know last season was very difficult and disappointing year for us," said Wada during the launch of the RA108.
"But that is now behind us. At Honda we always ask people to challenge to the limit, the highest target, and never to fear making a mistake. Mistakes are natural things when you are targeting high, but I only accept that once.
"The more important thing is to learn from mistakes we made and move forward. And that is the aim for this year. This year with some new faces and new ideas we must move forward. I am very pleased with the new steps that have been put in place.
"This new car is a big evolution from last year and we also have evolution of the marketing concept as well. This year we hope to deliver the many Honda fans around the world with improved performance, as we follow our racing dreams."
Team boss Nick Fry said Honda have gone through a process of "accelerated evolution" in order to return to the sharp end of the field in just one year.
"2007 was a year that failed to meet expectations," said Fry. "As a result of that there have been big changes in the team in the last six months. It is what I call accelerated evolution.
"The whole design philosophy of the car is different, it is different in every aspect. When we get to Melbourne every part on the car will be different from what we had last year."
Honda have secured the services of former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, who will be the Japanese squad's team principal following a sabbatical in 2007.
Brawn said Honda's goal for the season was to make steady improvement.
"Our ambitions are to progress positively. As long as we progress we will be happy," he said. "We want to get back to respectable points scoring positions. We have huge potential in different areas, in Japan and Brackley. My aim is to pull that together.
"The team obviously had a very difficult year last year and they have had an extremely intelligent response to the problems we had," added Brawn. "The difficulty with last year's car was that it produced a lot of downforce but it was in a very aggressive way.
"The focus on this car has been to make sure we produce the aero downforce in a more friendly way, a more usable way. We have also slimmed down the chassis, changed some of the layout for the car to give it more potential, particularly with aero development in the future, because it is going to be a very intensive season of development for us.
"There are a lot of new ideas, and we wanted a car that could accept a wide variety of changes through the season.
"The car you see here is very much a base spec, which was established back in October/November and you will see over the next few months before we get to Melbourne some quite dramatic changes in the car - a new engine cover, new floor, new wings, new bargeboards and area around there. So this is very much a starting spec and there is a good programme before Melbourne."
The car, which made its testing debut at Valencia last week, sported a white colour scheme, with an image of the Earth on the back. It is part of Honda Racing's new 'Earthdreams' concept, where they will help support environmental projects.
Honda used a unique car livery in 2007, featuring a satellite image of the earth and without any sponsors decals, in order to raise awareness of environmental problems.
Brawn enjoying life at Honda
By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Tuesday, January 29th 2008, 12:32 GMT
Ross BrawnRoss Brawn says he has found life at Honda Racing to be extremely positive after joining the Japanese squad at the end of last year.
Brawn, the tactical mastermind who helped Michael Schumacher win seven titles at Benetton and Ferrari, was confirmed as Honda's new team principal following a sabbatical last year.
The Briton says he is enjoying the new challenge.
"Extremely positive," said Brawn when asked about life at Honda during the launch of the new car.
"The attitude and commitment of the people here is first class and I am very confident that maintaining that attitude and commitment means we will be able to go forward.
"What is clear is that we have huge potential in a number of areas, in Japan and the UK. There are a lot of enthusiastic, skilled, keen people, and it is my role to pull all that together and get everyone going in the right direction.
"There has been huge enthusiasm in the past but perhaps the efforts have not been coordinated as well as they might. For everyone to sign up for Honda as the team, we are working for Honda and we all need to work in the same direction."
Brawn said Honda's goal for 2008 will be to make steady progress following a dismal 2007, when the team scored just six points.
"We have to get back to a respectable position," he added. "Obviously 2007 was a very difficult year for the team so our ambitions aer to progress positively at each stage and as logn as we are progressing we will be happy.
"We need to get back to respectable points scoring positions in 2008 and build from there. They are our objectives - make sure each step is positive and make sure we can score points again."
Ayrton Senna: WDC 1988,
1989, 1990, 1991
McLaren: WCC 1974, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998,
1999, 2007McLaren: WDC 1974, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2008
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