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To celebrate Rubens Barrichello’s 257th race start at the Turkish Grand Prix, Honda have modified the livery that would usually adorn the skin of his RA108. Barrichello also has a one-off helmet design that fits with the logos and colours on the car. 257 races means that the previous record of 256 falls, much to the disappointment of Riccardo Patrese. Patrese set the record immediately prior to retiring in 1993 after the Australian Grand Prix, and has been helping Barrichello celebrate the new record in the past week. Continue Reading

Honda’s current team principal, Ross Brawn, is a man I truly respect. He may no longer be with a championship winning team, but his work ethic, abilities and performance haven’t appeared to slip following his ship-jumping antics. Perhaps it is too early to judge his performance at Honda; we need to wait to see what happens to the team before we judge the boss. But so far, Brawn looks healthy and uncompromisingly authoritative, albeit in green trousers. Continue Reading

To mark Rubens Barrichello’s 257th race, the most a Formula One driver has ever competed, Honda will give Barrichello a special livery and helmet design to use this weekend at Istanbul Park. Of course, it isn’t entirely clear if this is actually Barrichello’s 257th race start, but the Brazilian has decided to mark the occasion on Sunday. Riccardo Patrese’s long-standing record of 256 will finally fall. For younger fans who may have never seen Patrese, the Italian is pictured in the photo next to Barrichello. Continue Reading

Let’s be honest for a moment. Irrespective of whether you think Super Aguri deserved to have the plug pulled or not, it wasn’t handled very well by Honda. Not even for a moment. The giant corporation took action to reclaim the Aguri cars and told FOM beforehand that they wouldn’t be racing in Turkey and shouldn’t be allowed to enter the Istanbul Park circuit. And HondaF1 CEO Nick Fry has been talking to the press an awful lot recently about Super Aguri, a team which he has not, did not and will now not run. Continue Reading

Honda said it was inevitable, many fans had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but today, Aguri Suzuki withdrew his team from Formula One with immediate effect. This means only 20 cars will run at this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix. The build up to this day has been difficult for Super Aguri, the team having suffered all year with funding problems. The issues arose initially when their primary sponsor SS United defaulted on payments last year, and these issues were compounded when Honda announced they would no longer be offering the kind of support they had previously for 2008. This left Aguri with mounting debts to the automotive giant and finding a new investor was proving problematic. Continue Reading

With Super Aguri’s fate being decided either today or tomorrow, Takuma Sato has spoken to the media, pleading for the automotive giant to offer support in order for them to continue racing. The news of Super Aguri has divided opinion around the world; some people arguing that Aguri got themselves into the mess and others who are wanting to see no less than 22 cars on the grid. Yesterday it seemed like Honda were already taking matters into their own hands, pre-emptively informing FOM that the team would not be racing in Turkey this weekend. This has led some to suggest that HondaF1 CEO Nick Fry, or the Honda corporation itself, has already made its decision, despite the meeting not due to take place until Tuesday. Pitpass have suggested that if/when the order is made to disband the team, Honda do not want Aguri in the paddock where they could be an embarrassment or nuisance to the Honda brand. Continue Reading

As we all know, Formula One team Super Aguri have been supported in the past by automotive giant Honda, and essentially the small outfit was considered the Japanese squad’s B-team. However, with a change to the customer-car rules due to be implemented prior to the 2010 season, Honda have decided that they can no longer support the team. I’m sure the reasons run much deeper than that and finances play a big part of the sudden turn-around, but alas the news has left Aguri in a bit of a state. Continue Reading

Last October I posted about the history of the fairer sex in Formula One. It wasn’t a long post though, there have only been five ladies to have competed alongside their male counterparts, and only one who has scored a world championship point. And even then it was just a half-point as the race was stopped early. So I think it’s fair to say that the ladies have been vastly under-represented in Formula One for a very long time. Approximately 58 years, actually (and that’s just the organised championship). But over in America, female racers are getting more of a look-in, and recently a race was won by a woman; Danica Patrick. Continue Reading

Super Aguri have announced that they will be participating in this weekends Spanish Grand Prix. For the past week or so the team has been in trouble after the Magma Group pulled out of a deal that would have seen major investment, a name change and cleared Honda debt for the little outfit. While no deal has yet been confirmed, and with Honda apparently refusing to offer any further help, Aguri were still preparing their cars this morning and both Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson competed in the morning’s Free Practice session. Continue Reading

The deal with the Magma Group that would have saved Super Aguri collapsed last week, and since then team owner Aguri Suzuki has been working hard on re-negotiating another, all in attempts to save his little outfit and enable them to continue racing. The squad have turned up in Barcelona ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, but already the deadline for sorting something out has passed, twice. And now Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry has given a strong indication that Honda are no longer willing to help them out. Continue Reading