Honda: A BlogF1 Retrospective

Seeing the 2008 Honda preview post go up triggered my mind to think about how the team have fluctuated over the last few years, from the transition from BAR to Honda, the simply awesome 2004 campaign, Button’s win in 2006 and of course, the spectacular disappointment that was their 2007 season. Below are a few paragraphs from my 2006, 2007 and 2008 preview posts. If anything, it shows the downward spiral the team have endured over the last two years. Interestingly though, all three posts end on a positive note. Maybe I should stop doing that…

2006 Honda Preview Post

Honda finally bought out BAT’s remaining half of the team last year (then known as BAR, now renamed to Honda) and now have a fully-fledged squad to attack the championship with. Honda have also hired Barrichello to partner Jenson for 2006, and seriously look like F1 race winners now. The team is really coming together, as are their facilities and technical knowledge. The team appears to be better structured and – well – it all looks rosey over at the Japanese garage. BlogF1 in 2006.

2007 Honda Preview Post

The immortal optimists Honda will be hoping for some reverse psychological goodness this season, as for the first time since the team’s inception as BAR back in 1999, they have leaned on the conservative side of the fence and not hyped their own chances of success. Perhaps a realisation of their previous errors, or perhaps a wake up call from a wise person in marketing – who knows – but this year the only thing that got hyped was the paint job. BlogF1 in 2007.

2008 Honda Preview Post

How Honda got 2007 so horrendously wrong is quite simply beyond belief. This time last year, most of us knew and had accepted that the RA107 wasn’t going to be a great car, but I don’t think many of us expected the junior team to wipe the floor with the factory team for most of the season. The fact that Super Aguri led Honda in the championships right up until the Chinese Grand Prix should serve as serious embarrassment for the Japanese car company. Honda absolutely have to improve and return themselves to the regular point-scorers they once were. Failure to achieve this could spell disaster for the future of the team. BlogF1 in 2008.

Aside from the improvement in writing (I hope), I found it interesting how I went from “it all looks rosey over at the Japanese garage”, to “this year the only thing that got hyped was the paint job” before finally relenting to, well, the entire first paragraph of the 2008 post. Expect some more retrospective posts as I realise that I’ve been doing these for three years now. I’m sure some others are also quite interesting as well.

Image courtesy of Honda.