Honda_RA107

Honda RA107

Honda RA107

Formula One racing car

The Honda RA107 is a Formula One racing car with which Honda Racing F1 contested the 2007 Formula One season. A modified version of the RA107, renamed the Super Aguri SA08 was used by Super Aguri in the 2008 Formula One season. The RA107 was the first Formula One car designed under former HRC motorcycle designer, Shuhei Nakamoto.

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The car scored a best result of 5th at the Chinese Grand Prix and finished 8th in the constructors' championship. It featured a livery depicting planet Earth against a black background of space in order to raise environmental awareness, for which Honda won two awards at the 2007 Green Awards.[3]

Launch information

It was revealed to the public on 25 February 2007 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. The RA107 was launched with the interim winter testing livery before the final colours were unveiled on 26 February.

The 'livery launch' for the RA107 took place at the Natural History Museum in London and showed a completely new take on the look of a Formula One car. Honda's 2007 paint scheme did not use sponsorship branding but instead is focused on Honda's environmental desires. The car has been dubbed by some as 'The Honda Earth car' and the car's livery depicts the planet Earth against the black background of space,[4] with the only logos on the car being the Type R Honda 'H', and the Bridgestone logo, all at the very front of the car. On the rear wing is the web address of environmental awareness website My Earth Dream, launching on 27 February 2007. This is the first time in 30 years that a Grand Prix car has gone to the grid without a sponsored permanent livery. At the end of the year Honda were awarded with an environmental award for the "Earth Car" campaign.[5]

Along with the launch of the new theme, a number of new sponsors were named at the launch event. These included two large global brands, Universal Music and Gatorade, as well as a large number of other companies including Fila, IBM, Instron, Oliver Sweeney, Perkin Elmer, Showa Denko, TUV and GF Agie Charmilles.[6]

2007 season

The team's form in pre-season testing was patchy, and it seemed the car was unable to produce the sort of results the car's predecessor had done.

Rubens Barrichello driving the RA107 at the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix, with its characteristic "Earth" livery.

The RA107's lack of pace was evident at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello qualifying 14th and 17th respectively (behind the 'customer' Super Aguri team, whose car, the Super Aguri SA07, was effectively an update of the previous year's Honda, the RA106). Barrichello finished the race in 11th place, with Button in 15th after receiving a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

The team did not score any points in the following six races, but more positively, the car's reliability was proving to be good. The team did have chances to gain points, however, at Monaco and Canada. In Monaco, Honda had their most competitive race up to that point but they were on the wrong strategy and required to pit an extra time, resigning them to a pointless race. At Canada, Barrichello could have finished as high as 3rd but was again on the wrong strategy which required him to pit an extra time dropping him to 12th.

Barrichello driving the RA107 at the 2007 British Grand Prix.

At the French Grand Prix Button finished 8th, finally earning his and his team's first point of the season. Barrichello finished 9th in the following British Grand Prix, scoring his best result of the season. At the European Grand Prix, Jenson Button had had a strong first lap before the rain arrived and was up to 4th place before he aquaplaned off the circuit at the end of the pit straight, as did five other drivers.

Jenson Button driving the RA107 at the 2007 British Grand Prix.

The team scored points again at the Italian Grand Prix, as Button finished 8th to score his second point of the season. At the next round in Belgium both drivers were running out of the points before Button retired with hydraulic issues, while Barrichello finished 13th. In Fuji, the cars finished 10th and 11th in the wet conditions.

In Shanghai, Button put on a remarkable display of driving in the wet and scored the RA107's best result of the season with a strong 5th place, finally moving Honda ahead of Super Aguri in the championship standings. At Interlagos however, both cars retired with overheating engines due to the very hot weather in the race. Button finished the season 15th overall with six points, while for the first time in his career, Barrichello failed to score points during the season. Honda finished the season 8th in the constructors' championship.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

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Notes and references

  1. [1]
    "Engine Honda". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  2. [2]
    "Current Engine Ranking??? - Racing Comments Archive".
  3. [3]
    "Honda Worldwide | Formula 1 October 29, 2007 "Honda Racing F1 Team Wins at 2007 Green Awards"". 4 January 2008. Archived from the original on 4 January 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  4. [4]
    "Best F1 car launches: Honda RA107 Earth Car launch in 2007". formula1.com. 1 February 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  5. [5]
    Goren, Biranit. "Honda win prestigious environment award - F1 - Autosport". Autosport.com. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  6. [6]
    "Honda launch green campaign and livery", Autosport report, retrieved 26 February 2007
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