Nürburgring close to Honda’s heart

Germany's current Nürburgring circuit is decidedly tame by comparison to its intimidating 14-mile, 174-corner predecessor, where Honda made its Grand Prix debut in 1964. It’s fair to say only a company with Honda’s fearless sporting reputation would choose to take its Formula One bow on such a fearsome circuit as the revered old Nordschleife.

However, it’s 30 years since Niki Lauda’s near-fatal accident caused the inevitable decision that the mountain roads featuring famous corners such as Flugplatz, Karussel and Pflanzgarten would no longer echo to F1 engines. And, while the old circuit is still open to less extreme machines, the state-of-the-art cars at this weekend’s European Grand Prix will, of course, run on the more modern and compact venue opened in the 1980s.

Despite changes made in 2002 when the first turn was made even slower, the current circuit remains a fairly high downforce track that is light on both brakes and tyres. To achieve a competitive lap time here requires all the normal chassis attributes: good traction (particularly out of the hairpins), good chassis balance and stability under braking, and the best possible compromise between downforce and straight-line speed. Honda must rise to these challenges just as it did on its first F1 appearance 42 years ago.

"We made our F1 debut at the old Nürburgring in 1964 and we are determined to demonstrate the true strength of the RA106 chassis and engine package next weekend," states Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director at the Honda Racing F1 Team.