Barrichello, Button and Fry consider Suzuka prospects
Honda Racing F1 Team drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello and CEO Nick Fry discuss what racing at Suzuka means to them and look at the team’s hopes for this weekend. “This year is my first time at Suzuka as a member of a Japanese team and I’m really enjoying the experience,” begins Rubens.
“The reception has been good since I arrived in Tokyo on Monday. I have high hopes for this weekend because I feel good at Suzuka. I won here in 2003 and I know the track really well. I enjoy it very much and it’s the track on the F1 calendar that gives me the most pleasure from a driving point of view. It’s very difficult to get right, particularly on a qualifying lap because many of the corners lead straight from one to the next.”
Jenson Button’s now a seasoned campaigner for Honda at Suzuka, having had Honda power at three previous Japanese Grands Prix, but his experience of the track stretches back to before his entry into F1. “I went twice to Suzuka prior to F1, when I raced in the Ayrton Senna Memorial Trophy kart race,” he explains. “In Formula A, I finished on the podium, and the following year I was lying in third place, taking it easy – as you do in karting until the last few laps – when the chain came off. I was still given the Ayrton Senna Memorial Trophy, which was great.”
As the home race for Honda, the Japanese GP means not only a huge effort to perform well over the Grand Prix weekend, but also a chance to demonstrate some of the Honda Collection Hall’s classic F1 machinery alongside the state-of-the-art cars of today.
“I flew into Tokyo en route to the Chinese Grand Prix to do some demonstration runs in an RA106 – the T-car for Shanghai – and in John Surtees’ 1968 Honda RA301,” says Jenson. “The Surtees car took pole position at the ’68 Italian GP and was spectacular to drive. Compared to the RA106, the cockpit was very cramped and in terms of speed, it made me realise how much quicker F1 cars are today.”
A fast and narrow circuit, Suzuka is one track where speed is more obvious to a modern-day race driver. “It’s a real drivers’ circuit,” says Jenson. “It’s very quick and it’s also physical because many of the corners are linked; there is no time to rest.”
“As far as car set-up goes,” interjects Rubens, “you need a good balance to be fast at Suzuka. I don’t search for a level of grip as such; I search for a good balance and good braking stability. Mistakes are very costly; into the hairpin and the last chicane, for example, a small error can give you a big time loss.”
“Suzuka is the most important race of the year for the Honda Racing F1 Team,” concludes Chief Executive Officer Nick Fry, “so we will be putting in 150 percent effort to get a car onto the podium. We will have the Stage 4 engine at the race, which is a step up in terms of performance, and both drivers love the track, so I hope we can achieve our aims.”
