New-look Honda ready for season opener

The 2007 Formula One season gets underway with the curtain-raising Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne next weekend. Following the launch of the Honda Racing F1 Team’s pioneering environmental initiative, the Australian Grand Prix will see the Honda RA107 take to the track in its new ‘earth’ livery for the first time.

In support of the campaign to raise environmental awareness, the team’s race drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will be visiting the Albert Park Primary School at the start of the race weekend to join the schoolchildren in an energy-saving programme.

On the race track, the team goes into the new season with continuity in its race driver line-up as Jenson and Rubens enter their second season together at the team, giving Honda one of the most experienced driver pairings on the 2007 grid.

“We have set high targets for this, our second season as a 100 per cent Honda team, and, as always, are excited about getting down to business at the Australian Grand Prix,” said Shuhei Nakamoto, Senior Technical Director. “Although we have made some progress in the recent test in Bahrain, we still have to find more improvements to take us to where we want to be. Our race pace looks stronger than our qualifying pace at the moment. All in all, we must try to get the best out of our current package, whilst continuing to work hard on the development of new items for the test in Sepang after Melbourne.”