RealHondaF1.com Newsletter 024

By Phil Huff
January 12 2006

I spent some time on eBay yesterday, looking for a specific Tyrrell item. As is the problem with eBay, I was soon sitting there for seemingly hours, looking at all sorts of tat.

Fancy a BAR Honda pit crew jacket? Send £28 to Norwich and something that looks nothing like the real thing could be sent to you. Or not. It's eBay, so who knows.

How about a baseball cap signed by Jenson Button? I've got a number of Jenson's signatures and, if this hat is really signed by Jenson, he's obviously suffering from some sort of disorder that I would imagine prevents him from driving an F1 car. To say it's dissimilar is somewhat of an understatement.

So what am I saying? Intentionally sounding like a Rolling Stones track, you can't always get what you want, so perhaps the next best thing is acceptable?

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This isn't a music lesson, though, so I guess I ought to track this back to F1, and specifically the team you follow. Honda Racing F1 (I still haven't got used to it) have signed up Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button and Anthony Davidson as their three regular drivers.

They've also got Enrique Bernoldi, and Young Drivers Adam Carroll, James Rossiter, Alan van der Merwe and Danilo Dirano. Added to that, there's talk of adding Nelson Piquet Jr to that list, no doubt tying him to a long term contract.

There's little doubt that the top drivers in F1 currently are Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso, and any team would kill to get hold of them. McLaren are leading the race currently, having signed Alonso from Renault, right under Ferrari's nose. Good things come to those who wait, so the saying goes, but those who wait just end up with what's left.

So have Honda ended up with what's left, missing out on the chance of a real star? Not a bit of it!

Honda Racing F1 have got one of the most talented, exciting driver line ups you could imagine. Sure, Jenson's not won a race in 100 starts, but neither have any of his team mates, indicating that he's perhaps not had the machinery to do so.

It's worth remembering that it took Rubens Barrichello a good 125 starts to secure a win, and then he soon racked up a few more, and that's despite being the second driver of a team undoubtedly focused on their number one.

Rubens has, on occasion, taken the fight to the seven time World Champion and won. The ill-handling Ferrari F2003-GA levelled the Ferrari playing field, and the result was impressive. Given the right motor, and not a 'pointy' oversteering car, Rubens can be very quick, while his technical knowledge is undoubted. Ferrari's loss is, very much, Honda's gain.

Adam Carroll has proven his ability in GP2, while James Rossiter has shown very well in both F1 testing and a turbulent year in EuroSeries F3. Alan van der Merwe was sensational in British F3, and showed some real guts in the ill-fated Bonneville 400 attempt, while Danilo Dirano has taken his Lola F3 car to positions beyond its capabilities.

Nelson Piquet Jr has been sensational in pretty much every area, and securing his long term services will, at the very least, prevent him taking a seat at a competitor. It's good to see Honda Racing F1 might finally be prepared to play hardball, and screw other teams down in advance.

With the option of using the resources at Super Aguri F1, where the fast, if a tad too racy, Takuma Sato resides, the amount of ability available to Honda is unbelievable.

Without doubt, the depth of talent at Brackley goes far beyond what any other team in F1 has, Ferrari included, and that does nothing but strengthen Honda's effort.

So how the hell does this tie up with eBay? Sometimes, just sometimes, you might well end up with something that's worth far more than the price you pay for it.

You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need.

Phil Huff
RealHondaF1.com