'Helios' writes…..
Reading Jenson Button's forlorn predictions for the Honda team's chances in Melbourne this weekend, you can't help but be struck by the atmosphere of despondency that has crept in progressively over recent weeks as it has become increasingly apparent that the team has failed (yet again) to provide him with a fast and reliable car. This is perhaps of more importance to Button than to his contemporaries Alonso, Raikkonen and possibly Barrichello as Jenson strikes me as another driver, like Hill before him, who requires to be in the best car of the time to win consistently. Button is lacking that little bit extra that true champions possess to get the most out of a less than perfect car in order to win.
His statements beg the question that if this is what he is saying publicly, what is he saying, or more to the point, what is he demanding of his Honda bosses. This level of performance is not acceptable from a team that claims to be in the upper echelons of the sport, with a large budget, impressive facilities and a recurring annual statement that they are winners. The team can no longer claim to be still learning or that it is a "young team" as Nick Fry claimed last season following some poor race day decisions.
Button should be demanding results and if they can't be delivered then get people into the team who can and that doesn't mean designers and engineers necessarily, it may well be those that manage them or provide the overall concepts they work to. Something is clearly flawed in this process and it hasn't improved in recent years since the high point of P2 in 2004. The 2005 and 2006 seasons have seen a steady decrease in overall performance despite a significant increase in facilities at the team, despite periodic resurgences of performance enjoyed for brief periods in each season. Honda is in grave danger of declining into a vicious cycle of analysis, reaction and fire fighting to manage these ill conceived packages which will detract from the team's ability to develop the car effectively and build a fast package.
It seems the team's inability to understand what it has got in its chassis with any degree of certainty continues to dog it year in year out and results in an inability to move forwards significantly. Each season appears to be devoted to resolving these issues but with no carry over of that learning curve. In much the same way as each year the car had problems with clutch release bearing failures which then results in massive efforts being made to resolve them by mid season only to see the same failures appear with the following year's gearbox assembly.
It is also disappointing to see the old culprit, aerodynamics, being blamed for all the cars woes once again. It doesn't seem many days since it was braking instability caused by poor suspension geometry or chassis hysterisis that was being blamed. These problems appear to have melted away and the aero is now all wrong. Given the countless hours of wind tunnel and CFD time spent on aerodynamics at Honda both in Brackley and in the Dome windtunnel, Japan, it seems strange that this is the case. Undoubtedly there will be contributing elements from the chassis, tyres and aerodynamics that result in the cars poor performance so it seems harsh to single out any one area and can do little to motivate a group which quietly gets on with working the longest hours all year round to continually provide the best solutions for optimising the car's potential. However, aerodynamics on the RA107 are already compromised to some extent by the low powered engine the team has been forced to use in order to maintain credible reliability. The development restrictions for this season will not see that situation improve.
So, what questions is Jenson going to have to ask after this weekend's season opener? Some very fundamental ones I suspect, relating not just to this season but where he believes the team can take him in those remaining in his contract period. Honda might purport to possess the power of dreams so they may well reflect on the BAR book "From Dream to Reality" describing the fledgling team's transition from scratch to its first pointless season. Not so much dream as nightmare and one that Honda may come to fully understand as the season goes on.
Tune in live on Sunday morning to see just how good a driver Jenson really is and what he makes of his flawed machinery. It's going to be a great season for all and one that will challenge Honda to rise to the occasion more than ever and prove to the world that the spirit of racing prospers in Brackley, Bracknell and Tochigi. One advantage the team has over its competitors is that at least Honda won't have to worry about the Melbourne dust, they brought their own rain clouds with them.
