Autoblog

Imagine getting a contract with a major F1 team before you're even out of high school. That's what Lewis Hamilton got with McLaren when he was young(er), and what karting protégé Will Stevens has achieved with the Honda Racing F1 Team, reflecting a growing trend in motorsport recruitment. While team leaders have always kept an eye on feeder series like Formula 3 and, more recently, GP2, to scout up-and-coming talent, the rising level of competition has driven the teams to start earlier and earlier with their recruitment programs.

At 16 years old, Stevens has the FIA-CIK KF2 European and Asia-Pacific, International Open Masters KF2, WSK Junior ICA and MSA British Junior titles to his name, along with five national championships. He met over the weekend with Honda's Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to sign a long-term driver support agreement that will help him develop and advance through the ranks until he's ready to race in Formula One, giving David Coulthard a heads-up on the next little pischer to complain about. Details are in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Honda F1]

Click above for high-res gallery of Honda's 1967 RA300 and new RA108

Honda has a long history in grand prix racing. The sport's first Japanese team debuted with its own home-grown chassis and engine in 1964, taking its first victory in only its second year in Formula One at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. The original RA271 was replaced by the RA300 at the 1967 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, which John Surtees won on its maiden race. Honda withdrew from Formula One in 1969, supplied engines to various teams between 1983 and 1992 and again with British American Racing in 2000, which Honda had adopted as its own factory team by 2005 before winning the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Keen to highlight its rich heritage in Formula One, Honda came to the Geneva Motor Show with and old RA300 and its latest successor, the RA108. Compared to the 3-liter 420-hp V12 and 5-speed manual in the vintage RA300, the new RA108 is driven through a seven-speed sequential gearbox by a 2.4-liter V8 producing over 700 hp. The two cars represent over 45 years of F1 development, clearly evident in their forms that you can see for yourself in our high-resolution gallery by click-clickin' on the thumbnails below.

Let's get this straight: we are fans of the Honda F1 team. As cynical as everyone else makes the friends-of-the-earth thing out to be, Honda has put its paint where its money is by excluding sponsors logos from the car. Honda's problem, though, hasn't been its sentiment -- it's been the fact that the Honda team has only won one F1 race, a wet and wild affair in Hungary in 2006.

The team's biggest move in the off-season was to put former Ferrari strategy master Ross Brawn team principal (shown above). In an additional bid to show people they're serious, keep folks at the team, and get everyone on board to win, they're offering everyone on staff -- all the way down to the Brackley factory cleaners -- a bonus of $2,000 for a win. Each win would cost the company more than $1.5 million, a price we're sure they'd be happy to pay for constructor's points, publicity, and the collective sigh of relief that would come with it. The question is, with a 2008 car that is already being described as slow, while Ferrari is breaking the pole lap records at Bahrain... when is an incentive not really an incentive?

[Source: Daily F1, Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty]

click to view in high resolution

Honda Racing is the latest F1 team to officially unveil its new grand prix car with which it will be contesting the 2008 Formula One World Championship. While race drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello have been shaking down the new RA108 at official test sessions, Honda left it to its new test driver Alex Wurz to unveil the car in Brackley, UK, at one of the team's three main facilities.

Although like its competitors the Honda RA108 is the culmination of many months of development, it benefits from the vast technical experience of the team's new principal Ross Brawn, former technical director at Ferrari. Brawn points out that the development of the RA108 focused on aerodynamic flexibility that will allow Honda to optimize the car's performance with a constantly-evolving aerodynamic package. In keeping with the FIA's freeze on engine development, the RA808E engine remains largely unchanged, adapting only to the new standardized engine control module while getting a new exhaust system, airbox and transmission.

Not to focus on style over substance, the unveiling also showcased the RA108's new livery, which promotes the renewed "earthdreams" campaign. Evolving from last year's "myearthdream" project, the new campagin has Honda and its sponsors pledging $1.2 million towards environmental awareness. While last year's car was covered entirely with a global motif, this year's livery appears considerably more sporting, with globe-pattern racing stripes and numbers covering the traditional Japanese racing white.

[Source: Honda Racing]