Honda’s relationship with Formula 1 has been long and tumultuous. World Champion on two wheels, it moved into the world’s greatest race series to show it was serious about making cars – and won within just two years.
Richie Ginther, a safe pair of hands from America, claimed the maiden win for both Honda and Goodyear in 1965 in Mexico.
In 1967, big signing Big John Surtees secured the second victory at Monza – though Jim Clark took the plaudits for a remarkable recovery drive. A year later Honda was gone, its foray in F1 over following a horrendous crash that killed Jo Schlesser at Rouen.
Powering other teams’ cars, Honda spent a chunk of the late 1980s and early 1990s as a force to be reckoned with. Four drivers’ titles, two for Ayrton Senna, one apiece for Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet, helped yield six constructors’ titles for Williams and McLaren between them.
But in 2006, nearly four decades after that tragic departure, the manufacturer went all in once more and gave itself a head start by taking control of British American Racing.
BAR was the racing arm of British American Tobacco and it was David Richards and Prodrive that propelled it up the grid. Richards, well known to BAT thanks to their dominance of the World Rally Championship in famous 555 colours, had been brought in to replace Jacques Villeneuve's manager Craig Pollock at the top of the team in 2002.
Improvements were marked and fast. Jenson Button signed on for that first year, just two years after his baby-faced debut with Williams, and 1997 World Champion Villeneuve left to be replaced by Takuma Sato mid-2003.
With the arrival in 2004 of the BAR 006, which will be displayed in Motorsport UK during the Motorsport Assembly on Sunday 26 March, Button’s potential truly began to be realised. His maiden podium in Malaysia was backed up with another in Bahrain before his best finish of second at San Marino.
At the midway point of the season, the Briton had claimed six podiums in nine races including another second place on the streets of Monaco – despite contract wrangling between BAR and Williams dominating the papers and behind the scenes.
Teammate Sato had less luck on track, with a slew of retirements only picking up at that midway point in America when he secured his first (and only) podium.
Button, that day in Indianapolis, suffered his first retirement of the season.
Ferrari and Michael Schumacher’s unfaltering dominance meant that best of the rest was only ever on the cards and so, remarkably, it proved. Well in the wake of Ferrari, young Button’s consistency denied a Fernando Alonso-led Renault second spot in the standings.
Fortunes were reversed the following season, when Honda bought a 45% stake in the team and Prodrive and Richards moved on. Alonso bagged his first world title for Renault – helped in no small part by Robin Tuluie, now of Physics X – and BAR Honda slipped to fourth but remained podium regulars.
Honda bought out BAT entirely later in 2005 and BAR became the works team for 2006.
Prodrive explored a private entry but it came to naught, as Honda slipped down the pecking order. The manufacturer threw in the towel at late notice before 2009 – only to have a world championship winner in the works – having been unable to match the might of 006.
Visit Motorsport UK on Sunday to see the car up close, on loan from Prodrive. Book the last of the tickets while you can.
