2006 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX SUZUKA
PREVIEW
This week, the Honda Racing F1 Team heads straight from Shanghai
across the East China Sea to Japan for the penultimate race
of the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship, Round 17 -
the Japanese Grand Prix, held at the Honda-owned Suzuka circuit
on Honshu Island.
The team is certainly pumped up in preparation for its home
race after achieving its fourth successive double points finish
in China last weekend when Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello
ended the race in fourth and sixth positions respectively.
Another eight points in the bag further reduces the gap to
third place in the Constructors' Championship, whilst the
drivers lie sixth and seventh in the Drivers' Championship.
Built by Honda as a test circuit in 1962, Suzuka is a legendary
drivers' circuit which has managed to retain much of its challenging
layout, despite recent modifications. This year's Japanese
Grand Prix will mark the twentieth race that Suzuka has hosted
since Formula One first came to the circuit in 1987.
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I'm really looking forward to going to Suzuka this year
as a member of the Honda family for the first time. The Japanese
fans are always so enthusiastic and create such a great atmosphere
over the race weekend that it will be exciting to hear them
cheering for me. Suzuka holds some special memories for me
as I won there from pole position in 2003. The circuit itself
is challenging because of the corners and combinations of
the track layout and you need a good balance, especially for
turns one and two. Our performance has been improving consistently
over the last few races, and we had a good final test in Jerez,
so I am expecting us to be competitive at Suzuka."
JENSON BUTTON
"Suzuka is a very special weekend for the whole Honda
Racing F1 Team because it is Honda´s home circuit and
one of our two home races of the year. I've had some great
support there in the past, especially since I've been involved
with Honda, and I'm excited about going back this year. It's
a very tough circuit and a real challenge for the drivers
mentally and physically. You have to be precise, very consistent
and it is really important to get the set-up of the car right.
Suzuka is definitely one of my favourite circuits and I hope
that we can put in a strong performance there for all our
Honda fans."
GIL DE FERRAN
Sporting Director
"We are delighted to return to Japan and race in front
of our home crowd and the many fans and friends of Honda.
Suzuka itself is one of the classic racing circuits in the
world and a great driver's track. The layout has a little
bit of everything and some relatively short straights, which
makes overtaking a challenge and places a premium on car handling.
Fortunately, this is one of our fortes, particularly during
the latter part of this season. Both of our drivers enjoy
the track and have gone very well in the past, Rubens having
won there and Jenson having scored points in every single
visit he has made. Last year, the venue gave us one of the
most exciting races in recent F1 history. Hopefully this year
will be no different and our team will be in the thick of
the fight."
SHUHEI NAKAMOTO
Senior Technical Director
"The Honda Racing F1 Team heads home to Japan in good
heart. This will be our team's second home race of the season
and the support of the Japanese fans makes it a place we always
look forward to visiting. It would be great to win at Suzuka
and sing the national anthem with the fans in the grandstand!
We will be introducing our upgraded Suzuka special engine,
which will be the culmination of all our development work
on the V8 unit. At our last test in Jerez, we also introduced
a new aero package and further mechanical developments, which
will be the baseline for the chassis set-up work at Suzuka."
Suzuka, Japan
Race Distance 53 laps
Circuit Length 3.608 miles (5.807 kms)
Situated on Honshu, the largest of the Japanese islands,
the Honda-owned Suzuka circuit was designed by John Hugenholtz,
a Dutchman who also produced Zandvoort and Jarama, and was
completed in 1962. Originally used as a test circuit by Honda,
the track is now just one component of a giant amusement park
and other facilities.
The Suzuka track has an18-turn figure-of-eight layout that
is unique in F1. It begins with a fast fifth gear First Curve
that tightens to lead into a series of fast S-bends. Spoon
Curve and the legendary 130R are the other great challenges
on this popular driver's circuit. Overtaking is normally done
into the slowest corner on the track, the 40mph Casio Triangle
chicane at the end of the lap, into the First Curve and very
occasionally at the Turn 11 Hairpin.
Suzuka has recently been sympathetically modernised: in 2002,
the circuit was reduced in length by realigning several key
corners to provide greater run-off areas. Retaining walls
were also moved back and the track slightly altered at the
S-Curves and Dunlop Curves. For 2003, the 130R was tweaked
to provide a faster and more fluent corner with an earlier
turn-in. Further changes were made at the revised Casio Triangle
chicane which is now more open than before.
Honda in Japan
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. was started by Mr Soichiro Honda from
a small factory in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka in 1948. Renowned
from the outset for its exquisite engineering, the ensuing
58 years have seen the company grow to become a global force,
employing over 140,000 people.
The Japanese headquarters of Honda play a key role in the
development of advanced technologies and the co-ordination
of the global business to produce optimal performance. Honda
R&D is responsible for key technological research and
product development, in co-operation with its international
subsidiaries to strengthen Honda's global competitive edge
in progressive technologies.
Numerous Honda developments are 'made in Japan' including
the development of global vehicle platforms for increased
local production. Honda also encourages the localisation of
production through support of improved manufacturing expertise
in local factories.
In addition to Suzuka, Honda also owns the Twin Ring Motegi
ciruit, situated to the north of Tokyo. Twin Ring Motegi boasts
international class oval and road circuits, which host rounds
of the IRL and MotoGP championships, among other races. It
is also home to the Honda Collection Hall which houses approximately
350 products and racing machines from Honda's history.
RUBENS BARRICHELLO... talks through a lap of Suzuka
"Suzuka is a very challenging drivers' circuit and one
of the 'old school' circuits like Spa, Monza, Silverstone
and Interlagos. It is certainly one of my favourites, which
is great because it's also the team's 'home' circuit and is
owned and operated by Honda.
A lap of Suzuka feels something like this:
The last chicane at Casio Triangle is quite slow, which allows
you to get on the power early on the exit. This means that
we can arrive at turn one, or First Curve as it's called,
at 275km/h, making this one of the fastest corners in Formula
One and requiring total commitment.
We brake hard into turn two, which tightens and requires
a very precise exit to set you up for the series of 'S' Curves.
This is a great combination of curves, requiring a very good
car balance. If handled well, it can be very rewarding as
the mixture of left and right turns flows well together, giving
a great sense of cornering force. The final element of this
section of track - the Dunlop Curve - opens out into the fast
225 km/h Degner One, which again flows very smoothly into
the tighter Degner Two, concluding this most challenging section
of the Suzuka track.
Now we accelerate hard out of Degner Two and along the short
straight towards the hairpin, crossing under the part of the
track which is a 'figure of eight' layout. This is both the
slowest, and lowest, point on the circuit. After the previous
series of curves, this hairpin seems desperately slow at 70km/h.
Climbing the hill through the fast flat right-hander, we
head for the farthest point on the circuit - Spoon Curve.
This double-apex left-hander has a fast entry at 200km/h,
which tightens to 150km/h, and requires a clean and tidy exit
to ensure maximum speed on the long straight back towards
the pits. At the highest point on the circuit, where we cross
over the track once more, is an exhilarating flat left-hander
called 130R, which is taken at 300km/h. It used to be more
challenging but it is still a quite incredible feeling to
drive through there.
Next, hard braking down to 80km/h for the ultra-tight right-left
Casio chicane brings us back on to the pit straight for the
finish line.
All in all, this is a great track and I will certainly miss
racing here."
Honda Racing F1 Team - 2006 results
RUBENS JENSON
Qualifying Race Qualifying Race
Bahrain 6 15 3 4
Malaysia 20 10 2 3
Australia 16 7 1 10
San Marino 3 10 2 7
Europe 4 5 6 DNF
Spain 5 7 8 6
Monaco 5 4 13 11
Britain 6 10 19 DNF
Canada 9 DNF 8 9
US 4 6 7 DNF
France 13 DNF 17 DNF
Germany 6 DNF 4 4
Hungary 3 4 14 1
Turkey 13 8 6 4
Italy 8 6 5 5
China 3 6 4 4
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