Silverstone, 4-6 July 2008

Round nine of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship takes the Honda Racing F1 Team just seven miles from its base in Brackley to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.

The 5.141km (3.194-mile) circuit is one of the fastest and most famous tracks on the F1 calendar, making it popular with drivers, engineers and spectators.

Silverstone was the scene of the first F1 World Championship Grand Prix in May 1950, although the circuit staged its first non-championship race two years earlier and will celebrate its 60th anniversary this year.

Formerly a World War II airfield, the track initially used the airfield’s perimeter road before undergoing various facelifts. The layout that is used today has been in place since June 1994, when the Abbey Chicane was modified following the events of Imola the previous month.

The Honda Racing F1 Team’s Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello know Silverstone well, having contested much of their racing in the junior formulas in the UK.

They have regularly finished in the points here and the most emphatic of Rubens’ nine wins took place at the track in 2003, when he overtook Kimi Raikkonen to win the race by five seconds.

SILVERSTONE – THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGE

Generally, Silverstone is a very fast track. The fast, sweeping bends at the start of the lap require a lot of confidence from the drivers, so they tend to set-up their cars for Copse, Becketts and Stowe while doing the best they can through the slow complex of corners at the end of the lap.

As at any track, there is more lap time to be lost and found through the slow corners, particularly at Club, the Abbey chicane and the final complex, where traction is all-important. As a result of the slow-speed grip needed through these slower sections, the cars run slightly more downforce than at Magny Cours, the last race on the calendar, and that places an emphasis on aerodynamic efficiency.

There are several sections of the track where the absence of traction control this year will frustrate the drivers, particularly at the exit of Club where the cars accelerate from second gear through to fifth while under severe lateral load. This makes it one of the key corners, as are the two left-handers – Priory and Brooklands – entering the final complex.

The asphalt is quite smooth, except for a couple of bumpy sections midway through the lap. Notably, the braking point for Vale is very bumpy so a few cars may be swapping ends early in the weekend as drivers work out their braking points.

Full throttle: 62% Brake wear: Light
Downforce level: High – 8/10
Tyre compounds: Medium / Hard Tyre usage: Medium Average speed:
230kph (143mph)

Ross Brawn, Team Principal

Q. How do you expect the Honda Racing F1 Team to perform at the British Grand Prix?
“As the first of our two home races on the calendar, the British Grand Prix is very important to the team, particularly with Silverstone being located so close to our operational base in Brackley.

“We expect to see an improvement to the performance of the RA108 at Silverstone, certainly compared to the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours. We have a number of new performance parts on the car in the areas of chassis, aerodynamics and engine, which should allow us to be on the pace with our current competitors in the midfield.

“Our drivers are looking forward to the challenge of the weekend and both rate this track as one of their favourites. Rubens has a great history here and always performs very well at Silverstone, and Jenson is extremely motivated to do well at his home race.”

Q. The team tested various performance upgrades last week. Will you be running the new parts this weekend?
“The Silverstone test went very well last week and all of our development parts performed as expected. We will complete our performance and reliability analysis at the factory over the next few days before making the final decisions on our package for the race weekend.

“A major advantage of the test was that it enabled us to complete a comprehensive set-up programme and tyre evaluation with the Bridgestone Potenza tyre compounds available for the race, which will allow us to concentrate on pure performance gains during practice.”

 

Jenson Button

Q. How much are you looking forward to your home race at the British Grand Prix?
“The British Grand Prix is always a very special weekend for me and I’m excited about racing there again in front of the British crowd. Whatever position you are in and regardless of the performance of your car, the fans are always so supportive and the atmosphere from the grandstands over the weekend is fantastic.

“Silverstone is one of my all-time favourite circuits and I particularly love the section of the track around Becketts. The change of direction is amazing as is the speed that the cars carry through there. It’s one of the best complexes in F1 and a great place to watch the race.” 

Rubens Barrichello

Q. You won the British Grand Prix in 2003. What does it take to be quick around Silverstone?
“I’ve spent a great deal of time testing and racing at Silverstone since I was very young so it is almost like a home track for me. I also have some very special memories from here, especially my win from pole position back in 2003.

“To get the best from a lap of Silverstone, you need to have good aerodynamic performance from your car. This is a high-speed and fast-flowing circuit, one of the few remaining on the calendar, and it’s a highlight for the drivers as you can really let the car go.

“The entrance to Becketts is the quickest corner on the track, a 290kph bend, leading into a challenging complex. Overtaking is possible, particularly into the slower corners at Vale and Abbey. You can overtake elsewhere and because it is such a high-speed circuit, such moves tend to be spectacular.

“As one of our home races, there is always a lot of expectation prior to Silverstone. Following the test, I am confident that we can have a good race this weekend.”

LAP OF THE TRACK with Alex Wurz

“Having married an English girl, there’s a percentage of me that is now British. I’m not saying that Silverstone is like a home race for me, but it’s almost one and whatever other countries claim, Britain is still the home of motor racing.”

“Silverstone is a very exciting racetrack, especially the first half which is really quick. You arrive at Turn 1 in seventh gear and on a good day it’s flat: we’re talking 100 percent foot down and no braking.
It’s a ballsy corner and much tougher than Eau Rouge at Spa, for example.

“Then you come into Becketts, which is an awesome part of the circuit.
The entry is very bumpy and you have to position the car correctly for the right-hander, which you can always do flat. Then there is a very fast change of direction for a left-hander, but you still don’t touch the brakes. You shift down a gear and slow the car using a four-wheel drift, which is fun.

“There’s then another downshift for the next right – again no braking – and you get a bit of understeer through here, which you kill by flooring the throttle for the exit onto the Hangar Straight.

“At the end of Hangar Straight is Stowe, which is the first time on the lap that you actually touch the brakes. You have to remember that they will be cold, so they will have slightly different characteristics to normal. When you brake, you are already turning into the corner, so it’s difficult to outbrake someone and you expect to have some oversteer on entry.

“A short straight follows before you come to Club, which is the first hard braking point of the lap. You want to hit the kerbs very hard on entry to the left-hander, before turning into the right-hander which you enter in second gear and accelerate through to fifth gear by the exit.
You need very good traction, which will be particularly tough this year.

“The braking area for Abbey is next and it’s always very slippery. The key is to accept that and not overdrive the car. It’s bumpy at the exit and whereas you could rely on traction control to do it flat last year, it might be quite interesting this year. Then you come down to Bridge, which is easy flat in sixth gear, before turning left into Priory, which can be tricky. One day there is fantastic grip and it’s really nice to drive; the next it can be horrible with no grip at all!

“Then it’s Brooklands. You’re down to second gear and as more grip goes down over the weekend, the more you can cut the kerbs on the inside.
Luffield, a long, second gear right-hander, is the final corner. The entry to the corner is always quite neutral because you brake aggressively and then there’s a change in asphalt and whatever you do to the set-up you will have mid-corner understeer. You eventually kill it with the throttle and accelerate onto the pit straight.”

Honda in the United Kingdom

Honda has a strong presence in the UK. The company sold 106,018 vehicles here last year, making it the biggest European market, and sales were driven by strong demand for the Civic, Jazz and CR-V models.

The UK is the home of Honda’s UK Manufacturing car plant in Swindon, which produced 237,783 units in 2007. One of these was the millionth Honda Civic, which came off the line in November 2007, with the two millionth Swindon-produced car – a silver CR-V – coming off the line on
21 February 2008.

Jenson Button on his home Grand PrixThe 2008 British Grand Prix will be Jenson Button’s ninth Formula One race at Silverstone. His best result is fourth in 2004, and he has finished in the points on three other occasions. Jenson has started on the front row once, in 2005.

Are you looking forward to racing at Silverstone?
“I always look forward to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone as it’s my home race and therefore a very special weekend for me. I love the layout of the track because it’s very fast and flowing, and I have a lot of good memories from when I used to spectate at the British Grand Prix as a boy.”

How much of a lift does the home support give you?
“The fans are great and I love seeing all the Union Jacks in the grandstands. But it’s also a bit frustrating at the moment because I want to give them better results than I’m currently able to. The Honda Racing F1 Team’s headquarters is located only seven miles from the track, so there will be a lot of people from the factory supporting us there. With the race selling-out on all three days, there will be a fantastic atmosphere.”

What’s your favourite corner at Silverstone?
“The Becketts complex is my favourite combination of corners in the world. You enter it flat-out in seventh gear, so the speeds are extremely high, and you have to be very precise with your line. The change of direction that you carry through there is just mind-blowing.
When you get this section right, you come out with the biggest smile on your face. It’s a fantastic place to watch the race from.”

Why are you using a new helmet design for the British Grand Prix?
“I recently ran a competition on my website, www.jensonbutton.com, in which I asked fans to design my helmet colour scheme for Silverstone. We had a staggering 7055 entries and I’ve opted for the design by Aries Janssens from Denbighshire in the UK, which I’ll unveil on Thursday at the track. What I like about Aries’ design is that it’s very British and very me. By very me, I mean very patriotic. His design incorporates my logo and my name, and the ‘o’ in Jenson is a Union Jack button. Good work, Aries!”

THE 2008 SEASON

This is Jenson’s ninth season in Formula One. He has driven for Williams (2000), Benetton (2001-2002), BAR-Honda (2003 – 2005) and the Honda Racing F1 Team (2006-2008).

Jenson has contested 143 races to date, from which he’s taken one win, four second places and 10 third places. He has started from pole position three times and led a total of 124 laps.

Where are you at in your career?
“Firstly I’m in Formula One and that is every driver’s primary goal.
Beyond that it’s a question of where you are in F1, whether you’re in a good team and whether you have the experience to challenge for the World Championship. I’m only 28 years old, yet this is already my ninth year in F1 so I have the necessary experience to win the title. I haven’t got the car underneath me to do that at the moment, but that will come.”

What are you doing to improve the performance of this year’s car?
“I tell the team exactly how it performs on the track, where it’s weak and where it’s strong. I’m working much harder now than I did in 2004, when I finished third in the World Championship, because that’s what you have to do to get back to the front. I make sure that the team are making the changes that need to be made.”

When you know you can’t challenge for wins, what’s your motivation?
“I love what I do, so I have no problems with motivation. It isn’t nice knowing that I’m going into the British Grand Prix without a realistic chance of battling at the front, but when I’m in the car I push 110 percent. That’s what I do every time I get in the car; it’s what I have to do to drive the team forward and ahead of what will be a better year in 2009.”

FITTER THAN EVER BEFORE

The cockpit of a Formula One car is one of the harshest environments in sport. Temperatures regularly exceed 50 degrees and the drivers often pull 5G while braking and cornering.

Jenson understands the physical and psychological benefits that come with being as fit as possible, which is why he’s one of the best-prepared drivers on the grid. Ahead of each season he heads to Club La Santa on the island of Lanzarote for several intensive training camps, at which he cycles, runs, swims and weight trains.

This year, for the first time, he has combined all of those disciplines to contest in the demanding event of triathlon. In his first event, the Sevenoaks Sprint Triathlon (400m swim, 27km bike, 8km run), Jenson finished 16th out of 250 starters; in the second, the Windsor Triathlon which was Jenson’s first Olympic distance event (1500m swim, 43km bike, 10km run), he came home an impressive 117th out of 1700.

Why have you taken up triathlons?
“I like the pain and I like pushing my body to the limit. I also enjoy the fact that there’s nobody else involved. It’s just me on my own and if I’m not quick enough, then it’s solely down to me The Windsor triathlon earlier this month was a big event; there were a lot of spectators lining the route and it felt weird to hear people shouting my name because I’ve normally got a helmet on and can only hear the engine noise!.”

Which of the three triathlon disciplines is your strongest?
“At Windsor, I’d say the swim was my best. It was 1500m in the River Thames and at the end I was in 90th position out of the 1700 entrants.
I’ve done a lot of swimming since I was a boy and one of the reasons I enjoy it is because it’s all about technique. I’ve developed my own style over the years, although I’m told that I still don’t roll enough in the water.”

What benefits do the triathlons give you in the cockpit?
“The main benefit from the multi-discipline triathlon event is overall fitness. The bike is particularly good because you build up lactic acid, which is what happens in the car, due to the vibrations. Swimming is good for upper body strength and I also work my neck while I’m in the water. Triathlons are competition, which is what F1′s all about, and knowing that I’m one of the fittest drivers on the grid makes me feel very strong psychologically.” 

source: HondaRacingF1.com