Honda's F1 History......d(^_^)b,,,,,,

The 1983 Spirit Honda 201.

To speed up development, a pair of Honda powered FW09s were hastily prepared for the final round of the season in South Africa and Keke Rosberg wasted no time proving the potential of the exciting new partnership. The Finn claimed fifth place to record Honda's first points of its second era in F1.

In 1984, Honda's technicians were faced with a new challenge as the F1 authorities introduced a fuel tank capacity limit of 220 litres along with a ban on mid-race refuelling. These stringent new regulations, aimed at constraining ultimate horsepower, forced engineers to marry efficiency with potency.

In order to gain a competitive edge, it became necessary for Honda's engine builders to decrease the weight of internal moving parts, to minimise frictional losses and to optimise fuel consumption through the use of ever more sophisticated electronic control systems.

For its first full season with Williams, Honda produced the RA164E - a heavily revised version of the RA163E. Despite some early problems largely associated with the enormously high temperatures produced by the forced induction, Rosberg scored Honda's first Grand Prix victory since 1967 on the streets of Dallas in the USA.

An all-new RA165E engine was introduced mid-way through the following season and immediately received positive reviews from Rosberg and team mate Nigel Mansell. The pair both claimed top six finishes on the new engine's debut in Canada and Rosberg took the chequered flag at the next Grand Prix in Detroit to record the second victory for a Honda turbo V6. Mansell and Rosberg won the final three races of the season to establish Williams-Honda as the team to beat in 1986 when Nelson Piquet would replace the Finn.

For 1986, a new RA166E engine was introduced to meet the demands imposed by a further lowering of fuel tank capacity limit from 220 litres to 195 litres. The new Williams-Honda FW11 dominated the championship with Mansell and Piquet taking nine wins between them to secure the Constructors' Championship for Williams-Honda with one round remaining. The Drivers' Championship, however, eluded Honda when Mansell suffered a spectacular rear tyre blow-out in the final race.


The 1986 Williams Honda FW10 driven by Keke Rosberg.

With the latest turbocharged engines now producing well in excess of 1000bhp (from just 1.5-litres), the sporting authorities sought to counter the ingenuity of F1 engine manufacturers by limiting boost pressure to 4 bar for the 1987 season.

This again forced Honda's technicians to seek new solutions... which they did successfully. With engines now being supplied to Lotus as well as Williams, Honda-powered cars took victory in 11 of the year's 16 races. The high point came at Silverstone where the Honda-powered cars of Mansell, Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Satoru Nakajima completed a 1-2-3-4 clean-sweep.

Piquet finally clinched the Drivers' Championship at the penultimate round at Suzuka, the first Japanese Grand Prix in a decade. The Brazilian's title was the first for a driver powered by a Honda engine and, at the same time, Honda had achieved its long-held ambition of victory in both the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships.

Restrictions on turbocharged engines were further tightened for the 1988 season with boost pressure cut from 4 to 2.5 bar and fuel tank capacity reduced from 195 to 150 litres. With a new 3.5-litre normally aspirated formula due for introduction in 1989, Honda set-up a separate project to concentrate on the creation of a new 'atmo' engine. However, for 1988, Honda's engineers were determined to end the turbo era on a high note by competing with a new RA168E turbo engine designed to overcome the latest fuel-efficiency constraints.

Having ended its relationship with Williams at the end of 1987, Honda joined forces with McLaren as well as remaining with Lotus for 1988. The first ever McLaren-Honda - the MP4/4 - was an innovative machine and the new combination's dominance was total. An almost perfect record established the MP4/4 as the most successful car in F1 history.


The dominant 1987 McLaren Honda MP4/4.

Between them, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna won 15 of 16 rounds with the Brazilian finally clinching his first world title after an heroic season-long duel with his French team-mate. The McLaren-Honda team broke many records during the final season of the turbocharged era, scoring an unprecedented 199 points and recording no fewer than ten 1-2 finishes.

To meet the new-for-1989, 3.5-litre normally aspirated engine regulations, Honda designed a brand new RA109A V10 engine for reigning champions McLaren. Only Renault and Honda opted for the novel ten-cylinder configuration though others were soon to follow suit. McLaren prepared a new MP4/5 chassis and the formidable duo of Senna and Prost were once again contracted to drive.

Despite the challenging new regulations, McLaren-Honda's winning ways continued - the team won ten of 16 races with Prost taking the title. For the third consecutive year, Honda claimed both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships.

Not wanting to sit on its laurels, Honda's renowned engineers incorporated many innovations into a new RA100E engine for 1990. With Prost leaving for Ferrari, Gerhard Berger lined up alongside Senna in a pair of revised MP4/5B chassis. Although Ferrari mounted a serious attack, the result was another successful campaign for Honda which saw Senna reclaim the Drivers' Championship and Honda take its fifth Constructors' Championship on the trot.

Honda's constant search for areas of possible improvement based on rigorous assessment of its own achievements and comparisons of its performance with that of its closest rivals, led the company to design a new V12 engine for McLaren in 1991. An upgraded version of the championship winning V10 would be provided to Tyrrell.


The 1991 Tyrrell Honda 020.

Badged RA121E, the new V12 propelled McLaren's latest MP4/6 to victory in the year's first four Grands Prix. In total Senna scored seven wins on the way to his third Drivers' Championship with Honda in four years. With Berger winning in Japan, Honda clinched the Constructors' Championship for the sixth successive season.

A major update of the RA121E engine was introduced for McLaren in 1992 but by now, Williams had gained a major competitive edge through the introduction of active suspension, coupled with a semi-automatic gearbox and other computer-controlled features.


Ayrton Senna in the 1992 McLaren Honda MP4/7.

Honda responded by increasing power but despite Senna winning three races and Berger two - including the season finale in Australia - for the first time since 1987 the World Championship would not be won by Honda power.

Long before the title had been lost, Honda's management had already taken the major decision that 1992 was to be the last year of Honda's second period of participation in Grand Prix racing. Berger's victory in Australia was the company's 71st win in the last race of Honda's second F1 adventure.