In the first of a series of personal articles, Matt Jones brings us his thoughts on Honda Racing F1 through 2006 and beyond. Feel free to discuss his opinions at the RealHondaF1.com Message Board.

The car was at the correct end of the time sheets and, with seemingly bullet-proof reliability from its V8 to back up the pace, what more could Honda Racing F1 fans ask from the new car?

Before the debut of the RA106 I was worried that we would lack pace, as we did for the most part last season. However, after seeing the debut times on the track in Barcelona, and seeing that we are at the sharp end of the time sheets, I have a bit more optimism than I had originally for our forthcoming 2006 season.

The other important factor for our challenge next season is our two drivers who perhaps have come in for a bit of criticism, which I think is uncalled for and unfair.

Firstly there is Jenson Button who, after a big tug of war with Williams, we have managed to keep for the foreseeable future.

I have seen a lot of people criticise Button because he has yet to win a race, and many say he doesn’t have what it takes to win. Despite what people think of him, we have managed to get Button under contract which, to be honest, I think is fantastic news. Button is both fast and, arguably, the most consistent driver in the paddock and, given a decent car, he will bring the points back at every race of the season. We saw it in 2004 - Jens was on the podium seemingly every race weekend and, even if Button cannot win us the Drivers Championship, he is a still a huge asset if we are to challenge for the Constructors Championship.

Then of course we have the most recent driver to join our team, Rubens Barrichello, who has also come under fire from a number of Honda fans. Again, I feel this is unfair. He is one of the most successful drivers on the grid, he is a proven race winner, he has masses of experience of working with a leading team and he just so happens to have spent the last five years of his career at the most dominant team modern Formula One. How could Honda Racing F1 fans be disappointed in such a signing? Honda is aiming higher in the driver market than ever.

In fact, Honda are aiming high in every aspect in Formula One. They are again talking up the 2006 season, but should we believe them after what happened last season with the same hype? Maybe we should - after all, the car is at the sharp end of the time sheets and reliability is almost flawless. They have given me no reason from what I have seen, from their driver choice, and the car they have supplied not to believe them.

Unfortunately, after a disappointing 2005 for us Honda Racing F1 fans, we all still have the same two questions niggling at the back of everybody’s minds, and they just won’t seem to go away.

1. Can Honda Racing F1 score their maiden victory THIS season?
   
   
2. Can Honda Racing F1 supply its drivers with a car that can challenge for the Drivers or Constructors Championship?

I think, given the RA106’s debut in Barcelona and our two drivers, we are in a very good position to score strong points at every race, and certainly a few podiums along the way. I don’t think we can achieve our almost consistent supply of podiums that we managed in our overachieving, but still highly impressive, 2004 season.

The successful debut of the car has certainly given me more hope than I had originally for a race win, though I still think we will need a couple of racing incidents in front of us in order to score our maiden win this season.

In regards to challenging for either championship, unfortunately I think the team has to take one step at a time, and our first step at the moment is to score that maiden victory. Once we have that, we can look to build on it. For this season I’d be very happy for Honda Racing F1 to crack into the top four in the Constructor’s Championship; maybe one of the top three teams will underachieve and we could leap frog them? We’ll get a stronger bearing on where each team is at Bahrain…

Speaking of the other teams, they have a strong say on the amount of success Honda Racing F1 will achieve in the 2006 season. It all depends on whether we can provide a better package than our rivals. Obviously we want to be challenging the big three teams of recent years for the strong points positions and podiums and, in doing so, hopefully re-establish ourselves over archrivals Toyota.

What are we to expect from our main rivals in 2006 though?

Ferrari have been working double time to re-establish themselves after, by their standards, a dismal season in 2005. Now with Bridgestone supplying more front running teams in 2005, we probably won’t see the Ferrari suffering from tyre problems in the earlier parts of the season as we did in 2005. There is also the fact that they have the most successful driver in Formula One history, Michael Schumacher, leading their title bid. However, on the flip side they have employed a driver in the number two seat who lacks any experience of running at the sharp end of the grid. This is, of course, not to say that Felipe Massa does not have what it takes to do so, but obviously there is some uncertainty as to whether he can withstand the pressure at the sharp end. Massa has improved and matured as a driver, and in 2005 was fairly consistent and sometimes very impressive, but the jury will still remain out as to whether Massa is good enough to significantly help Ferrari’s title bid next season.

Then of course we have McLaren, and the biggest story with them is their signing of World Champion Fernando Alonso for 2007. With McLaren not taking the option on Juan Pablo Montoya’s contract yet, there is growing speculation that perhaps he will not be with the Woking team after 2006, or maybe it’s the simple fact that McLaren wish to see what Kimi Raikkonen will do in 2007 before offering a contract to the Colombian.

Whatever the case is with the contractual situation at McLaren, there is only one guaranteed seat there in 2007, and it belongs to neither of their current drivers. Obviously the pressure is going to be on both drivers if they wish to remain at the team for 2007 and beyond.

McLaren’s question for the 2006 season is whether Mercedes can provide a reliable engine to complement Adrian Newey’s final chassis for the team after his shock move to Red Bull Racing?

Renault will want to retain both the world drivers and constructors championships next season, but will the morale of the team be knocked by Alonso’s sudden move to arch rivals McLaren?

If Renault has the same fantastic reliability with the good pace they put on show last season, it’s a good bet that Alonso can be world champion again in 2006. However, how strong Renaults title bid will be all depends on whether McLaren have sorted out the reliability problems that plagued their cars last season, and whether Ferrari have finally got back on track after their hugely disappointing 2005 season.

Whilst I see them as strong candidates for the world driver’s championship, I do think they will struggle in retaining the world constructor’s championship. They were extremely lucky to do so in 2005, and I would have bet my house on the silver cars bringing something back for McLaren. However, Renault suddenly found a jump in performance in the final race of the season to hold back the blisteringly quick McLaren.

If McLaren get even slightly more reliable this season, with the same pace they showed last season, then I believe they have a stronger pair of drivers than Renault and will be able to upset their challenge for the 2006 season.

Next season we also want to establish ourselves over rivals Toyota who, after many years waiting, and many millions spent, began to impress in 2005 with some solid displays and a handful of podiums. One thing I think we have over Toyota is a far stronger driver line up. Both Rubens and Jenson will bring us points back consistently week in and week out - that much I am very confident of - and I think this will be the difference between the two teams.

Ralf Schumacher was very impressive last year in races, doing as well as coming from the back of the grid to finish sixth and ahead of his team mate in Monaco, and also his challenge for a race win in Spa until a brave, but premature, change to dry tyres on a slippery track put an end to his hopes for Toyota’s maiden win.

Despite Ralf impressing in races, he was a mixed bag in qualifying, and his great racing drives seemed to be damage limitation for his lacklustre displays in qualifying, at least compared to Jarno Trulli.

Trulli is a fantastic qualifier, and sometimes racer. However, despite this, there were a few too many races where Trulli qualified superbly, and then would simply slip down the pecking order and out of the points positions. By the end of the season, he was out-raced by Ralf, despite Trulli dominating the early part of the season and also the fact that he destroyed Ralf in qualifying over the course of the season (14 – 4).

I think we could be in for a great season of Formula One. The new rules should shake it up a bit, and maybe throw a few surprises into the fold. Although the new qualifying system might be more difficult to follow than last years, I’m positive that it will be much more enjoyable for the public and the commentators to watch, who often filled the commentary full of things completely irrelevant to the actual qualifying session in order to fill the gaps in action.

It should be a great season, and I’m getting quietly confident after the revealing of the RA106 that Honda Racing F1 might just nick a race win this season.

With a touch of luck.

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