Jenson achieved three podiums in 2006, but will he do better in 2009?

Jenson Button has said this week that Honda will be capable of winning races when the new seasons starts. It’s fair to say it’s not unusual for Jenson to be optimistic as a new season dawns, but just how realistic is his prediction, and will Honda be a regular sight on the podium come 2009?

Jenson was busy thanking the fans in Japan for their support during the season at the ‘Honda Racing Thanks Day’, when he said “The last two years have been very difficult for all of us, but I think we have a very strong team and we have a real passion for racing, so things will come good for us. I’ve already seen what is happening with the car for next year, and it looks very positive. It feels more like 2006, when I got three podiums and I won my first race. So it’s all very positive, and I’m hoping to get some more wins next year.” I guess it’s quite easy to get confident when you are surrounded by lots of very hard working people, and quite easy to forget that everyone else is trying hard too, but what’s interesting is this comes after Ross Brawn’s expectations of next year, which I mentioned in the last post. He said the team would be quite pleased if they match the competitiveness of BMW. I don’t know about you, but I’d certainly be more than just quite pleased with that.

The concept of the new Honda car was testing at Barcelona earlier last week, and whilst it may not be the prettiest car around, it certainly made it clear that Honda have been thinking about 2009 for far longer than anyone else, so they should have a clear advantage in that respect. It’s one of those off-season questions that everyone wants an answer to. How much will that advantage pay off when we get to Australia? If I’m honest, I don’t have a clue, so I’m going to take Jenson’s word for it, and assume a lot.

Obviously being optimistic is something that’s required at Brackley right now, but with seemingly wild predictions being made by the guys in the know, we’ll certainly be expecting a lot from them next year. If wins really are possible then as it turns out, 2008 will have been a damn good year for Honda after all.

Ross Brawn signed for Honda a year ago on Wednesday

And so we find ourselves at the tail end of the 2008 F1 season. It’s been a bumpy ride with little satisfaction for Honda fans, hoping that the tiresome waiting of the past two seasons will pay off from next year onwards. With Timo Glock now the most unpopular driver in Brazil, we can safely say the season is over and Honda can draw a line through the RA108. We can safely say that this is where it gets good.

As testing begins for the 2009 season, the mood at Brackley couldn’t be more optimistic. A season spent in preparation for 2009, means a return to the podium is by no means out of the question. So, with the bad times behind us, it seems an appropriate time to start up a blog on the team I’ve been following for the last 43 race weekends. Plus I’m getting totally bored of being so bloomin unbiased over at The F1 Files. As the resurgence begins, this blog will be here every step of the way.

One last thing – It was a year ago that Ross Brawn signed for Honda and he’s not a man known for making wild and inaccurate predictions, but in the midst of the Brazil aftermath he was caught saying “They have still to continue their climb but I think if we as a team achieve the competitiveness BMW manage to we will be quite pleased.” No doubt his influence on the team will become clear next season.