HONDA RA106

   When, at the end of 2005, Honda Racing announced the acquisition of 100% of BAR’s shares, the 2006 championship was set to feature two Japanese teams on the grid (Toyota and Honda), even though both had their operations based in Europe (Toyota in Cologne, Germany, and Honda in Brackley, England). Honda thus returned to competing in Formula 1 as a complete constructor for the first time since 1968, when John Surtees and Jo Schlesser drove the Honda RA301 powered by a 2991 cc V12 engine. The team’s former owners, British American Tobacco, did not entirely withdraw, continuing to sponsor the team through the Lucky Strike brand featured on the new Honda RA106.

HONDA RA106, Jenson Button
Imola, San Marino GP 2006 

   Since its return to F1 in 2000 as an engine supplier, Honda had always supported the BAR team, but over the years its ties with the squad grew deeper, with increasing involvement in chassis development, especially the gearbox, eventually leading to the creation of the Honda Racing F1 Team (HRF1). Honda’s move was influenced by two major trends in the F1 world at the time. First, BAR, a team financed by tobacco money, was facing growing restrictions on tobacco advertising, particularly in Europe. However, the more significant reason for the birth of HRF1 was the escalating technical and financial involvement of automotive manufacturers in F1 at the start of the 21st century. Renault had transformed Benetton into a factory team from 2002, Toyota had been competing as a works team since 2002, Mercedes had strengthened its partnership with McLaren, and BMW, like Honda, returning as an engine supplier in 2000, had acquired Sauber to turn it into a factory outfit. To win races, it was becoming inevitable for manufacturers to be directly involved, and Honda could not ignore this trend.

HONDA RA106, Rubens Barrichello
Imola, San Marino GP 2006 

   Under the leadership of the team’s Chief Executive Officer, Nick Fry, the group of engineers responsible for designing the new RA106 remained largely unchanged despite the new ownership. The team consisted of Geoff Willis (Technical Director), Gary Savage (Deputy Technical Director), Kevin Taylor (Chief Designer), Willem Toet (Chief Engineer, Aerodynamics and Design), Mark Ellis (Chief Engineer, Vehicle Performance), Ian Wright (Chief Engineer, Vehicle Dynamics), Russell Cooley (Chief Engineer, Transmission and Mechanical), Simon Lacey (Head of Aerodynamics), Mariano Alperin (Chief Aerodynamicist), and Kazuo Sakurahara (Engine Project Leader). The 2006 season was marked by major changes to engine regulations. The 3000 cc V10s were replaced by 2400 cc V8s, and consequently the new Honda engine was named RA806E (RA for Racing Automobile, 806 for the number of cylinders and the year of use, E for Engine). Honda had already gained experience building V8 racing engines for the American IRL series, but those units offered little help in developing a 20,000 rpm Formula 1 engine. The first prototype V8 was tested as early as September 2004 at the Mugello circuit in Italy, allowing the engine development team led by Kazuo Sakurahara to gather as much data as possible for the final design, which began in January 2005 and was tested for the first time in July of the same year.

HONDA RA106, Rubens Barrichello
Montecarlo, Monaco GP 2006 

   Chassis design began some time after the start of the engine program, as revealed by Akio Tonomura, head of the chassis development project at Honda’s R&D department. The design of the new car was based on that of the previous BAR 007, but with significant improvements in aerodynamic efficiency. The new design raised the position of the lower front suspension arms to improve airflow from the front wing to the rear end, introduced changes to the front suspension geometry and increased stiffness of the rear suspension for better stability. With the reduction in engine displacement and size, a new layout for the gearbox, transmission, and driveshaft was adopted to obtain more balanced weight distribution and lower inertia. Throughout the bodywork, the new Honda featured a proliferation of winglets and flow deviators, culminating in the upper part of the rear diffuser.

HONDA RA106, Jenson Button
Nürburgring, European GP 2006

   The new RA106 was unveiled on January 25, 2006, at the Catalunya-Barcelona circuit in Spain, in the presence of the main drivers, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello and Briton Jenson Button, as well as the reserve driver, Briton Anthony Davidson. Despite impressive performance in winter testing, once the official season began the new car struggled to showcase its speed. The car was fast in qualifying but less so in race conditions, although Button achieved a low podium finish in the second race, in Malaysia. A mid-season performance drop pushed Fry to make the decision to part ways with the car’s designer, Geoff Willis, who was replaced by the inexperienced Shuhei Nakamoto. In the second half of the season, the car’s performance improved significantly, and from the German Grand Prix onward, the ever-consistent Button strung together seven consecutive point-scoring finishes, including a race victory in Hungary. Barrichello’s performance remained steadier over the season, but he never reached the podium. At the end of the season, Honda scored 86 points (56 with Button and 30 with Barrichello), securing fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship. The RA106’s victory in Hungary remains the last win for a Honda-powered car until Max Verstappen’s triumph at the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix with the Red Bull RB15.