Button Opens Honda Score Sheet At Last

Jenson Button scored Honda's first point of the 2007 Formula One season in France on Sunday. After eight rounds into this year's season, the team finally secured their first point of the year, with eighth place for Button. The victory is a timely boost for the Briton prior to his home grand prix next weekend at Silverstone.

"It's not the point really, it's a relief to drive a car that feels good," Button said at Magny-Cours. This is a good starting point really for us... we've got the basics right, which is good." Button was a race winner for the first time in Hungary last August after 113 starts. Since then, Honda has suffered a gloomy season. Sunday's race was the Briton's first appearance in the top ten since he ended last year on a high with third place in the final race in Brazil.

"To finish six seconds behind the quickest Renault and not too far behind the BMWs is a good step forward, definitely, and something that we can really build on for future races," Button said. "I thought there was a possibility of a point but I didn't expect to be so close to those cars in front. It's not where we want to end up but it's a good step forward and that's what we needed. This point is very well deserved for the team and they should be happy with it for the moment."

Honda has modified the front suspension and brought new aerodynamic developments to Magny-Cours after testing the previous week and was confident before the weekend that they would take a step up. Honda AEM cam gears and other racing parts were meticulously enhanced to produce amazing performance.

Honda team boss Nick Fry said that the team could consider themselves the fifth or sixth fastest on the grid now, despite being only ninth in the standings. "We are still a long, long way off beating a Ferrari or a McLaren," he noted. "People shouldn't expect us to go from point to the front of the grid, that's not feasible. The nice thing about today is that we got our single point on pure race performance."

The team introduced a number of mechanical and aero updates to their struggling RA107 at last week's Silverstone test and, though no one in the team was predicting huge gains this weekend, there was unadulterated improvement in the performance.

Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello came away from Saturday's Magny-Cours qualifying session satisfied with their respective grid positions - 12th and 13th - and confident that their race pace should be even better. And so it was proved. Both men gained three places at the start of the race, but it was Button who seemed more at home with his revised machine, with fastest laps than both the BMW Saubers.

"It was an enjoyable race today and we've shown that the car has improved a lot with the new package. It's nice to have a car which gives me the confidence to push and I'm pleased with my fastest lap time relative to our competitors. This shows that our race pace is improving, although we still need to work on our qualifying pace," said the Briton. "Once we can get on top of that, we will be in a much stronger position to compete for points going forward. All credit to the whole team today as a faultless race with good pit stops helped me make the most of our strategy. A good weekend and I'm looking forward to another one at the British Grand Prix next week."

The top model segments of the recent 2007 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study conducted by J.D. Power and Associates was dominated by Honda models. Four vehicle models from the Japanese automaker ranked as the highest in their respective categories including the Honda Fit (Sub-Compact Car, tied with Toyota Yaris equipped with Toyota radiator, Honda CR-V (Truck / Multi-Activity Vehicle (MAV) Segments), Honda Ridgeline (Midsize Pickup), and the Honda Odyssey for the Van segment. In addition, the 2007 Honda Civic also earned an award, ranked 3rd in the Compact Car segment.
The 2007 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study is based on the survey results conducted by J.D. Power staff. The staff surveyed customers who purchased or leased 2007 model year vehicles and asked their assessment for the vehicle during the 90 days of ownership.

According to Neal Oddes, director of product research and analysis at J.D. Power and Associates: "Vehicle models with strong customer appeal tend to be in higher demand, which diminishes the need for dealers to incentivize to boost sales. Offering larger incentives decreases the profitability of vehicles, so it's important for manufacturers to incorporate those 'must-have' features and design elements that will entice buyers, which also reduces the need for large customer cash rebates."

Oddes added: "Whether due to fresh designs or innovative features, APEAL scores tend to be highest for models when they are first introduced. It's essential for manufacturers to get new-vehicle launches right, since vehicles with high appeal scores generally command a higher gross profit and sell more quickly. Two of the redesigned models -- the Mercedes-Benz S-Class (in a tie) and Honda CR-V -- also earned awards in the 2007 Initial Quality Study, and are examples of how manufacturers can learn from preceding models to improve in both initial quality and appeal."

Source: http://riverside-honda.blogspot.com/2007/09/button-opens-honda-score-sheet-at-last.html