Monday January 24th, 2000

Formula One's new partnership, Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda, was formally introduced to the world's media today at a high-profile launch in central London.

Taking centre stage at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre was the Brackley-based team's 2000 Grand Prix challenger, the BAR Honda 002, seen for the first time in its striking new livery.

Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta unveiled the car and answered questions from journalists representing 21 different countries. Newly signed test driver, Darren Manning, was also formally introduced along with development driver, Patrick Lemarie.

Team Managing Director, Craig Pollock, commented, "Our distinctive new look shows that the 2000 season marks a fresh start as we embark on a very exciting partnership with Honda. Working with a company that has such an engineering-led, results-oriented approach to everything it undertakes has had a really positive effect on everyone at Brackley. Enthusiasm is infectious, and when backed by knowledge, experience and a hunger for results, it's a very powerful combination."

Co-director, Adrian Reynard, echoed the sentiments. "Honda knows and understands motorsport extremely well, as we at Reynard are aware from our successful collaboration with them in Champ Car racing over the last five years," he observed. "It therefore comes as no surprise that the partnership between British American Racing and Honda has settled down quickly with information flowing freely between the design and engineering staffs of the two organisations."

Formula One is correctly perceived as a highly complex, technical activity, but for both British American Racing and Honda there is also a very human dimension to the sport, a point stressed at the launch by representatives of the two organisations.

Explaining the value that Honda attaches to immersing young engineers in its Formula One programme, the company's F1 Project Leader, Takefumi Hosaka, observed, "We want to attract the best new engineers and we started recruiting to our Formula One team as soon as we announced we were looking to re-enter the sport. We had lots of interest and we now have a number of people working on the programme, some at BAR, some at HRD, and some in Japan. The new engineers bring challenging minds and are very excited by the Formula One project."

The corporate culture at British American Racing involves a similar belief in nurturing youthful ability. "We purposely pursued a policy of hiring young talent during the team's start-up phase," explained Adrian Reynard. "These were not necessarily individuals with previous Formula One or motorsport experience, but we felt it important to make a significant investment in such people, both for the sport generally and for the future success of the team in particular. They were necessarily on a very steep learning curve last year, but they have gained, and will continue to gain knowledge and experience that will stand them in extremely good stead. We want them to stay and grow with us, and share in the success the team hopes to achieve in the future."

For BAR Honda, the year 2000 marks the start of the next chapter in this young team's history. All the signs are that it is going to be an exciting season for everyone concerned.