At home with the Hondas
Round nine of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship takes the Honda Racing F1 Team just seven miles from its base in Brackley to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.
The 5.141km (3.194-mile) circuit is one of the fastest and most famous tracks on the F1 calendar, making it popular with drivers, engineers and spectators.
Silverstone was the scene of the first F1 World Championship Grand Prix in May 1950, although the circuit staged its first non-championship race two years earlier and will celebrate its 60th anniversary this year.
Formerly a World War II airfield, the track initially used the airfield's perimeter road before undergoing various facelifts.
The layout that is used today has been in place since June 1994, when the Abbey Chicane was modified following the deaths of Ayrton Senna and
Roland Ratzenberger at Imola the previous month.
The Honda team's drivers, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, know Silverstone well, having contested much of their racing in the junior formulas in the UK.
They have regularly finished in the points here and the most emphatic of Barrichello's nine wins took place at the track in 2003 when he
overtook Kimi Raikkonen to win the race by five seconds.
It will be Button's ninth F1 race at the Northamptonshire circuit.
His best result is fourth in 2004, and he has finished in the points on three other occasions.
Now he cannot wait to get going again.
"I always look forward to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone as it's my home race and therefore a very special weekend for me," he said.
"I love the layout of the track because it's very fast and flowing and I have a lot of good memories from when I used go as a spectator when I was a boy.
"The fans are great and I love seeing all the Union Jacks in the grandstands.
"But it's also a bit frustrating at the moment because I want to give them better results than I'm currently able to.
"The team's headquarters is only seven miles from the track, so there will be a lot of people from the factory supporting us there.
"With the race selling-out on all three days, there will be a fantastic atmosphere.
"The Becketts complex is my favourite combination of corners in the world.
"You enter it flat-out in seventh gear, so the speeds are extremely high, and you have to be very precise with your line.
"The change of direction that you carry through there is just mind-blowing.
"When you get this section right, you come out with the biggest smile on your face
"It's a great place to watch the race from."
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
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