The Monaco Grand Prix also sees the continuation of Honda's annual rotation of technical personnel on its Formula One programme. The process, which began at the Spanish Grand Prix, is unique to the Japanese manufacturer and an inseparable element of its participation at the pinnacle of global motorsport. By the Canadian Grand Prix, around 30 new Honda engineers and technicians will have joined B.A.R Honda and Jordan Honda; approximately 20 people on the race teams and 10 on the test teams. By rotating its Formula One personnel on an annual basis, Honda aims to expose as many young engineers as possible to the challenging, high-pressure environment of F1.
The young engineers are instilled with Honda's fighting spirit and when they return to Japan this invaluable experience and desire to beat the competition is transferred to their work on general production projects.

With six Honda victories in the principality, Monaco shares with Monza the privilege of being the most successful circuit of Honda's distinguished F1 pedigree. 1987 marked the start of Honda's domination of the most glamorous event in world motorsport, the late Ayrton Senna winning no fewer than five Monaco Grands Prix with Honda power between 1987 and 1992. Senna won the race four times with McLaren-Honda but on the first occasion it was a Lotus-Honda in which he took the flag, 30 seconds ahead of Nelson Piquet's Williams for a Honda-powered 1-2. Senna's run of success was punctuated only by the victory of McLaren-Honda team mate Alain Prost in 1988. Let's hope Honda can start a row of victories soon!

Sato's car, or what's left of it after the crash


Shuhei Nakamoto – Race and Test Team Manager, Honda Racing Development said:
"I was very relieved to hear that Takuma is okay and didn't suffer any serious injuries. I'm looking forward to welcoming the new engineers and technicians who'll be joining Honda and its partner teams in Monaco, and I'm sure they'll do a great job. Everybody knows that Monaco isn't really a power circuit, but driveability and fuel efficiency will be key for achieving the results we want. We'll need to make changes to the engine mapping and we'll be working as hard as we can to get as much out of the engine as possible throughout the rev range."

Copyright 2002, Temple of VTEC