On this day in 2007, when Honda F1 unveiled the RA107 as an impressive ‘earth car’, Honda’s ambitions were commendable. On February 26, 16 years ago, Honda F1 unveiled the RA107 at the Earth Gallery of the Natural History Museum in London, showing a shocking “Earth Car”. To raise awareness about climate change, the Japanese manufacturer made a splash with coloring that included a photograph of the Earth as seen from space.
Honda F1 persuaded the sponsor to forgo the sponsor display on the car body in order to realize the earth car. But even with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, many of the team’s partners would not have regretted not showing the logo given the disastrous performance of the Honda RA107. In fact, the Honda F1 earth car was environmentally friendly and often ran fewer laps than its rivals on race day. Where is Honda’s current environmental awareness, which is rumored to return to F1 in 2026?