Honda Quotes

(Did Honda have other options?) No, ... We are clearly focused on open wheel racing.

Honda has made it very clear that our preference is to have competition. Having competition is a way of challenging our engineers to develop a superior product.

Now that the direction of things seems to be more clear, it`s time for Honda to consider what they are going to do.

Honda has made it very clear that our preference is to have competition. We welcome competition, but we understand that we may be the only manufacturer involved in the near term. We are OK with that.

I told the team I would have no problem with anyone, so it is up to the team to decide what`s the best option, ... Obviously there are various options in place but I have no further comment. I have no problems, Jenson is definitely a good guy, he is one of the friends I have in the paddock so it would definitely have been no problem, but it is BAR Honda that has to decide what is the best option alongside myself.

I feel that the Honda is always very powerful and I`m very much looking forward to working with them.

I`d like to put something together. I want to talk to Red Bull about it and maybe Honda. It`s going to be a seven-or eight-event (series) next season with two in Southern California. It makes a lot of sense that this might be something I would pursue.

(As for the future, McGrath and his wife, Kim, are expecting their first child (a daughter) in December. And he plans to ride at least six Supercrosses for Honda next season.) I can`t believe how excited everyone was to see me ride last year, ... It really gave me a rush.

Before that everyone thinks you must ride Honda to become world champion. Yamaha had not won the championship for a very long time.

I have won on Honda and Yamaha so maybe it is interesting to win with a third team, Ducati, who are Italian.

In 2002 the Yamaha was at more or less the same level as the Honda, better in some ways, worse in others. But in the winter of last year between 2002 and 2003, Honda made a big step forward and it seemed as if Yamaha couldn`t quite match that improvement.

It`s fantastic to be back on the podium and I have to thank the team for their incredibly hard work to get us back into the game here. The first stint of the race wasn`t easy. I had such bad oversteer I barely had to turn into the corners! At the first stop we adjusted the front wing which made things better but we were a little too optimistic in switching to drys so we had to come in again and change back to wets. Double stinting the tyres really made all the difference for us though. I have to thank the entire team and Michelin for making this result possible. The pitstops were great and the Honda engine was faultless all weekend. We have some new developments for the next few races so I`m feeling really positive. Let`s hope we have a few more days like today before the end of the season.

I would like to be here on a good bike, in a good team. My manager though is pushing for me to be in the World Superbike with a good Honda team but that will be a load of money. Realistically I am going to have to compete here and if not maybe Supersport.

Where in the Bible does it say I have to drive a Honda?

I`m looking forward to this end part of the season, ... Riding the bike in Japan for a factory Honda rider is a real honour. We left Brno two weeks ago after the race and tests in pretty good spirits. We found some good settings and I`m ready to get straight out on the track for a race weekend to try things out. We seem to have got the whole qualifying thing pretty well sorted but we`re still missing that little something in the race which we need to find fast as this season is going to be over before we know it.

Honda opened its first assembly line in Lincoln in November 2001.

This test is very important for Honda and today the track was very hot which didn`t help the lap times. Again, Nicky had many things to test. His time wasn`t the fastest, but I`m not worried about this, it`s a three day test and we have more new things to try tomorrow.

We want to challenge for the championship. We want to race as Honda and we want to take the team in a better direction.

After discussing Honda`s future F1 participation, we have decided that Honda should own 100 percent of the team.

Basically, it will be 100% Honda from 2006. We want to race as Honda and we want to challenge for the championship.

After discussing Honda`s future F1 participation, we have decided that Honda should own 100% of the team.

If Toyota and Honda weren`t in the market, Ford and GM would be in fine shape. We don`t see anything on the horizon that is going to substantially change the slide.