05/05/2006
NEWS STORY
In free practice for this weekend's European Grand Prix, Anthony Davidson once again conducted the lion's share of the running for the Honda Racing F1 Team in his Friday testing role, doing most the set-up and tyre selection work to post the 5th fastest time overall. He also covered more mileage than any other driver today, achieving 59 laps in total.
The team made good progress throughout the two sessions with Jenson and Rubens the 2nd and 3rd fastest of the race drivers this morning. This afternoon they focused more on long run programmes to end the day 7th and 15th. The main issue of the day has been a lack of grip due to the camber changes of the Nürburgring circuit, which makes achieving a good balance quite challenging here.
Anthony Davidson: "We've had an uninterrupted day today and covered a lot of laps. The car was reliable and we've managed to find a good balance for short runs in the morning and long runs this afternoon. We have gathered a lot of data to look at from the long runs regarding the tyre decision and generally we are happy with our day's work."
Jenson Button: "We've had a pretty straightforward Friday in terms of what we've been working on - set-up and tyre choices. As usual Anthony has been doing much of the running to enable Rubens and I to preserve our cars for the race. This is always a very strange circuit to get a good balance on because of the camber changes but the car is working reasonably well. There are a few balance issues that we need to solve and it's just very low grip out there, that's the biggest issue. I guess we will see how we can improve on that for tomorrow."
Rubens Barrichello: "The day was trouble free in the sense that the car worked okay. The car feels very limited with both front and rear grip to be honest. We're not worried about the performance on new tyres, we just have to keep working for the race, which is our main target."
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "We have had quite a productive Friday with all three cars. Anthony ran non-stop and as a result we have a lot of tyre data to go through tonight. We also elected to run both Jenson and Rubens during both sessions, giving us an opportunity to evaluate the race cars earlier. Looking at the day as a whole, we are reasonably fast but there is room for improvement on the car balance front. We shall see what tomorrow brings."
Shuhei Nakamoto, Management Board Member - Honda Racing F1 Team, Engineering Director - Honda Racing Development: "A pretty standard Friday for us with no particular problems. We are on the second race weekend for the engines in both race cars and therefore focused most of the running around Anthony today."