23/06/2006
NEWS STORY
The Honda Racing F1 Team's Canadian Grand Prix got off to a positive start in Montreal today. In this morning's session Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button posted the 5th and 6th fastest times respectively, whilst this afternoon they were the 7th and 9th fastest race drivers. Third driver Anthony Davidson was 2nd and 5th fastest in the two sessions respectively as he concentrated on tyre evaluation and set-up over longer runs.
This morning's session was conducted in surprisingly cool conditions with the track temperature running at a mere 27 degrees compared with a 41 degrees high during a much sunnier afternoon. This meant that all of the drivers were struggling for grip during the first free practice hour, but the increasing temperatures yielded improvements later on in the day.
Anthony Davidson: "I think this was probably the most difficult Friday that I've ever experienced, as we just couldn't find a good balance with the car all day. I really struggled to warm up the tyres - even this afternoon when the weather had improved. The track conditions were difficult for everyone as the general grip levels were so low, but this did start to get better towards the end. We've got a lot to work on overnight but I'm sure we can have a good weekend."
Rubens Barrichello: "We made an improvement right at the end of the second session today which I like, so that has given us a good direction for the set-up tomorrow. This circuit is always one that I enjoy so it's a case of so far, so good and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the weekend."
Jenson Button: "A pretty standard Friday for us really. We were able to get through quite a few laps without any problems so we should have a lot of data to look at this evening. The balance of the car was not too bad but we have some areas to work on overnight and need to see some improvements for tomorrow."
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "A regular Friday for us, with no major issues to report and plenty of tyre data gathered. Our drivers found the track quite slippery this morning with a small improvement on this front this afternoon. The engine ran well today and overall there is room for improvement with the car balance, which we will work on tonight. It is very hard to draw many conclusions regarding everyone's relative pace, since the order of today's timesheets is rather unusual. Let's see what tomorrow brings."
To check out our Canada practice picture gallery, click here