04/08/2006
NEWS STORY
On an uncharacteristically cool and overcast day, the Honda Racing F1 Team had a solid start to their Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.
As usual, third driver Anthony Davidson concentrated on finding a good set-up direction for the RA106 race car and evaluating the tyres for this weekend. He completed 28 laps in the morning finishing 2nd fastest, and 31 laps this afternoon ending the day as the 5th fastest driver.
Race drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button completed short runs towards the end of the first practice hour, finishing 6th and 7th fastest respectively, before having a busier afternoon session when grip levels on the track had much improved. Rubens ended the day 13th covering 23 laps, with Jenson completing 20 laps to finish the afternoon session 14th.
Anthony Davidson: "The temperatures here are much cooler than we expected which has made it a tough day for everyone. The tyres that we have for this race just aren't designed to be operating in this temperature window so we have to hope that the rest of the weekend gets warmer, then we can start to work the tyres properly. All the drivers had the same problem, we're seeing a lot of graining which makes it difficult to set the car up properly. It wasn't about going fast today but saving the tyres and looking for a good balance. Still we were able to complete a lot of laps so we have some good information to look through before tomorrow."
Rubens Barrichello: "It was quite a normal Friday today really except for the weather. The track will be very different on Saturday and Sunday but we had a reasonably competitive car today and should be able to adapt to that. My thoughts today are with my friend Cristiano da Matta who is in hospital in America and I wish him all the best."
Jenson Button: "It's been a frustrating day for us today and the main problem is with the tyres. It's the same for everyone really in these conditions and the graining is causing some big issues. Anthony managed to complete some decent work this afternoon though so we'll just have to hear what he says and see how things look tomorrow."
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "We certainly expected for the weather to be much warmer this weekend and the unusually cool conditions are dominating the behaviour of our tyres, which in turn is having a great influence on the car balance. Nevertheless, it has been a productive day for our team and we have collected a lot of data on the tyres and set-up changes. It does look like many of our competitors are dealing with similar issues therefore we will have to see how the conditions evolve and how we all adapt to that."
To check out our Hungary free practice gallery, click here