02/10/2007
NEWS STORY
After a challenging Japanese Grand Prix at the rain-soaked Fuji Speedway on Sunday, the Honda Racing F1 Team's attentions now move to the penultimate race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship with the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit this weekend.
Shuhei Nakamoto - Senior Technical Director: After such a strong qualifying performance at Fuji on Saturday, we were extremely disappointed that we were unable to convert this into a points-scoring position in the race. We move to China now and hope for better things at the Shanghai International Circuit. This is a very technical track which places great emphasis on driver skill and car stability. Our drivers are looking forward to the challenge. We have some new developments from our recent test in Jerez and hope that we will be able to end the season on a stronger note and with a point or two.
Jenson Button: The Shanghai circuit is a demanding one for the drivers and quite technical but it is also fun to drive. The length of the corners, particularly turn one which is tough on the neck, is quite something and you have to remember to breathe as you go round the lap. In turns seven/eight/nine the g-forces are so high that you are unable to breathe. There are a few good overtaking opportunities, particularly going into turn one and then at the banked entry onto the back straight which is very unique to this circuit and presents the ability to take a number of lines onto the straight itself.
Rubens Barrichello: Shanghai is a fantastic race venue with impressive facilities and an exciting modern track layout. I won the very first Grand Prix here in 2004 so it holds some good memories for me. The combination of long straights and low/medium speed corners makes for a challenging technical layout with the main feature being the length of some of the corners. The complex including turn one is fairly tricky with a combination of hard braking and lateral acceleration.