18/07/2008
NEWS STORY
The Honda Racing F1 Team completed the first two free practice sessions at Hockenheim today in preparation for this weekend's German Grand Prix. The track was wet for the majority of the morning session, before drying out by the start of the afternoon, when Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello finished the day in 13th and 14th positions respectively.
Both drivers used the Bridgestone Potenza wet tyres first thing this morning, before switching to dry tyres when a dry line appeared. Jenson ended the first session in 12th place, after completing a total of 28 laps and setting a best time of 1:17.131s. Rubens was 0.4s slower than his team-mate after 24 laps of the 4.574km (2.842-mile) track.
In dry conditions this afternoon, both drivers lapped significantly quicker than this morning. Jenson completed 38 laps to set a best time of 1:16.532s, while Rubens ended the day 0.1s slower than his team-mate after doing 28 laps.
What issues did you face during the practice sessions today?
Rubens Barrichello: "We found a reasonable balance on the car during the morning session, however unfortunately we struggled to continue the progress this afternoon. The car had a real lack of grip in the slightly warmer afternoon temperatures, with the rear in particular feeling unstable. It was a tough session as we tried to work out the problem and we have a lot of work to do overnight to get the car back to a driveable set-up."
How was your day's running today?
Jenson Button: "A busy but productive practice for us today. We made some improvements to the balance and set-up of the car in both sessions, in addition to conducting an evaluation of the prime and option tyres. However I am not completely happy with the balance, so we have some work ahead of us before qualifying."
You had a good test at the Hockenheim circuit last week. How do the track conditions compare today?
Steve Clark, Head of Race & Test Engineering: "The track has lost a lot of grip since the test last week due to the rain over the last few days. This has highlighted a number of issues which were not apparent during the test with braking stability and poor traction being our biggest challenges today. There is no doubt that we are not alone in experiencing this situation, however we do seem to suffer more than our competitors in low grip situations. On the positive side, as the track improves over the weekend, we expect that to be reflected in our performance."
How will you progress from here and are you expecting the weather to be a factor this weekend?
SC: "As always, we will be thoroughly analysing all of the data this evening to improve the car tomorrow. We believe that we understand the cause of Rubens' handling issues today and this will be fixed overnight. The changeable weather conditions may play a part over the rest of the weekend and as seen during the last race at Silverstone, we have had some of our best results in the wet."