2006 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX BUDAPEST FREE PRACTICE
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."
FREE PRACTICE STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Rubens Barrichello 11 RA106-01 6 laps 01:23.553 P6 17 laps
01:24.445 P13
Jenson Button 12 RA106-05 5 laps 01:23.659 P7 15 laps 01:24.465
P14
Anthony Davidson 36 RA106-03 28 laps 01:22.396 P2 31 laps
01:23.498 P5
Weather Cool and overcast
Temperatures Air: 18-20°C Track: 23-29°C
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