Honda Racing F1 Team - Barcelona Test Report
The Honda Racing F1 Team race drivers Jenson Button and Rubens
Barrichello concluded their pre-season testing programme at
the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona today. After concentrating
on final set-up work in the RA106 car, along with tyre and
aero programmes, the two race drivers will now prepare for
the first race of the new season. The Honda Racing F1 Team's
final testing session will be completed by third driver Anthony
Davidson in Valencia next week. With this week's test programme
completed successfully in Barcelona, all three drivers were
able to cover significant mileage as the RA106 continues to
gain in pace and reliability. The team also took the opportunity
to run the latest specification of the RA806E engine.
Rubens and Jenson began the test on Wednesday in the new
chassis RA106-04 and chassis RA106-02 respectively. Both drivers
spent the morning session running through systems checks whilst
waiting for the track to come up to temperature, followed
by chassis set-up and aero programmes in the afternoon session.
Rubens completed 65 laps over the day, with Jenson running
for 87 laps.
The race drivers continued the programme on Thursday with
Rubens continuing to develop the set-up of the new chassis
followed by a tyre programme in the afternoon session. Jenson
completed a series of tyre evaluations over the day, alongside
brake and aero programmes. Rubens completed 118 laps, with
Jenson totalling 116 laps and setting the fastest time of
the day and of this year's testing at Barcelona.
Anthony joined the team on Friday, taking over from Jenson
in chassis RA106-02. He spent his early runs finding a good
balance in the car before completing a tyre evaluation over
long runs, completing an impressive 129 laps today. Rubens
continued his programme in chassis RA106-04, again focusing
on chassis set-up alongside an aero evaluation. He completed
107 laps setting the second fastest time of the day.
Summary of Testing Rubens Barrichello Jenson
Button Anthony Davidson
Chassis RA106-04
RA106-02 RA106-02
Weds 22 Feb Laps 65
87 -
Fastest time 01:16.474
01:15.964 -
Thurs 23 Feb Laps 118 116
-
Fastest time 01:14.265
01:13.920 -
Fri 24 Feb Laps 107
- 129
Fastest time 01:14.442 -
01:15.091
Rubens Barrichello
"It was really good for me to get three days testing
in the car this week and the team has done a superb job, particularly
with the engine as we were able to cover a lot of kilometres
which makes me feel very comfortable going into the first
race. I had some issues on Wednesday with the brakes but we
were able to resolve this and overall the test was very positive.
The pace of the car has been improving every day, along with
the reliability and with the amount of laps we can cover,
this has given me more time to become familiar with the car.
I feel happy with the car and am really looking forward to
my first race as a Honda Racing F1 Team driver."
Jenson Button
"I had a good two days of running this week to finish
off my winter testing programme. Reliability was once again
very strong enabling us to complete a lot of laps, particularly
on Thursday when we concentrated on chassis set-up and tyre
evaluations. It was nice to finish at the top of the timesheets
on my final day in the car before Bahrain. I'm really looking
forward to the start of the season and think that we will
be competitive although we won't know until we start running
in Bahrain where we stand in relation to the other top teams.
It's really exciting to think that the season starts in only
two weeks time and I can't wait to start racing again."
Anthony Davidson
"It's been a good day today and my first chance to drive
round the Barcelona circuit this year. I concentrated on long
tyre runs this morning and completed the work on some set-up
evaluations throughout the day. The evident improvements that
we've found are encouraging and we have certainly come a long
way since I drove the Concept car here back in December which
is a great achievement by everyone at the team. The pace of
the car gives me confidence that we are looking strong for
the first races. We have one final test in Valencia next week
to complete the preparations before heading off to Bahrain."
Mark Ellis, Chief Engineer Vehicle Performance
"This week has been a very satisfying conclusion to our
pre-season preparations with the race drivers. We have completed
over 2900km over the three days with excellent reliability
and successfully used two of the latest specification RA806E
engines to over the target two-race mileage. We have found
some positive directions with the chassis set-up today and
overall are pleased with the performance in the very cold
conditions here. "
Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing
Development "We were very pleased to run the
upgraded engine for the equivalent of two race distances and
are now very close to finalising the engine spec for the first
race."
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