MONZA, ITALY
TEST REPORT
The Honda Racing F1 Team concluded a three-day test in Monza,
Italy, today in preparation for the back to back North American
races which begin next weekend with the Canadian Grand Prix
in Montreal. The United States Grand Prix follows just a week
later in Indianapolis.
Anthony Davidson and James Rossiter were at the wheel of
the RA106 race cars as testing got underway on Tuesday in
hot and sunny conditions. Both drivers conducted some acclimatisation
work ahead of a brake evaluation programme. A Michelin tyre
test followed in the afternoon in preparation for Indianapolis.
Anthony completed an impressive 128 laps
(741kms) in total, despite an engine problem confining him
to the garage for part of the morning session. In his first
ever outing at the Monza circuit, James recorded 117 laps
(677kms) during his one day test.
The track temperature soared to a high of 54 degrees on day
two when Jenson Button joined the test alongside Anthony.
After a couple of installation runs to quite literally clean
the dust off the circuit, Anthony completed a comprehensive
aero programme in preparation for the next two races and finished
the morning with some chassis set-up work. Jenson also worked
on some new aerodynamic developments. In the afternoon session,
both drivers completed Michelin programmes to compare tyres
for Indianapolis and the day culminated in a lap tally of
120 laps
(695km) for Anthony and 117 for Jenson (678km), who missed
the end of the afternoon session following an engine failure.
Today, the third and final day of the test, saw Rubens Barrichello
running alongside his team-mate Jenson as the pair worked
on chassis settings, aero development and an important tyre
casing programme. This morning, Jenson set the fastest time
of the week - a 1:22.917 - and he went on to achieve a lap
tally of 136 (787 kms) for the day. Rubens' morning was compromised
by a small driveline problem which stopped him out on the
circuit, but he went on to complete 89 laps (515 kms) of general
set-up work during the day.
Overall this has been a successful test with 707 laps and
4094 kms covered over the three days and with Jenson's lap
time prevailing as the fastest overall on day three.
Jenson Button
"This week's test has gone well and I was able to complete
over 250 laps in two days, which is obviously very good. The
Montreal aero package work seemed to be positive and the results
of our tyre programme were quite clear. We also worked through
a number of other development items with some good results,
so it was just a shame we had the engine failure yesterday.
All in all a good test for us though."
Rubens Barrichello
"I've had a good day's testing today and with the many
items I had to run through I think we managed to cover all
of them. I was quite happy with the balance of the car and
generally pleased with my lap time. It's hard to know where
we stand versus the other teams as everyone has been testing
different wing configurations for Canada, but I think we have
done some good work for next weekend's race."
Anthony Davidson
"This has been a really productive test for me and I'm
pleased to have achieved over 1400kms during the 2 days that
I was running. The car was feeling good on the low downforce
settings that we run in Monza, then when we switched to a
more representative Montreal set-up I was pleased to find
that we maintained a nice balance. We managed to get through
a lot of important test items for the next two races and I
think we are heading in the right direction."
James Rossiter
"I had a very positive one day test on Tuesday. We enjoyed
good reliability so I was able to complete the full run plan
which enabled the team to make some important assessments
for Canada. We also did a lot of good tyre work for Indianapolis,
which provided a good basis for the race drivers to pick up
on when they joined the test. Overall, a solid 118 laps and
some good work achieved."
Mark Ellis - Chief Engineer, Vehicle Performance
"We have had a very productive test over the course of
the three days. We have covered a lot of laps with good reliability
and have made solid progress with the aerodynamics and car
set-up, working on solutions for the demands of the medium
downforce circuits in Montreal and Indianapolis. We have also
completed a comprehensive tyre test programme with Michelin
and are happy with the proposed solutions for the US GP in
two weeks' time."
Shuhei Nakamoto
Management Board Member - Honda Racing F1 Team, Engineering
Director - Honda Racing Development
"We've been focusing mainly on reliability work for the
next couple of races, which place particularly heavy demands
on the powerplant."
TEST STATS
Drivers Chassis Tuesday 13 June
Wednesday 14 June Thursday 15 June
Jenson Button RA106-06 -
117 laps Fastest lap 01:24.398 136 laps Fastest lap 01:22.917
Rubens BarrichelloRA106-02 -
- 89 laps Fastest lap
01:23.840
Anthony Davidson RA106-02 128 laps Fastest lap 01:24.475
120 laps Fastest lap 01:23.989 -
James Rossiter RA106-06 117 laps Fastest lap 01:25.530 -
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