2006 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX
INDIANAPOLIS - PREVIEW
 The
Honda Racing F1 Team heads south from Canada to the United
States this week for Round Ten of the 2006 FIA Formula One
World Championship. The second race in the mid-season double-header
will take place on Sunday at the historic Indianapolis Motor
Speedway, the second oldest venue in the F1 calendar.
Following the events of the 2005 United States Grand Prix,
all of the Formula One teams will be keen to put on an exciting
show for the thousands of motor racing fans who will be attending
over the weekend.
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I really enjoy racing in the United States and have
a lot of friends based there so I always look forward to this
particular race. The track itself is a lot of fun with some
great overtaking places and it feels good to drive through
the first corner of the oval banking flat out, although it
is an easy corner for us in an F1 car. Indianapolis has such
a strong motor racing heritage and traditionally puts on a
great show so I hope that the race weekend goes really well
this year for all the fans who come to watch. I had a disappointing
race in Montreal so we will be hoping for better this weekend,
but it will be tough for us until we return to testing and
work on improving the performance of the car. "
JENSON BUTTON
"It's always exciting to race at a venue which has such
a strong history and Indianapolis always has a great atmosphere.
The circuit itself is very slow with the tight in-field section.
I generally prefer fast flowing circuits but you can overtake
around here which should make for some exciting racing for
the fans. We will be using different tyres at Indy to those
we used last weekend in Montreal so I am hoping that we can
have a better race there. I also hope that we can give the
American public a really good race this year."
GIL DE FERRAN
Sporting Director
"Whilst we were obviously disappointed with our result
in Canada, we have less than a week now to prepare and optimise
our package for the United States Grand Prix this coming weekend.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a very challenging circuit,
where the tight infield sections lead into the oval and one
of the longest open-throttle sections of any of the tracks
on the F1 calendar, calling for a difficult compromise between
car set-up, aerodynamics and gearing. Besides my strong personal
emotional connection with the place, we all enjoy the very
special atmosphere of Indianapolis and very much look forward
to returning there this year for what I'm sure will be a great
race."
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana
Race Distance 73 laps
Circuit Length 2.605 miles (4.192 kms)
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the second oldest motor-racing
venue currently in use. The 4.192 kms course that snakes through
the infield also utilises part of the fabled Indianapolis
oval. Indianapolis has played host to Formula One since 2000
and now forms a mid-season set of back-to-back races with
Canada.
Tony George, head of the Speedway Corporation and a descendent
of the Hulman family that has steered the fortunes of the
historic American track, pulled out all the stops to create
a world-class racing circuit that could provide a permanent
home for the United States Grand Prix. In pursuit of that
goal, he made radical changes to the original Speedway by
demolishing buildings, erecting a new pit complex and grandstands,
and building today's challenging road course.
Overtaking is much easier at Indianapolis than at most tracks,
with clear passing opportunities into turns one and eight,
both second-gear corners proceeded by long straights. The
slowest part of the track is the 40mph turn eight, the first
part of an extremely tight S-bend, while the fastest is turn
thirteen. This is the first corner of the oval and is taken
flat-out at 185mph in an F1 car.
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