2006 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX SUZUKA
FREE PRACTICE
Free practice for the Honda Racing F1 Team's home Grand Prix
in Japan kicked off in damp conditions today, with the Suzuka
circuit officially declared wet for both sessions.
Anthony Davidson completed 18 laps this morning and once
again stormed to the top of the timesheets, whilst race drivers
Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button completed just one installation
lap on the rain-soaked circuit. This afternoon, Jenson and
Rubens reserved their running until the end of the session
when the track was starting to dry out, but this led to traffic
issues which made it difficult to gauge anyone's lap times
with any certainty. As a result, the Honda Racing F1 Team
is generally pleased with the progress it has made in variable
conditions and is looking forward to the improved weather
forecast for tomorrow's qualifying session.
ANTHONY DAVIDSON
"Once again, the conditions were difficult for everybody
today. It was very wet this morning but I had a good session
nonetheless and I ended up fastest, finding a nice balance
for the car in the wet. When it dried out this afternoon,
it was the first lap I have ever done at Suzuka in the dry
and it was a really good experience for me. I didn't get the
best out of the tyres that I was on for the last run but it
was still a really good fun day and I felt confident in the
car."
JENSON BUTTON
"I didn't get much running in the session because of
the weather, but it's good to have Anthony out there putting
mileage on the car so that we don't have to compromise engine
mileage. We also don't get that many sets of new wet tyres.
We didn't do any running until the track started to dry out,
then I got one run in at the end. At that time, practically
every car was on the circuit and because of the traffic it
was hard to get a good lap time. However, the car is feeling
reasonably good so generally we've made a positive start to
an important weekend."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"It was one of those days when everyone runs just a little
bit because that is all we can do in the weather conditions
we encountered. We had no car issues but it's difficult to
see where we stand yet. We will just have to study the data
this evening and hope for more good steady progress tomorrow."
GIL DE FERRAN
Sporting Director
"It was hard to learn much today given the changing conditions,
and for that reason the timesheets are not especially representative.
With Anthony we spent most of the day evaluating which tyres
were best for which conditions and at the end he had the opportunity
to run around here on dry tyres for his first time ever. All
three drivers are happy with the car balance, so all in all
a good start for our home GP."
FREE PRACTICE STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Rubens Barrichello 11 RA106-01 1 laps No timed lap - 10 laps
01:35.528 P13
Jenson Button 12 RA106-05 1 laps No timed lap - 6 laps 01:35.002
P7
Anthony Davidson 36 RA106-03 18 laps 01:45.349 P1 23 laps
01:34.906 P5
Weather Cool and changeable
Temperatures Air: 21-26°C Track: 20-23°C
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