2006 CHINESE GRAND PRIX SHANGHAI
FREE PRACTICE
The Honda Racing F1 Team enjoyed a competitive day's running
in Shanghai today as free practice got underway for Sunday's
Chinese Grand Prix.
This morning, Anthony Davidson occupied his usual place at
the sharp end of the field, ending the session in second position.
With rain showers looking increasingly threatening for the
second session, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello made
the most of the dry track conditions to post the fastest and
fifth fastest of the race driver laps.
This afternoon, the threat of rain came to fruition which
made tyre comparisons difficult in the changeable conditions.
The three drivers ended the day third, 11th and 16th.
ANTHONY DAVIDSON
"It's been quite a good day generally. The rain in the
second session made it a bit difficult to work with the tyres
but it was the same for everyone out there. We're competitive,
the car felt nice to drive and we are looking good on the
long runs as well so it's a case of so far, so good. We'll
have to wait to see what the weather brings over the weekend
but I think we're in reasonably good shape."
JENSON BUTTON
"We've achieved a lot of work considering the weather
conditions and I think we're looking reasonably competitive
so far. This afternoon, the conditions were pretty poor which
made it difficult to conduct any meaningful tyre comparison
work."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I had a very strange day today because my car had a
balance this morning and then it was changing this afternoon.
So the car feels very different from run to run and we need
to find out what is causing the problem. Apart from that I'm
very confident that the tyres should do a good job. It's a
great circuit and I think we can continue to improve here
throughout the weekend so I'm reasonably happy at this stage."
GIL DE FERRAN
Sporting Director
"Despite the slight drizzle during the second session,
we were able to complete the planned programme today with
all three cars. We didn't have any major issues; however there
is room for improvement with the balance of both race cars,
which is somewhat inconsistent at the moment. Tonight we will
sit down with the Michelin engineers to look over the tyre
data and help us make a difficult choice, as it appears that
they brought two very good tyres to China. A good start to
the weekend and we look competitive at this point."
FREE PRACTICE STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Rubens Barrichello 11 RA106-01 4 laps 01:39.217 P12 16 laps
01:38.276 P16
Jenson Button 12 RA106-05 4 laps 01:37.291 P3 10 laps 01:37.861
P11
Anthony Davidson 36 RA106-03 26 laps 01:35.591 P2 30 laps
01:35.714 P3
Weather Dry morning, cool and damp afternoon
Temperatures Air: 24-27°C Track: 26-30°C
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