2007 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
FREE PRACTICE
Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello got their first taste
of the new Fuji Speedway circuit today, where the Honda Racing
F1 Team's home grand prix got underway with the first free
practice sessions for Sunday's race.
Both drivers walked the track yesterday and used the first
few laps of running to familiarise themselves with the 4.563km
layout before commencing work on tailoring the set-up of the
RA107 to the characteristics of this medium downforce circuit.
Rubens set the 11th fastest time of the morning session with
a lap time of 1:20.686. Jenson was confined to the garage
in the closing stages whilst the team made some changes to
the car to improve the rear-end stability. He was unable to
return to the track in sufficient time to improve on his lap
therefore he ended the morning in 19th with a time of 1:21.541.
This afternoon Jenson ended the session in 14th with a time
of 1:20.336. The balance issues experienced by Rubens this
morning continued into the afternoon and the team spent the
session trying to get to the bottom of the problem. Some progress
was made towards the end which moved Rubens back to within
0.5sec of his team-mate and into 17th position.
JENSON BUTTON
"Everything ran pretty smoothly today as we experienced
the new Fuji circuit for the first time. After trying some
different set-ups on the car this morning, I felt more comfortable
with the balance in the afternoon session and we understand
where we are going with the set-up for the rest of the weekend.
As for the circuit, I was really pleased with the flow and
there are some tight challenging corners towards the end of
the lap and a couple of potential overtaking places, so generally
I was impressed."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I have the same problem here as I had in Spa and the
car is running short on aero balance. I just don't have the
grip level and the balance that I would like, so we changed
some parts on the car this afternoon to see if this helps
with the issue. We have a lot of data to look at overnight
to try to make some improvements for the morning. I like the
circuit here, the only issue is that there are some blind
corners so the marshals will need to react quickly with the
yellow flags as you are not able to see when coming round
some corners, which is what happened when I hit Yamamoto."
JACKY EECKELAERT
Engineering Director
"This morning, as is usual with a new track, we checked
the required downforce level for the Fuji layout and it matches
the prediction of our simulation programme. Both drivers worked
to find a good balance on the car before we completed our
race preparation in the second session with both prime and
option tyres. Jenson is reasonably happy with the long run
pace but we lack some performance on the first lap with new
tyres. Rubens had some problems in the afternoon with braking
stability. We are still investigating the issue and will make
the necessary changes to find a solution for tomorrow."
FREE PRACTICE STATS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice 1 Free Practice
2
Jenson Button 7 RA107-04 22 laps 01:21.541 P19 44 laps 01:20.336
P14
Rubens Barrichello 8 RA107-05 24 laps 01:20.686 P11 33 laps
01:20.889 P17
Weather Warm and humid
Temperatures Air: 24-27°C Track: 33-51°C
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