2008 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
SILVERSTONE - FREE PRACTICE
The Honda Racing F1 Team had a solid opening day of practice
for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone today with both
Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello ending the day inside
the top 10 on the timesheets.
This morning, the two RA108 cars had completed a total of
11 laps when a rear suspension problem was identified on Rubens'
car which required further investigation. As a precaution,
both cars remained in the garage whilst this was underway.
By the start of session two, with the cause of the suspension
problem rectified, both cars took to the track in earnest.
Jenson completed a total of 39 laps and set a fastest lap
of 1:20.929, placing him seventh. Rubens completed 33 laps,
ending the session just 0.1s behind his team-mate, and in
10th position.
The team will now examine all the data from today, as well
as that from the three-day test at the Silverstone circuit
last week, to finalise set-up and strategy ahead of tomorrow's
final practice and qualifying sessions.
RESULTS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice 1 Free Practice
2
Jenson Button 16 RA108-02 7 laps 01:21.901 P17 39 laps 01:20.929
P7
Rubens Barrichello 17 RA108-04 4 laps 01:24.123 P20 34 laps
01:21.002 P10
Weather Mild and sunny with a strong breeze
Temperatures Air: 16-21°C Track: 17-38°C
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
Q. How did the remainder of the day go after losing
all of your running time this morning?
A. "I love the Silverstone circuit, so I was disappointed
not to have run the first session today due to the problem
that we had with the rear suspension. The second session this
afternoon was positive with some good feedback from a well-balanced
car. We don't know where our performance puts us in relation
to our competitors yet, however I am confident of a much better
weekend than in Magny Cours."
JENSON BUTTON
Q. What progress did you make in practice today?
A. "We achieved some useful information from our test
programme today, even though the wind has moving been around
all afternoon and we lost the majority of our running time
this morning. We have a good understanding of the tyres, both
the prime and the option, but there is still a lot of work
to do as we are not entirely happy with the balance. We may
be seventh on the timesheets today but that doesn't necessarily
reflect our level of competitiveness, and we have a lot to
achieve overnight to set ourselves up for qualifying."
STEVE CLARK
Head of Race & Test Engineering
Q. What was the issue which kept both cars in the
garage this morning?
A. "Rubens had a rear suspension failure at the start
of the first practice session. We therefore took the precaution
of keeping Jenson's car in the garage until we had fully investigated
the issue. The part in question is not a new design nor is
it a high mileage component so the failure was quite unusual.
Whilst tests are ongoing back at the factory, we have confirmed
that the design has a generous safety margin. For the second
session, we fitted new parts to both cars which have undergone
a repeat of the quality control processes at the factory."
Q. How are your new developments translating to the
track here?
A. "We are confident that the new parts that we have
on the car following last week's test have improved our performance.
It is difficult to assess this against our competitors today
as different fuel strategies will have been in place, therefore
we would need a dry qualifying to really provide the answer.
However, having both cars in the top ten at the end of today
would suggest that we have made a genuinely positive step."
Q. The forecast predicts rain for the weekend. How
will this affect the race?
A. "The latest information is that rain is certain for
Saturday and Sunday. Qualifying in the wet is a challenge
as the track conditions are constantly changing and it opens
up the possibility that quicker cars may fall out in the early
sessions, creating a mixed-up grid which would make for an
exciting race. A wet race would be good for our team as both
Jenson and Rubens relish driving in the wet. As you would
expect more cars to drop out over the course of a wet race,
we would hope to take advantage of the conditions."
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