Productive test for Honda
The Honda Racing F1 Team has been hard at work on the test track this week, completing a three-day programme at its home circuit of Silverstone. After a detailed review of the problems in Imola last weekend, the team is now focusing on the positives from that race and improving on the step forward in race pace that the RA106 car demonstrated.
Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello and Anthony Davidson all joined the team over the three days at Silverstone with the test programme focusing on the usual chassis set-up and tyre development work. In addition to this, the team has continued to make progress with matching its clear qualifying pace to improved race performance on a Sunday afternoon.
Jenson and Anthony began the test on Tuesday. Following a heavy morning downpour, both drivers completed a wet tyre programme before moving onto chassis set-up work once the track had dried out. Jenson completed 59 laps, setting the second fastest time of the day, with Anthony running for 65 laps.
Rubens joined the team on Wednesday. He spent the day working through an intensive tyre programme, alongside an aero evaluation, completing 109 laps. Jenson continued to work through the set-up programme from Tuesday, in addition to a tyre evaluation looking at options for the Spanish and British Grands Prix. He completed 135 laps in total.
Anthony was back in the car on Thursday. He focused on tyre work, completing longer runs on the best of Wednesday's options and successfully completed his full test programme covering an impressive 143 laps. Rubens concentrated on chassis work, trying different set-ups, alongside an aero evaluation. He had a gearbox problem in the early afternoon but went on to complete 71 laps in total.
Jenson Button "We've had a good couple of days testing at Silverstone in preparation for the next few races. On my side, we've mostly been concentrating on set-up work following the issues from the last few races and we've been tyre testing with Michelin to work on tailoring the tyres to our car. I would say it has probably been one of our best tests this year, especially my second day when I was able to achieve significant mileage. We also did a lot of race distance work. In Imola we made a good step forward on this front and I think we will see that again at the Nurburgring."
Rubens Barrichello "The team has been working extremely hard this week and we are making progress on the set-up of the car. We managed to cover a lot of mileage over the two days, despite today's running being affected by a couple of minor issues. We spent a lot of time today working on different set-ups and the car was certainly getting better by the end of the day. We still need to continue to work on this area but I'm positive that we're looking good and we are of course ready to race next Sunday at the Nurburgring."
Anthony Davidson "We've had a productive couple of days at Silverstone this week, covering a lot of laps, particularly today. Again reliability has been strong, so that bodes well for the next few races. I focused on tyre testing today, looking at the constructions and compounds for the British Grand Prix, and we're happy with the results that we found. It's been a little bit difficult to find a good balance on the car today but we will go away and study the data and understand why this might be."
Mark Ellis - Chief Engineer Vehicle Performance "We have completed some very productive work this week continuing to improve on our race pace. Only our performance at the Nurburgring will tell how successful we have been, but we are confident that we have made some improvements. We also completed a comprehensive tyre programme with Michelin looking at the options for the Spanish and British Grands Prix."
Shuhei Nakamoto, Management Board Member - Honda Racing F1 Team, Engineering Director -Honda Racing Development "It's been a productive test on some new upgrades to the engine which we plan to introduce at the Spanish Grand Prix."
