Honda hopes for points at Indianapolis
The Honda Racing F1 Team heads south from Canada to the United States this week for Round Ten of the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship. The second race in the mid-season double-header will take place on Sunday at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the second oldest venue in the F1 calendar.
Following the events of the 2005 United States Grand Prix, all of the Formula One teams will be keen to put on an exciting show for the thousands of motor racing fans who will be attending over the weekend.
Rubens Barrichello “I really enjoy racing in the United States and have a lot of friends based there so I always look forward to this particular race. The track itself is a lot of fun with some great overtaking places and it feels good to drive through the first corner of the oval banking flat out, although it is an easy corner for us in an F1 car. Indianapolis has such a strong motor racing heritage and traditionally puts on a great show so I hope that the race weekend goes really well this year for all the fans who come to watch. I had a disappointing race in Montreal so we will be hoping for better this weekend, but it will be tough for us until we return to testing and work on improving the performance of the car. ”
Jenson Button “It’s always exciting to race at a venue which has such a strong history and Indianapolis always has a great atmosphere. The circuit itself is very slow with the tight in-field section. I generally prefer fast flowing circuits but you can overtake around here which should make for some exciting racing for the fans. We will be using different tyres at Indy to those we used last weekend in Montreal so I am hoping that we can have a better race there. I also hope that we can give the American public a really good race this year.”
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director “Whilst we were obviously disappointed with our result in Canada, we have less than a week now to prepare and optimise our package for the United States Grand Prix this coming weekend. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a very challenging circuit, where the tight infield sections lead into the oval and one of the longest open-throttle sections of any of the tracks on the F1 calendar, calling for a difficult compromise between car set-up, aerodynamics and gearing. Besides my strong personal emotional connection with the place, we all enjoy the very special atmosphere of Indianapolis and very much look forward to returning there this year for what I’m sure will be a great race.”
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana
Race Distance: 73 laps
Circuit Length: 2.605 miles (4.192 kms)
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the second oldest motor-racing venue currently in use. The 4.192 kms course that snakes through the infield also utilises part of the fabled Indianapolis oval. Indianapolis has played host to Formula One since 2000 and now forms a mid-season set of back-to-back races with Canada.
Tony George, head of the Speedway Corporation and a descendent of the Hulman family that has steered the fortunes of the historic American track, pulled out all the stops to create a world-class racing circuit that could provide a permanent home for the United States Grand Prix. In pursuit of that goal, he made radical changes to the original Speedway by demolishing buildings, erecting a new pit complex and grandstands, and building today’s challenging road course.
Overtaking is much easier at Indianapolis than at most tracks, with clear passing opportunities into turns one and eight, both second-gear corners proceeded by long straights. The slowest part of the track is the 40mph turn eight, the first part of an extremely tight S-bend, while the fastest is turn thirteen. This is the first corner of the oval and is taken flat-out at 185mph in an F1 car.
