Honda previews the Malaysian GP

Following a short break after the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the Honda Racing F1 Team arrived in Kuala Lumpur at the beginning of this week to begin preparations for Round Two of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.

The first official F1 test was held at the Sepang International Circuit this week as the Honda team continued the development programme for the RA107 race car in the hot and humid conditions which make Malaysia one of the toughest and most physically demanding stops on the F1 calendar.

Shuhei Nakamoto, Senior Technical Director “At the Sepang test this week we focused our efforts on evaluating the aerodynamic developments for the RA107 alongside work on braking stability and general mechanical set-up. Although we were unable to realise our potential in Australia, we are confident that the RA107 is fundamentally a good car and expect to be able to make good technical progress with it in a wide range of areas. We will use the next few races to improve to a more competitive level.”

Jenson Button “The Malaysian Grand Prix is a race which has great significance and memories for me as I scored my first F1 podium here back in 2004. The Sepang circuit is a very tough track and the race weekend is hard work for everyone, not just the drivers behind the wheel, but for the team and the car as well. The intense heat inevitably focuses our technical concerns on cooling, particularly as we run for almost seventy per cent of the lap at full throttle. The humidity is physically very wearing and you have to spend your time balancing the need to keep cool with the need to be physically prepared to deal with the heat during the race. In the build-up to the weekend, I’ll be training outside as much as possible to acclimatise and spending last week here for the test has also helped with that process.

Sepang has some great opportunities for overtaking. Turn one is a good chance, along with the right hander at Langkawi and the left hander at Berjaya Tioman. For a really quick lap, you need a car which is aerodynamically sound but with the least drag possible. Too much front end grip will lose you a lot of time in turns five and six.”