The Honda Racing F1 Team enjoyed its most successful qualifying session of the year in Monaco today, with Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button both making it through to Q3. The two drivers will start tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix from ninth and 10th places. Although the qualifying session was dry, heavy rain during this morning’s free practice session left the track very green and slippery. The team will now spend this evening finalising its strategy, ahead of tomorrow’s 78-lap race.
RUBENS BARRICHELLO “I would like to say a big thank you to the whole team today. We did a fantastic job to make it through to the final session. Little by little we are improving and although we still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do, we are encouraged. I know we will get back to where we belong. I’m very excited for tomorrow. This is always a great race but starting P9 really gives us a shot at the points.”
Race drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button each conducted two days of running in the new RA107 with test driver James Rossiter completing two days in the RA106 car as it comes towards the end of its testing schedule. Following a successful first test in Barcelona last week, the RA107 programme focused on the evaluation of different set-up options and the new controls software whilst continuing to put further mileage on the new chassis. The inclement weather experienced in the first two days of the test also allowed the team to run the RA107 on the Bridgestone Potenza wet tyres for the first time.
Rubens Barrichello...“We made a step forward this week in our understanding of the car, despite the poor weather which limited the amount of mileage covered on my two days of running. We focused on electronic controls work and set-up developments, along with some reliability running, before further new parts become available for the next tests. It is early days yet but I am happy with our current position.”
The Honda Racing F1 Team completed its four-day test at the Valencia circuit in Spain Friday. After inclement weather at the start of the week, the test was extended for an extra day to allow the teams to make up some of the track time lost on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Jenson Button continued his running in the RA107 for a second day and spent the early part of the morning session conducting check runs to establish a good balance on the car, before completing short new tyre runs. In the afternoon, Jenson continued the set-up programme for the RA107 as he ran through various set-up changes over longer runs.
Honda are feeling confident for the season ahead after the team’s 2007 challenger, the RA107, passed its first test with flying colours. The new car completed 178 laps, some 823 kilometres, at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya last week during the Japanese team’s three-day session. After a brief shakedown run at Silverstone on Monday of last week, the RA107 headed to Spain. Race driver Rubens Barrichello completed a private run on Wednesday, before taking charge of the new car during its official launch in front of the media on Thursday. In total the Brazilian covered 92 laps in the new car, clocking a fastest time of 1m 23.030s.
"It's been an exciting test for us this week and I'm glad to have had the chance to drive the new RA107 car,” said Barrichello. “The whole team has done a great job and the car is already on the same pace as last year's car, despite not having all of its development parts yet. There is a lot of work to do to get us ready for the start of the season, but from my laps this week, I really enjoyed the feeling of the car." The Brazilian’s team mate, Jenson Button, was also in attendance, although his initial run on Thursday was interrupted by a minor problem which saw him stop out on track. Button made it back out on Friday and completed 86 laps, the British driver’s best time a 1m 23.16s.
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