Steady progress in China for Honda

The Honda Racing F1 Team’s preparations for the penultimate race of the 2007 season got underway in China today at the Shanghai International Circuit. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello used today’s two free practice sessions to set-up the RA107s to suit the demands of this medium-high-downforce track and evaluate the hard and medium compound Bridgestone Potenza tyres available for this race.

At the start of session one, the track conditions were very slippery and after completing their installation laps, both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello remained in the pits until more rubber was laid on the racing line. Once the grip levels had improved, the drivers set to work and completed a total of 40 laps, with their fastest laps separated by less than 0.1s.

For the afternoon, the drivers worked on the set-ups of their RA107s and lapped quicker than in the morning. Jenson ended up 12th and Rubens 13th after adding a further 81 laps to the day’s total. Both drivers ended the day with 0.1s of each other, indicating that they were getting the best from the car.

The engineers will spend this evening analysing the data gathered during today’s two sessions before making their final set-up choices for tomorrow’s qualifying session.

Jenson Button“Today's running was positive with a good number of laps covered. We were able to get a sound understanding of both the prime and option tyres and the car is working reasonably well. We tried a few different set-ups over the two sessions and have a lot of information to go through this evening to prepare for the rest of the weekend."

Rubens Barrichello "This has been a better Friday for me than at the last two races so I am pleased with our day. The car was well balanced for the long runs and the pace seems reasonable for this stage of the weekend. I am still using the spare car since changing chassis before qualifying in Japan and I have been happier with that. Overall a positive start to the weekend and actually better than we expected here in Shanghai."

Jacky Eeckelaert, Engineering Director “We conducted our usual race preparation by a long run comparison of both types of tyre. By the end of the day we had found a good balance on both compounds. Using that data we will work out the best strategy for Sunday’s race.”