Barrichello fastest in his first day

Rubens Barrichello joined the Honda Racing F1 Team in Jerez today for his very first test with the team. Barrichello began the day running in the 2005 car with a V10 engine. The circuit was again very cold this morning, so the he completed a series of installation runs to acclimatise to the car and establish his driving position.

Once the circuit had warmed up, he was able to go back out and complete his first full runs to evaluate the car. He completed 33 laps in a long morning session.

The Brazilian completed a further three runs in the 2005 car in the afternoon, continuing his set-up work. He totalled 45 laps today in the 2005 car, concluding the team’s V10 programme.

Barrichello then moved to the 2006 Concept car for his first run in a V8-engined car. Frequent circuit red lights limited his running to 8 laps but it was enough to give him the chance to learn the car before his first full day with the V8 car tomorrow.

Anthony Davidson continued in the second Concept car today. His early morning runs were also confined to system checks due to the cold weather. Once the track had warmed up sufficiently he completed a couple of set-up runs before turning to a tyre evaluation programme, totalling 107 laps today.

Davidson will continue in chassis 078-07 tomorrow, with Barrichello in chassis 078-07.

1 R. Barrichello 01:16.712 V10
2 P. De La Rosa 01:16.729 V10
3 M. Gene 01:18.539 V10
4 F. Alonso 01:18.688 V8
5 M. Webber 01:18.807 V8
6 R. Zonta 01:18.910 V8
7 N. Rosberg 01:19.027 V8
8 A. Davidson 01:19.092 V8
9 J. Trulli 01:19.155 V8
10 G. Fisichella 01:19.460 V8
11 G. Paffett 01:19.604 V10
12 N. Heidfeld 01:20.152 V8
13 S. Speed 01:21.015 V10
14 C. Klien 01:21.475 V8