Formula 1

European GP: Honda Friday practice notes

B.A.R HONDA'S BUTTON SECOND FASTEST IN FREE PRACTICE AT THE NURBURGRING Button, Davidson and Sato finish second, seventh and 10th in preparation for European GP Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda's Jenson Button went on a late charge this afternoon to set ...

Edited: May 29, 2004, 12:02 AM

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B.A.R HONDA'S BUTTON SECOND FASTEST IN FREE PRACTICE AT THE NURBURGRING
Button, Davidson and Sato finish second, seventh and 10th in preparation for European GP

Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda's Jenson Button went on a late charge this afternoon to set the second fastest time at the Nürburgring in preparation for the European Grand Prix this Sunday. Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato finished free practice this afternoon in seventh and 10th position respectively.

Button's lap of 1m29.618s, which he set in the final 10 minutes of the hour long session, moved the B.A.R Honda driver up the time sheets to P2, just three tenths of a second off McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen's time of 1m29.355s.

B.A.R Honda's Man Friday, Davidson, was on superb form this morning, setting a new lap record at the German circuit and the fastest time of the morning of 1m29.447s, which was enough to dislodge Michael Schumacher's Ferrari just as the morning session came to a close. Davidson finished the second free practice session seventh, with a best lap of 1m30.028s.

Sato, who was 14th in the first free practice session, battled with understeer this afternoon and finished the second session 10th, setting a time of 1m30.283s.

In sunny but fairly chilly weather conditions McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen topped the time sheets this afternoon, followed by B.A.R Honda's Jenson Button and Williams' Ralf Schumacher. David Coulthard (McLaren) and Jarno Trulli (Renault) set the fourth and fifth fastest times while Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello, B*A*R Honda's Anthony Davidson and Renault's Fernando Alonso finished the afternoon sixth, seventh and eighth.

Jenson Button Position: 2nd

"We've had a good first day today and have obtained a lot of information from all three cars. The lack of grip has been a problem throughout the day though. We struggled this morning and were expecting the grip level to improve this afternoon, but it didn't. Probably because the temperature is quite cool and it's a little windy. Anthony has done some good work on the longer runs but this is something we still need to improve on."

"It's only Friday and it's difficult to see how much of today's results is down to teams improving or their fuel loads. Generally, we have some work to do but I think we're going to be strong here. After Monaco, it will also be good to race at a track where it's possible to overtake."

Anthony Davidson Position: 7th

"I'm really pleased with my performance today. This is another circuit which I have no experience of, so I'm really pleased that I was able to set a new lap record at the end of what is essentially a familiarisation session. It's an enjoyable track to drive as it has a bit of everything - slow, medium and quick corners."

"After six races I've really got into the swing of working closely as a team with Jenson, Taku and the engineers, and I'm happy to be making a valuable contribution. We've made a good start to the race programme so it looks like we have another exciting weekend in store at B*A*R."

Takuma Sato Position: 10th

"We struggled a little to achieve the right balance today so we need to work on that for tomorrow. But we do not foresee any problems and will be spending a lot of time looking at tyre data from today's runs with all three cars. I hope that the track will improve tomorrow because we were struggling for grip throughout the day today. Overall I'm feeling quite positive about the weekend ahead."

Shuhei Nakamoto - Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development:

"We have had a busy day. Anthony once again did a solid job and has provided us with a lot of data to look at tonight. Jenson and Takuma are both looking in good shape for the remainder of the weekend."

-honda-

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