Formula 1
Hungarian GP: Honda Friday practice notes
TWO HONDA-POWERED DRIVERS IN TOP EIGHT ON FRIDAY Sato, Button and Davidson finish sixth, eighth and 12th at Hungaroring Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda's Takuma Sato set the sixth fastest time of the afternoon in Friday Free Practice at the Hungaroring ...
Published: Aug 14, 2004, 6:57 AM
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TWO HONDA-POWERED DRIVERS IN TOP EIGHT ON FRIDAY
Sato, Button and Davidson finish sixth, eighth and 12th at Hungaroring
Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda's Takuma Sato set the sixth fastest time of the afternoon in Friday Free Practice at the Hungaroring in preparation for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. Team-mate Jenson Button finished the afternoon eighth while B.A.R Honda third driver Anthony Davidson was 12th at the end of the day.
Honda-powered Sato finished the morning session 19th and enjoyed a trouble-free afternoon, covering 35 laps overall and ending the session sixth with a best time of 1m21.364s.
Button completed 14 laps in the morning practice session and set the 10th fastest time around the 2.722miles/4.381km Hungaroring. The Briton went on to clock a 1m21.685s, covering 19 laps and ending the afternoon in eighth place.
Davidson, who was the third fastest man on track this morning, notched up 58 laps overall and set a best time of 1m22.356s to finish the afternoon 12th.
In warm and sunny weather (air 26, track 37 degrees) Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) set the pace this afternoon, followed by Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) and the Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya. McLaren's David Coulthard, Toyota's Olivier Panis and B.A.R Honda's Takuma Sato set the fourth, fifth and sixth fastest times while Antonio Pizzonia (Williams) and B.A.R Honda's Jenson Button ended the afternoon seventh and eighth.
Takuma Sato Position: 6th
"I'm happy with our performance today and I think this is a good indication of how strong we will be this weekend. I haven't driven the new circuit before as the track was changed for last year when I wasn't racing, so I had some acclimatisation to do this morning. The car is very strong though and I think we should be on similar pace as we were in Germany three weeks ago. I have come back from the three week break feeling physically and mentally relaxed and I'm really looking forward to the weekend."
Jenson Button Position: 8th
"I'm really pleased to be back on track after the three week break. I'm focusing purely on the Hungarian Grand Prix, which promises to be a very exciting race for us, not least because the weather is throwing up some surprises."
"As is always the case here, the track conditions were very dusty this morning and Anthony did most of the running in the second session. This afternoon gave us a better opportunity to evaluate the tyres and start to work on set-up. The car is looking strong though and we now have to continue working towards our objective of a podium here this weekend."
Anthony Davidson Position: 12th
"I had a very good morning session and was pleased to be up there with the Ferraris. The track started to clean up this afternoon and we could have improved a lot, but I struck the inside kerb at turn five a bit too hard and had to come in, which lost me track time and the chance of a better lap."
"It was nice to come to a circuit where I have raced before but unfortunately we couldn't do a quick lap on new tyres. I'm happy with the tyre choice for Jenson and Taku and believe we should have a good chance of a strong result this weekend."
Shuhei Nakamoto -- Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development
"In total our three drivers have completed well over a race distance today so we have got back into things well after the break. The grid is very close and I think the battle for pole will be very tough tomorrow -- several drivers seem to have a good chance including Taku and Jenson."
-honda-
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