Spanish GP: Honda Friday practice notes

HONDA-POWERED DRIVERS TOP TIME SHEETS IN BARCELONA
Button and Davidson set the pace in Friday free practice

Another outstanding Friday afternoon for Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda as Jenson Button and third driver Anthony Davidson topped the time sheets in Barcelona, setting the first and second fastest times this afternoon in cool but sunny conditions at the Circuit de Catalunya in preparation for the Spanish Grand Prix this Sunday.

Barcelona is familiar territory for the B.A.R Honda trio as much of the team's test programme is conducted here during the year, and it didn't take long for Button and Davidson to make their mark. Just over half way through the afternoon session, the Britons were trading first and second place, Button finally securing the top spot with a 1m15.935s lap 10 minutes from the end of the session.

Davidson's lap of 1m16.188s lap, which was four tenths quicker than his best lap this morning, secured P2 for the Honda-powered driver, who continues to impress as B.A.R Honda's Friday tester.

It was not as good a day for Sato however, the Japanese driver completing only four laps in the afternoon before his B.A.R Honda 006 suffered a clutch problem and he had to return to the pits to watch the rest of the session from the garage. Before he stopped, Sato recorded a 1m17.970s, placing him 18th this afternoon.

Ricardo Zonta (Toyota), Ralf Schumacher (Williams) and Renault's Fernando Alonso finished third, fourth and fifth in the afternoon session behind B.A.R Honda's Jenson Button and Anthony Davidson. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello finished sixth just ahead of team-mate Michael Schumacher in seventh. The German set the fastest time of the day overall this morning of 1m15.658s.

Shuhei Nakamoto - Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development:

"Another good solid day for us. Anthony and Jenson's times are good and we have every reason to be confident of continuing our run of podiums. I am sure that Takuma will not suffer too much from his problem as we do so much running at Barcelona and we know the car and engine settings very well for this track."

Jenson Button Position: 1st

"Today has gone quite well and I'm pleased to be at the top of the timesheets at the end of the day. There has been quite low grip today but I'm happy with the balance of the car. There will be more to come as the track gets better and generally it looks like this is going to be another positive weekend for us."

Anthony Davidson Position: 2nd

"Today has gone really well for me and for the team. We ended the second session first and second fastest - second being my best position in Friday practice so far this season, so I'm happy with that. We're pretty confident on tyre choice for the race now. The car feels really good. I did a longer run on both tyre options and the car felt nice and stable and good to drive. It was consistent throughout and not just good on one lap so, as we thought, we should have a good car here this weekend."

Takuma Sato Position: 18th

"It's very disappointing to end the day early with a mechanical problem. I have completed only four timed laps from a total of 10 laps all day and this means we haven't completed all the set-up and tyre work that prepares us for tomorrow's qualifying. It's a great shame because once again the car has been strong and feeling positive so far. The track conditions took a while to improve because it was very dusty this morning. We made a good start to the second session on older tyres, and I was running 2nd fastest when I came in with my clutch-related problem. I have to hope that I can have two very productive sessions tomorrow morning in readiness for qualifying so we have some work to do this evening to ensure that happens."

-honda-