The Honda Racing F1 Team today completed a three-day test at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain.
Whilst Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello concentrated on the continued development of the new RA107 car, Christian Klien rounded off the test programme for last year’s RA106.
Jenson began the test with the RA107 on Tuesday, spending his early laps finding a good balance on the car before working through tyre and aero evaluations over the course of the day, completing 99 laps. He continued his aero programme on Wednesday, covering a further 95 laps.
Rubens took over in the RA107 on Thursday as wet and windy weather hit the circuit. He spent the day working on the balance and set-up of the new chassis in the changing track conditions, using the wet and extreme wet Bridgestone Potenza tyres. Rubens completed 66 laps in total.
Christian Klien ran in the RA106 on Tuesday completing electronic controls work and race start simulations over 33 laps.
IndyCar Series driver Marco Andretti also joined the team in Jerez this week for his second opportunity to drive the RA106. Marco began his programme on Wednesday and spent the morning re-acclimatising himself to the car, before completing data gathering exercises and race start simulations in the afternoon, covering 74 laps. With the poor weather on Thursday, Marco had his first chance to experience an F1 car in wet conditions, covering 63 laps.
Weather conditions: Sunny in the morning, cloudy in the course of the afternoon
Temperatures: Air: 8/17°C, Track: 8/24°C
Number of cars participating: 16
Fastest lap overall: 1:19.690 min, Felipe Massa, Ferrari
TODAY’S LAP TIMES
All timings are unofficial
1 N. Heidfeld (BMW) 01:29.490
2 A. Wurz (Williams) 01:230.050
3 T. Glock (BMW) 01:30.227
4 K. Raikkonen (Ferrari) 01:30.618
5 R. Barrichello (Honda) 01:30.687
6 N. Rosberg (Williams) 01:30.690
7 F. Massa (Ferrari) 01:30.733
8 J. Trulli (Toyota) 01:30.981
9 F. Montagny (Toyota) 01 :31.025
10 D. Coulthard (Red Bull) 01:31.165
11 M. Webber (Red Bull) 01:31.402
12 P De La Rosa (McLaren) 01:31.477
13 F. Alonso (McLaren) 01:31.571
14 M. Andretti (Honda) 01:32.397
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DaveK
