Formula One news

Pecking order to shake out in January

BAR Honda chief test team engineer Mark Ellis says it won't be until late January that the pecking order of teams' 2006 cars will become clear. Honda will run an interim concept car as it has done in the past in winter testing.

"Until all the teams have launched their full 2006 cars I think it's going to be more difficult than usual," Ellis said. "In previous years where the rule changes have been minor, the performance of the cars has always been increasing, which makes it easier to gauge relative performance. But when the changes cause a clear step down in performance it makes it difficult. Until the end of January, there's going to be a mixture of car specifications running - 2005 cars with V10 engines, interim cars with restricted V10 engines, some with V8 engines and eventually full 2006 designs. Some of the cars will be easily matched and some won't, which makes comparison less simple."

"We're going to use our '06 Concept car," Ellis said. "This year it consists of the current race chassis and the new rear-end, including the new V8 engine. We will use the 2005 car a couple of times; once at Barcelona for some aero testing, and again in January when Rubens first drives for us."

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