Formula One news

Honda happy with practice pace

Honda was back on track in Imola today for the opening day of the European season which kicks off this weekend with the San Marino Grand Prix. Today's opening free practice sessions saw the usual Friday activity of tyre evaluations and set-up work, giving the drivers the opportunity to fine-tune the cars to the demands of this newly reprofiled circuit. The new chicane layout left the drivers struggling for grip during the morning session but the team was able to make good progress with evaluating its new aerodynamic and engine upgrades this afternoon when the circuit had 'rubbered in'.

"We've made a good start to the weekend, collecting plenty of data from our extensive tyre evaluation work," said Davidson. "The track conditions were very slippery this morning due to the asphalt around the new chicane but that improved this afternoon and I think we have got some good running under our belts."

Button commented, "We worked through our usual Friday programme and as usual have a lot of information to work with as a result of Anthony's running. We'll be taking a good look at the data tonight to assess how our developments for this race will suit us for the rest of the weekend and there is still some way to go with the set-up. Generally, a reasonably good start."

Barrichello added, "There was traffic everywhere today which made clean runs very difficult, however I had a generally problem-free day with the brakes working much better for me. We have some work to do on the balance yet but so far so good and let's see what tomorrow brings."

Sporting director Gil de Ferran commented, "We have had a reasonably good first day with Anthony getting good clean runs to compare tyres in practice one and two. As a result we have some very good data on this front. On the other hand there is still some room for improvement as far as the car balance is concerned, since all three drivers are unhappy with similar issues. Hopefully we can address some of these overnight and be in a strong position for qualifying tomorrow."

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