Formula One news

Honda happy with return of slicks

Honda engineers are happy that slicks are set to return to F1 from 2009 onwards, the team's head of race and test engineering, Steve Clark said after testing the slick Bridgestones at Jerez last week.

"The major talking point of this week was the opportunity to run the Bridgestone Potenza slick tyres which will be introduced in 2009. Additionally these tyres are planned for use without tyre blankets and a much reduced aero package," Clark explained. The combination of cold tyres and low downforce made for some pretty interesting out-laps for our drivers but overall they enjoyed the experience.  For engineers and drivers alike, the return to racing on slicks is something we are very much looking forward to."

Clark went on to say that the team has made good progress in testing, "This week's test was our second session with the new electronics system. Recent work on the engine dyno has rectified the power delivery issues that we identified three weeks ago in Barcelona and has seen us make good progress on the track. This, and other work underway to adapt to the 2008 electronics regulations, is useful preparation ahead of the debut of the RA108 early next year and for this reason it has been a very productive test.

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