Formula One news

Impressive early pace for Honda

Honda enjoyed a positive start to what is one of the most demanding grand prix weekends of the year for both car and driver. At the conclusion of the opening free practice sessions, Jenson Button was lying in fourth position whilst team-mate Rubens Barrichello ended the day in 11th place. 

"We have made good progress over the day and I'm happy with the car and the balance, which is positive," said Button. "It's always difficult to know where we stand on a Friday versus the rest of the field but I'm hopeful that we can continue to improve the car through this evening and tomorrow."

Barrichello commented, "I was quite happy with the set-up of the car on old tyres this afternoon and we achieved some good work on the long run pace. However, I am still struggling with the set-up on new tyres so we need to look at the data overnight and improve on that for tomorrow."

Steve Clark, head of engineering added, "So far the results look quite encouraging. The balance of the car is not yet where we want it to be so we can still improve. However the pace is quite encouraging, particularly on race fuel loads. Whilst it is perhaps optimistic at this stage in the car's development, we hope to be challenging for a place in the final qualifying session tomorrow."

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