Formula One news

Honda struggling at Magny Cours

Honda's on-track preparations for Sunday's French Grand Prix got underway at the Circuit de Nevers today, with the first day of free practice running. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello completed a total of 110 laps and ended the day in 17th and 19th positions respectively. 

"It was a busy day as we had a number of items to evaluate on the car to find the best set-up for this track," said Barrichello. "Although the track conditions improved in the afternoon, we were not able to make as much progress as we hoped over the course of the day. We were expecting the car to perform better around this circuit, however it is evident that we have some work to do to get the balance right. Although we may have been running a different programme to our competitors, I think today reflects that we will be competing in the midfield pack this weekend."

Button commented, "It was a productive day today and we were able to achieve good mileage over the two sessions. We made progress during the course of the day and I felt happier with the car this afternoon. Unfortunately we were still lacking pace, which was a surprise as we were hoping to be challenging the top ten here in France."

Engineering chief Steve Clark added,  "A challenging day, but all is not lost. The lap times may not reflect the true pace of our cars today. Neither car had all the elements in place at the same time to put a lap together. We were making some fairly significant changes to the cars looking for a balance. It has to be said that we were expecting to have a better car than we had today."

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