Formula One news
Honda finds surprising pace at Valencia
22 August 2008 / Results / PhotosHonda's Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button spent the opening 15 minutes of the first session acclimatising to the circuit before getting down to the serious business of honing their RA108s to this demanding 25-corner racetrack. As expected, grip levels at Valencia improved as more rubber was laid down on the new asphalt. They completed a total of 56 laps with Rubens and Jenson ending the first session in 11th and 17th positions.
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The Briton completed a total of 35 laps in session two and set the third fastest time of the day, a 1:39.546s, on Bridgestone's super-soft rubber. His time was just 0.069s slower than Kimi Raikkonen's best at the top of the time sheets and marks his best start to a Grand Prix weekend this year. Rubens, meanwhile, struggled with braking problems on his car and ended the day in 20th place.
"It was good to finally get out on the new Valencia street circuit today after previously experiencing the lap on the simulator and having a closer look during our track walk yesterday," Button said. "We were struggling with very low grip this morning and I'm sure that was the same for everyone out there. The track is very dusty and if you go offline, your tyres are quickly covered in dirt, which makes it difficult to be consistent. We made a lot of changes to the car this afternoon which have proved positive and provided a great deal of useful information to study this evening. It was nice to do a quick lap at the end on the option tyre. Hopefully we can further improve the car overnight and be reasonably competitive for qualifying tomorrow."
Barrichello commented, "The new circuit here in Valencia is impressive and the grip levels have been improving throughout the day, so the lap times are becoming more representative. We had a good morning session and I felt the car was quite well-balanced but this afternoon it was almost like I had a completely different car. We changed some parts for the session and unfortunately they had a real impact on the car's performance, which along with some braking concerns, meant that we were unable to progress. I'm confident that we can resolve these concerns overnight and get back on the pace for qualifying tomorrow."
Head of engineering, Steve Clark added, "The track is very dirty as it is so new and it's very easy to lose a bit of direction as the track improves, the car balance changes and the tyres behave differently. There are also some unknowns like the optimum downforce level and the drivers finding the racing line. In addition there is the additional challenge of getting the brakes to work correctly. There is quite a lot to get to grips with and we have to do so as quickly as possible. Fortunately we have two very experienced drivers which makes the process a lot easier.
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