Honda F1 free practice report from Monaco
1 June 2000
FIA Formula 1 World Championship - Round 7 Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo Thursday Free Practice HONDA GETS TO GRIPS WITH THE STREETS OF MONTE CARLO Thursday 1 June 2000 Honda returned to the streets of Monte Carlo this afternoon for the first time in eight years, as the Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda team prepared for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix. The Mediterranean principality has been the venue for six of Honda's 71 race victories and today's free practice gave the drivers and engineers an opportunity to evaluate the particular demands of the street circuit. Used only once a year, the surface of the track is always slippery on the first day and a number of drivers came into contact with the walls today, bringing a procession of yellow flags from the marshals. Both Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta enjoyed trouble-free days, working on the set-up of the BAR Honda 002 during the two hours and choosing not to fit the new tyres that would have allowed them to set a qualifying-style lap time. The performance of the RA000E engine was again very good, Zonta posting the fastest speed of the day across the start finish line. Jacques Villeneuve Position: 12th 1min 23.438sec "The car is not too slow for Friday. We don't really know what other people were doing with fuel and tyres, but we found that the car was better on old tyres today. The car is hitting the bumps quite badly down the pit straight but otherwise the rest of the track is pretty good. Even though the speeds are not high, Monaco is always a thrilling place to drive because of the closeness of the barriers. It's an exciting weekend for everyone." Ricardo Zonta Position: 17th 1min 23.976sec "For my first time here, I was generally pleased with my performance today. I was quite fast in the first session this morning, but then we changed the car and maybe we went the wrong way. We'll come back a little on our settings and improve the car for Saturday." Takefumi Hosaka - Managing Director, Honda R&D "We have addressed the reliability issues of the last two races and we are confident that we will not experience the same problems again this weekend. After the recent tests, we have also improved the fuel consumption level of the engine and delivered further improvements in the power output throughout the range." Jordan Mugen Honda enjoyed an encouraging first day in Monaco, Heinz-Harald Frentzen setting the fifth fastest time of the day, with team mate Jarno Trulli just half a second behind in ninth place. Neither driver had any dramas around the tight streets and will be looking for a good performance in Saturday's qualifying session. 1/6/00 -------------------------------------------------------------- Honda Formula 1 Press Office, 19 Heathmans Road, London, SW6 4TJ, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7384 2133 Fax: +44 (0)20 7384 1238 Mobile: +44 (0)7771 868207