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Formula One: Bar Honda pleased with encouraging first day in Austria

15 July 2000

BAR Honda enjoyed an encouraging first day of free practice at the A1 Ring
as the Formula One teams prepared for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.
Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta made good progress with the handling
of their cars and both were able to head the timesheets at various stages
of today's proceedings. Midway through the second hour BAR Honda even held
the top two positions, before Zonta finished fifth and Villeneuve eighth.
	
The power of Honda's RA000E engine was once again demonstrated by the
performance of both drivers through the uphill first section of the lap
and the straight-line speed of the cars was shown by their consistent pace
through the circuit's speed traps. 

As expected, the A1 Ring was very 'green' this morning and the lap times
gradually came down by around five seconds as the cars laid down rubber
and cleaned up the dirty surface. There is a possibility of rain for
tomorrow's qualifying session, but BAR Honda will be hoping that
conditions stay dry to enable the drivers to make good use of today's
progress. 

Ricardo Zonta	Position: 5th	1min 13.052sec
"I'm really happy with today's running, not so much because of the
positions but because I was able to spend two hours improving all the
time. When you have problems with the car, you spend all your energy
making the problem better, not focusing on your driving. I was able to
look at the telemetry today and say, 'I'm losing two tenths in the
corner,' then changing my line and making up the time. We started the
session with a very good set-up and I think we could have a good result
tomorrow."

Jacques Villeneuve	Position: 8th	1min 13.463sec
"The car didn't feel great to drive today, but I guess it's working well
anyway. Judging your position after Friday's practice is always risky and
we don't know what the other teams are doing, but I think we're in pretty
good shape."

Takefumi Hosaka - Managing Director, Honda R&D	
"Because of our very good test at Silverstone we were able to make rapid
progress in the first session, which allowed the team to focus on details
for the remainder of the day. The new aerodynamic package is working very
well. Today's performance was in line with what we expected and is the
result of the good work that we have done."

As usual on a Friday, Jordan Mugen Honda spent the sessions evaluating
race set-ups for Sunday. Jarno Trulli completed 43 laps and Heinz-Harald
Frentzen 47 as the team acclimatised to the circuit. Trulli finished the
day sixth, Frentzen 18th.