Monza Test - End of Test Report
MONZA, ITALY 15 JUNE TEST REPORT The Honda Racing F1 Team concluded a three-day test in Monza, Italy, today in preparation for the back to back North American races which begin next weekend with the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. The United States Grand Prix follows just a week later in Indianapolis. Anthony Davidson and James Rossiter were at the wheel of the RA106 race cars as testing got underway on Tuesday in hot and sunny conditions. Both drivers conducted some acclimatisation work ahead of a brake evaluation programme. A Michelin tyre test followed in the afternoon in preparation for Indianapolis. Anthony completed an impressive 128 laps (741kms) in total, despite an engine problem confining him to the garage for part of the morning session. In his first ever outing at the Monza circuit, James recorded 117 laps (677kms) during his one day test. The track temperature soared to a high of 54 degrees on day two when Jenson Button joined the test alongside Anthony. After a couple of installation runs to quite literally clean the dust off the circuit, Anthony completed a comprehensive aero programme in preparation for the next two races and finished the morning with some chassis set-up work. Jenson also worked on some new aerodynamic developments. In the afternoon session, both drivers completed Michelin programmes to compare tyres for Indianapolis and the day culminated in a lap tally of 120 laps (695km) for Anthony and 117 for Jenson (678km), who missed the end of the afternoon session following an engine failure. Today, the third and final day of the test, saw Rubens Barrichello running alongside his team-mate Jenson as the pair worked on chassis settings, aero development and an important tyre casing programme. This morning, Jenson set the fastest time of the week - a 1:22.917 - and he went on to achieve a lap tally of 136 (787 kms) for the day. Rubens' morning was compromised by a small driveline problem which stopped him out on the circuit, but he went on to complete 89 laps (515 kms) of general set-up work during the day. Overall this has been a successful test with 707 laps and 4094 kms covered over the three days and with Jenson's lap time prevailing as the fastest overall on day three. Jenson Button "This week's test has gone well and I was able to complete over 250 laps in two days, which is obviously very good. The Montreal aero package work seemed to be positive and the results of our tyre programme were quite clear. We also worked through a number of other development items with some good results, so it was just a shame we had the engine failure yesterday. All in all a good test for us though." Rubens Barrichello "I've had a good day's testing today and with the many items I had to run through I think we managed to cover all of them. I was quite happy with the balance of the car and generally pleased with my lap time. It's hard to know where we stand versus the other teams as everyone has been testing different wing configurations for Canada, but I think we have done some good work for next weekend's race." Anthony Davidson "This has been a really productive test for me and I'm pleased to have achieved over 1400kms during the 2 days that I was running. The car was feeling good on the low downforce settings that we run in Monza, then when we switched to a more representative Montreal set-up I was pleased to find that we maintained a nice balance. We managed to get through a lot of important test items for the next two races and I think we are heading in the right direction." James Rossiter "I had a very positive one day test on Tuesday. We enjoyed good reliability so I was able to complete the full run plan which enabled the team to make some important assessments for Canada. We also did a lot of good tyre work for Indianapolis, which provided a good basis for the race drivers to pick up on when they joined the test. Overall, a solid 118 laps and some good work achieved." Mark Ellis - Chief Engineer, Vehicle Performance "We have had a very productive test over the course of the three days. We have covered a lot of laps with good reliability and have made solid progress with the aerodynamics and car set-up, working on solutions for the demands of the medium downforce circuits in Montreal and Indianapolis. We have also completed a comprehensive tyre test programme with Michelin and are happy with the proposed solutions for the US GP in two weeks' time." Shuhei Nakamoto Management Board Member - Honda Racing F1 Team, Engineering Director - Honda Racing Development "We've been focusing mainly on reliability work for the next couple of races, which place particularly heavy demands on the powerplant." TEST STATS Drivers Chassis Tuesday 13 June Wednesday 14 June Thursday 15 June Jenson Button RA106-06 - 117 laps Fastest lap 01:24.398 136 laps Fastest lap 01:22.917 Rubens BarrichelloRA106-02 - - 89 laps Fastest lap 01:23.840 Anthony Davidson RA106-02 128 laps Fastest lap 01:24.475 120 laps Fastest lap 01:23.989 - James Rossiter RA106-06 117 laps Fastest lap 01:25.530 - -