Formula One: Honda F1 Free Practice from Magny-Cours
1 July 2000
FIA Formula 1 World Championship - Round 9 French Grand Prix, Magny-Cours Friday Free Practice BAR HONDA CONCLUDES FREE PRACTICE IN MAGNY-COURS Friday 30 June 2000 Under the glorious blue skies of central France, Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda began preparations for the French Grand Prix with today's first sessions of free practice. The Magny-Cours circuit is well known for its changeable characteristics and many teams decided not to do too many laps in the two hours of track activity. Most teams had already enjoyed three full days testing here last week and elected to save tyres for use later in the weekend. BAR Honda drivers, Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta were not concerned by today's time sheets, as neither chose to fit new rubber in an attempt to secure a fast time. The team was also running new aerodynamic components for the first time. Ricardo was unfortunate to lose track time, after an oil leak was discovered towards the end of the first session, necessitating an unscheduled engine change, but he was back on the track midway through the second hour. Jacques Villeneuve Position: 18th 1min 19.130sec "We were just doing our homework for the race today, so we're not overly worried about our overall position. We have some new parts on the car this weekend, so we worked on getting a good chassis balance with them. We just did our own thing really and confirmed some of the work from last week's test." Ricardo Zonta Position: 21st 1min 19.697sec "Inevitably, everybody was on new tyres first thing this morning and that was when the fastest times were set. We went a little bit the wrong way on the chassis settings for my first run, after which the tyres were past their best. After we had changed the engine, I had no chance to improve my time. We should be able to do better tomorrow." Takefumi Hosaka - Managing Director, Honda R&D "The results of last week's testing do not seem to be consistent with today's performance. An oil leak on Ricardo's engine forced an unscheduled engine change, but we have already identified the cause to ensure that it will not be repeated." Jordan Mugen Honda chose to remain in the garage throughout the entire first hour, waiting for the other teams to lay down some rubber on the track. When they emerged in the second session, Jarno Trulli immediately set the fifth fastest time to that point, providing encouragement for the coming weekend. He finished the session seventh, with team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen in tenth position.