On the back of yesterday’s announcement that both Honda Racing F1 Team drivers will remain with the team in 2008, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello enjoyed a productive opening day of practice at the Nürburgring.

The cars ran trouble-free all day and the only hiccup to the programme was a rain shower between the two 1.5-hour sessions, which washed away the rubber from the first session.

Jenson and Rubens ended the opening session in eighth and 10th places respectively, having completed a total of 53 laps. In session two they closed the gap to the top of the time sheets and added another 62 laps to the total for the day. Jenson’s best lap in the afternoon was a 1:33.880s, which placed him eighth once again, while Rubens slipped to 14th in the order with a fastest of 1:34.411s.

The Honda Racing F1 Team can be confident that the drivers will extract the maximum from their RA107s over the weekend because they both know the 5.1km Nürburgring well and they’ve both had good results at the track in the past. Rubens won the European Grand Prix in 2002, while Jenson finished on the podium in 2004.

JENSON BUTTON
“Today’s running was always going to be difficult because of the weather. The rain after the first session left the track slightly damp for the start of the second. With the programme that we had, the work we did was positive and our long-run pace was reasonable. There is still a lot of work to do on our long-runs but the car worked well on both tyres and then on new tyres at the end. To get a good lap round here you need a very good set-up and today is not a bad start. We’re moving in the right direction.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“We made some big changes for the afternoon session and I was not very happy with the car as a result. They didn’t translate in the way that we hoped. The track was very different as well this afternoon after the rain and it was quite windy out there. We have learned some important things for the rest of the weekend though.”

JACKY EECKELAERT
Engineering Director
“The rain between the two sessions reduced somewhat the time available on a dry track in the second session. Jenson was able to find a good balance on both medium and soft tyres whereas Rubens is still not happy with the car balance, so we have some work to do in order to give him the car he needs for tomorrow.”