The Honda Racing F1 Team concluded a three-day test in Monza, Italy,today in preparation for the back to back North American races whichbegin next weekend with the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. The UnitedStates Grand Prix follows just a week later in Indianapolis.

Anthony Davidson and James Rossiter were at the wheel of the RA106 racecars as testing got underway on Tuesday in hot and sunny conditions.Both drivers conducted some acclimatisation work ahead of a brakeevaluation programme. A Michelin tyre test followed in the afternoon inpreparation for Indianapolis.  Anthony completed an impressive 128 laps(741kms) in total, despite an engine problem confining him to the garagefor part of the morning session.  In his first ever outing at the Monzacircuit, James recorded 117 laps (677kms) during his one day test.

The track temperature soared to a high of 54 degrees on day two whenJenson Button joined the test alongside Anthony. After a couple ofinstallation runs to quite literally clean the dust off the circuit,Anthony completed a comprehensive aero programme in preparation for thenext two races and finished the morning with some chassis set-up work.Jenson also worked on some new aerodynamic developments.  In theafternoon session, both drivers completed Michelin programmes to comparetyres 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 ofthe afternoon session following an engine failure.

Today, the third and final day of the test, saw Rubens Barrichellorunning alongside his team-mate Jenson as the pair worked on chassissettings, aero development and an important tyre casing programme.  Thismorning, Jenson set the fastest time of the week - a 1:22.917 - and hewent on to achieve a lap tally of 136 (787 kms) for the day.  Rubens'morning was compromised by a small driveline problem which stopped himout on the circuit, but he went on to complete 89 laps (515 kms) ofgeneral set-up work during the day.

Overall this has been a successful test with 707 laps and 4094 kmscovered over the three days and with Jenson's lap time prevailing as thefastest overall on day three.

Jenson Button"This week's test has gone well and I was able to complete over 250 lapsin two days, which is obviously very good. The Montreal aero packagework seemed to be positive and the results of our tyre programme werequite clear.  We also worked through a number of other development itemswith some good results, so it was just a shame we had the engine failureyesterday.  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 torun through I think we managed to cover all of them. I was quite happywith 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 hasbeen testing different wing configurations for Canada, but I think wehave 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 haveachieved over 1400kms during the 2 days that I was running. The car wasfeeling good on the low downforce settings that we run in Monza, thenwhen we switched to a more representative Montreal set-up I was pleasedto find that we maintained a nice balance. We managed to get through alot of important test items for the next two races and I think we areheading in the right direction."

James Rossiter"I had a very positive one day test on Tuesday.  We enjoyed goodreliability so I was able to complete the full run plan which enabledthe team to make some important assessments for Canada.  We also did alot of good tyre work for Indianapolis, which provided a good basis forthe race drivers to pick up on when they joined the test.  Overall, asolid 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 solidprogress with the aerodynamics and car set-up, working on solutions forthe demands of the medium downforce circuits in Montreal andIndianapolis. We have also completed a comprehensive tyre test programmewith Michelin and are happy with the proposed solutions for the US GP intwo weeks' time."

Shuhei NakamotoManagement Board Member - Honda Racing F1 Team, Engineering Director -Honda Racing Development "We've been focusing mainly on reliability work for the next couple ofraces, which place particularly heavy demands on the powerplant."

TEST STATS

Drivers     Chassis Tuesday 13 JuneWednesday 14 June    Thursday 15 June Jenson Button RA106-06 -117 laps  Fastest lap 01:24.398 136 laps  Fastest lap 01:22.917Rubens BarrichelloRA106-02 --      89 laps    Fastest lap01:23.840Anthony Davidson  RA106-02 128 laps  Fastest lap 01:24.475120 laps  Fastest lap 01:23.989 - James Rossiter  RA106-06 117 laps  Fastest lap 01:25.530