The Honda Racing F1 Team today completed the first of two finalpre-season tests which are being held at the Bahrain InternationalCircuit.
Testing outside of Europe for the first time this year, race driversJenson Button and Rubens Barrichello took part in all three days ofrunning, maximising their track time in the new RA107 car before theFormula One season begins with the Australian Grand Prix on 18 March.
Jenson gave the latest new chassis its first outing on Thursday. Afterinitial set-up work, he ran through an aero programme alongside new tyreruns, covering 84 laps. Rubens concentrated on finding a good set-upbefore completing long tyre runs over a race distance for a total of 102laps.
Jenson spent the second day of the test working through an aeroevaluation, followed by a race simulation, completing 117 laps. Rubenscontinued to focus on chassis set-up in his car alongside an aeroprogramme, completing 73 laps.
On the final day, both drivers spent the morning concentrating on aeroevaluations and chassis work. Jenson continued his aero programme intothe afternoon session with Rubens running through a full racesimulation. Jenson completed 79 laps with Rubens totalling 130 laps.
The Honda Racing F1 Team will resume testing in Bahrain on Tuesday 27February.
Jenson Button"This week we have continued our programme of set-up work on the car andassessed some new aero parts which we are running for the first time. Wealso completed a number of race distance simulations which wentsmoothly. We have one final test now before the start of the season soI'm looking forward to next week and having some more new parts totest."
Rubens Barrichello"It's been a good week in Bahrain for us and we have completed all themileage that we had planned. The car proved reliable and it also seemsto work well in the hot temperatures so we have been more competitivehere. We have still got some fine-tuning to do on the car as the balanceis not quite there yet, so next week's test will be important to help usresolve this before the season starts."
Jacky Eeckelaert - Engineering Director"The first Bahrain test this week has given both Jenson and Rubens theopportunity to test some new aerodynamic developments which will be usedfor the first race of the season in Melbourne. Both drivers alsocompleted full race simulation exercises in the hot track temperatureswhich has provided useful information for us. The test programme hasgone well and we look forward to continuing the development with furthernew parts arriving for next week."
TEST STATS (All timings are unofficial)
Drivers Chassis Thursday 22 FebruaryFriday 23 February Saturday 24 February Jenson Button RA107-04 84 laps Fastest lap 01:32.099117 laps Fastest lap 01:31.807 79 laps Fastest lap01:32.137 Rubens Barrichello RA107-01 102 laps Fastest lap 01:32.57073 laps Fastest lap 01:32.614 130 laps Fastest lap01:32.115
