Jerez - Honda - Test Day 3Honda completed a three-day test in Jerez in southern Spain today. The entire test was conducted in very hot conditions, with temperatures soaring to a high of 36 degrees.
Rubens Barrichello and Reserve and Test Driver Christian Klien were
the scheduled drivers for this test, the main focus of which was an evaluation of new mechanical and aerodynamic developments for next weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix and other European races.
After the cooler, wetter climes of the Eiffel Mountains at last weekend's European Grand Prix, Jerez provided a taste of temperatures to come at the Hungaroring in Budapest.
Christian Klien kick-started the Honda programme on day one. In the morning the teams made a slow start on a very dusty circuit but the circuit cleaned up well to allow Klien to complete 42 laps of aerodynamic evaluations. As the track temperature soared to 50 degrees in the afternoon, he completed a further 28 laps, making a total of 70 for the day.
Barrichello took over the reins of the RA107-06 on day two. He spent the morning establishing a good baseline set-up before embarking on the mechanical and aerodynamic evaluation programme, notching up a total of 50 laps. In the afternoon, Barrichello continued the aero programme for the day, taking his lap total to 79 for the day.
Today the Brazilian continued his assessment of the new aero developments.
He spent the early part of the morning finding a good set-up before running through the core programme and completing 39 laps. This afternoon he worked on various mechanical set-up changes and further aerodynamic evaluations and brought his total number of laps for the day to 86.
Rubens Barrichello"This week's test has been quite a challenge because of the very intense heat but this is good preparation for me because I hear that this year's Hungarian Grand Prix will be the hottest on record. We have made a lot of set-up adjustments with the car to establish a good baseline and the mechanical and aero parts seem to be an improvement. I hope we have the basis for another small step forward next weekend."
Christian Klien
"I had a good day but it was tough for everyone because of the heat. That's what we'll face in Hungary though so it was a good opportunity for acclimatisation. The temperatures were quite harsh on the tyres, which again is good preparation for the conditions we will experience at the Hungaroring. We did some good work with new developments for the next race and generally I think we can take another positive step in the right direction."
Jacky Eeckelaert, Engineering Director
"We have experienced three very productive days of testing in very hot weather conditions. The focus of our programme was preparing set-ups for the high downforce configuration of the Hungaroring circuit and putting new mechanical and aero parts through their paces. The car ran reliably throughout so we were able to complete a lot of running and we found a little more performance. Our new parts have now been signed-off and we look forward to seeing how they translate at the Hungarian Grand Prix."
Source Honda
