Zoom Button on track when the rains came down

With the majority of teams in action at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, this week’s four-day test has allowed Honda to prepare for the next race on the calendar, the Spanish Grand Prix, which takes place next weekend. The team’s Test and Reserve Driver Alex Wurz began the programme on Monday, with Rubens Barrichello taking over the RA108 for Tuesday and Wednesday, and Jenson Button concluding the running on Thursday.

Alex’s focus on Monday was a Bridgestone ‘slick’ tyre evaluation as development work continues to prepare for their return in 2009. He also completed some valuable set-up work with the current RA108 car, covering 75 laps over the day.

Tuesday saw Rubens Barrichello at the wheel of the RA108 with the programme focused on the evaluation of development parts, along with further running of the 2009 tyres. Rubens completed 79 laps, setting the overall fastest time of the day whilst running on slicks towards the end of the afternoon.

Rubens was in action again on Wednesday and spent the morning continuing the aerodynamic and set-up evaluations, followed by a further programme using the slick tyres. With the full test programme successfully completed, Rubens' final lap tally was an impressive 140 laps around the demanding Barcelona circuit.

Jenson joined the team on Thursday for the final day of the test. Unfortunately the day was continuously interrupted by heavy rain showers which drenched the track, restricting Jenson to a single installation lap in the morning and only limited running on wet tyres for a further 41 laps in the afternoon.

Rubens Barrichello
“We had a very busy and successful test this week. On Wednesday, I had a good day evaluating the slick tyres and we were able to make some improvements to our set-up. It was nice to finish at the top of the timesheet, although it does not have too great a significance when only half of the field were running slicks. We ran our new aero upgrade for the first time and I’m encouraged by the performance. I felt a definite improvement, although the windy conditions made it difficult to quantify how much. We covered some good mileage and a lot of test items, particularly on Thursday when I completed 140 laps. Overall I have good reason to be positive for the Spanish Grand Prix and I hope that we can get into the points there.”

Jenson Button
“It’s unfortunate that my day in the car this week coincided with the bad weather that we have experienced today. I was only able to complete 42 laps, mostly on wet tyres, and could not really gather any information from those laps. Thankfully the team had three good days of testing earlier in the week so we are well prepared for the race weekend.”