Davidson fastest in Melbourne

Promising first day for the Honda Racing F1 Team in Melbourne.

The Honda Racing F1 Team kicked off its Australian Grand Prix weekend in fine style today, with the team’s third driver Anthony Davidson topping the timesheets in both one-hour practice sessions.

Davidson completed 54 laps of the 5.303-kilometre Albert Park track, where he last drove in 2004. His workload included set-up and tyre comparisons, and he set his best lap of 1:26.822s at the end of session two.

Such was Davidson’s progress that Honda’s race drivers, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, were able to limit their mileage and conserve their RA106s. Jenson has a new engine this weekend, as per the FIA’s two-race engine rule, but didn’t complete a flying lap in session one.

In session two Button and Barrichello appeared for the last 20 minutes, when track conditions were at their best, and both men were immediately on the pace. Jenson completed 12 laps, with a best time of 1:27.213s; Rubens did some longer runs to stack up a total of 20 laps, with a fastest of 1:28.075s.

The weather conditions were relatively cool in Melbourne today, with the ambient and track temperatures struggling to climb above 22 and 25 degrees respectively. More of the same is expected for the remainder of the weekend, so the team will need to analyse how the cooler conditions will affect tyre wear when they make their tyre choice this evening.

JENSON BUTTON
“It’s been a positive start to the weekend and so far, so good. The circuit had very low grip but we ran through everything we intended to and, most importantly, it’s good that Anthony completed all his test items.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“I have had a much better Friday today than at the past two races. We had a little problem this morning so it’s good that we got some good running this afternoon but I’m definitely looking a lot more competitive. I hope we can continue like this through the rest of the weekend and it should be a better race for me.”

PRACTICE 1
1 Anthony Davidson (Honda Racing F1 Team) 1:28.259
2 Robert Doornbos (RBR-Ferrari) 1:28.559
3 Jacques Villeneuve (Sauber-BMW) 1:28.595
4 Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:28.713
5 Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:29.025
6 Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) 1:29.041
7 Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) 1:29.411
8 Alexander Wurz (Williams-Cosworth) 1:29.461
9 Robert Kubica (Sauber-BMW) 1:29.576
10 Christian Klien (RBR-Ferrari) 1:29.601
11 David Coulthard (RBR-Ferrari) 1:29.676
12 Scott Speed (STR-Cosworth) 1:31.017
13 Christijan Albers (MF1-Toyota) 1:31.039
14 Tiago Monteiro (MF1-Toyota) 1:31.812
15 Takuma Sato (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:34.036
16 Yuji Ide (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:36.684
17 Markus Winkelhock (MF1-Toyota) 1:36.859
18 Neel Jani (STR-Cosworth) 1:40.818
19 Fernando Alonso (Renault) No time
20 Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) No time
21 Jarno Trulli (Toyota) No time
22 Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren-Mercedes) No time
23 Nick Heidfeld (Sauber-BMW) No time
24 Rubens Barrichello (Honda Racing F1 Team) No time
25 Vitantonio Liuzzi (STR-Cosworth) No time
26 Mark Webber (Williams-Cosworth) No time
27 Nico Rosberg (Williams-Cosworth) No time
28 Jenson Button (Honda Racing F1 Team) No time

PRACTICE 2
1 Anthony Davidson (Honda Racing F1 Team) 1:26.822
2 Alexander Wurz (Williams-Cosworth) 1:26.832
3 Robert Kubica (Sauber-BMW) 1:27.200
4 Jenson Button (Honda Racing F1 Team) 1:27.213
5 Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:27.443
6 Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) 1:27.658
7 Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:27.773
8 Rubens Barrichello (Honda Racing F1 Team) 1:28.075
9 Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:28.200
10 Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:28.227
11 Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) 1:28.280
12 Jacques Villeneuve (Sauber-BMW) 1:28.440
13 David Coulthard (RBR-Ferrari) 1:28.531
14 Mark Webber (Williams-Cosworth) 1:28.860
15 Nick Heidfeld (Sauber-BMW) 1:29.053
16 Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:29.138
17 Scott Speed (STR-Cosworth) 1:29.196
18 Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) 1:29.379
19 Tiago Monteiro (MF1-Toyota) 1:29.713
20 Robert Doornbos (RBR-Ferrari) 1:29.876
21 Christian Klien (RBR-Ferrari) 1:29.879
22 Nico Rosberg (Williams-Cosworth) 1:29.933
23 Neel Jani (STR-Cosworth) 1:30.686
24 Vitantonio Liuzzi (STR-Cosworth) 1:30.734
25 Christijan Albers (MF1-Toyota) 1:30.830
26 Markus Winkelhock (MF1-Toyota) 1:31.260
27 Takuma Sato (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:32.556
28 Yuji Ide (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:34.224