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Prelude to the Canadian GP as BAR Honda prepares for 2 consecutive race weekends in North America
June 11, 2004

Montreal, Canada – June 11, 2004 -- F1 has reached the shores of Northern America, with the first stop being in Canada for the Canadian GP in Montreal on June 13, 2004 followed by the US GP at Indy on June 20, 2004. By the time the teams load up the transporters and head back to Europe the F1 season will be half over. With just 9 more races to go it proves to be a very exciting conclusion to the 2004 season.

On paper it looks as if Michael Schumacher and Ferrari have another World Driver’s Championship and World Constructor’s Championship in the bag. But, can we forget the events of 1999 when Schumacher missed 7 races after a vicious wreck at Silverstone in the British GP. At the time he was
second in the championship and only 8 points behind Mika Hakkinen. In F1 anything can happen, as we witnessed in Monaco with a freak accident taking out Michael Schumacher when he was leading the race. A few bad races and the hunt for the 2004 championship will once more be wide open. The hunt for second place is very open with Ferrari driver Rubens Barichello, Honda driver Jensen Button and Renault driver Jarno Trulli in 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively separated by a mere 10 points. The constructors championship appears the same way with Ferrari having a 45 point lead going into Canada, but Honda in 3rd with 46 points are a mere 15 points behind Renault. One bad race and Honda could vault themselves upto 2nd place by the time the F1 train leaves these shores.

Honda driver Takuma Sato is looking to end a recent dismal streak with 2 consecutive engine failures and only 2 races when he ended up in the points. The Japanese recently become the first Japanese driver to qualify on the front row during the recent European GP at Nurburgring. Sato’s podium bid may be slightly hampered by the fact that he has only raced once before at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2002 when he drove a Jordan. During a recent press conference Sato said "The track’s similar to Imola and we were very quick there." The track indeed bears strong resemblance to the Imola circuit with the chicane, high kerbs and tight hairpin.

The race at Canada will reveal the brand new second evolution of Honda’s RA004E power plant. The engine should definitely give both Button and Sato an increase in power. Many have said the Honda engines are the most powerful in F1 and are pushing upwards of 920 bhp. The new engine was tested first at the Paul Ricard circuit in May and further rested this week at Monza. Test driver Anthony Davidson put in 200 laps or so and chalked up the fastest time on the 2nd day of the 3 day test.

The race drivers spent hours testing at Silverstone for critical tire compound selection for next month’s British GP. Sato had the wheel on both Tuesday and Wednesday and set fastest time during the Wednesday session. Button drove Wednesday afternoon and Thursday when he completed a taggering 109 laps of very productive testing. Day 1 at Silverstone began with Sato behind the wheel of chassis 006-01. Sadly a transmission issue caused his session to end short. He later joined to work on the Canadian GP engine program and turned in a total of 14 laps for the day. Day 2 was tire evaluation for the British GP. After 72 laps he had the fastest time with a time of 1min 18.091sec but a gearbox issue ended his day early and forced the afternoon session to be postponed. Day 3 had Button up the ante on Sato with a new lap record of 1min 17.856sec. He also tested the tires selected by Sato on the longer runs to complete a total of 109 laps. Davidson had chassis 006-02 during his 3 days at Monza. Day 1 for him was cut short by a drive problem and rain and he only managed a total of 49 laps but still managed fastest time in Indy (US GP) trim. Day 2 was more tire testing and he again set fast time with a time of 1min 20.608sec and completed a total of 123 laps. Day 3 and Davidson ran into issues with cooling and electrical but managed a very good 4th fastest.

The driver’s had the following to say after testing at Monza:

Jenson Button
"It's good to test at Silverstone. I love the place. It's the first quick circuit we have been to since Barcelona, so it's good to see the car working very well here. As usual we are quick over one lap. Looking at Ferrari's pace over long runs they are very strong, but we've found a few things that we are happy with and they are going to help our pace over long runs on this type of circuit. We should be a lot more competitive in Canada and a lot closer to the Ferraris. The Honda engine felt very good during the test, so I am really looking forward to the next race in Montreal."

Takuma Sato
"It is a shame that we had such dismal weather for the first day of our test at Silverstone. On the second day I had a good test running the new Honda engine spec until a transmission problem forced us to stop during a tyre evaluation programme. We had completed 80% of the planned test, however, so I am happy with the result and for recording the fastest time of the day."

Anthony Davidson
"On our first test day at Monza we were not able to clock up many laps due to the poor weather conditions, however the balance of the car felt good. The second day of the test was the best by far; the car felt good and we recorded the fastest lap of the day – a 1m20.608s – completing 123 laps. We also collected a lot of data from a very constructive Michelin test, so I am confident in the tyre choice that we have made for Indianapolis."

With practice beginning today we wish Lucky Strike BAR Honda the best of luck in practice and throughout the race weekend. Stay tuned as we report more news and happenings from Canada.

- Sean Banerjee