Australia: Here we come!

By BAR F1
March 1 2005

The 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship, which gets underway at the Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne, Australia on 6 March, presents an exciting new technical challenge for the Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda team.

After an intensive winter testing programme incorporating chassis and engine development, reliability work, and getting to grips with the new tyre compounds from Michelin, the team is eagerly anticipating the first race. The test schedule was the culmination of four months of hard work at the UK-based factory and on test tracks in Spain and the UK where the team completed almost 28,000 testing kilometres, an increase of 25% for the same period last year.

The team is encouraged by the testing performance of the B*A*R Honda 007 and look forward to the 'acid test' in Melbourne, where all of the teams will get their first real indication of the performance in race weekend conditions.

Albert Park is a high downforce circuit, and one that is very popular with the drivers. The 5.303km track features a mixture of short straights and slow to medium speed corners, and requires the car set-up to have a balance of good traction and stability under braking, as well as being aerodynamically efficient. Teams face the problem of a green, dusty and leafy track during Friday and changing surface conditions over the race weekend.

"After a challenging pre season testing programme, made more complex by circuit changes and poor weather on top of the usual testing issues, it's a relief to be off to Melbourne for the start of the season. While all the teams have now run under the full 2005 regulations, at Melbourne we will have our first opportunity to truly see the relative performance of the cars," said Geoffrey Willis, Technical Director.

"Despite a number of problems during testing we are happy with the fundamental performance of the B.A.R Honda 007 but like many others would have preferred a bit more preparation time to feel more confident. Our objective in 2005 is to win races and as last year we will travel to every circuit aiming to be on the podium."

"After the long winter testing season, we're looking forward to finally getting down to the real action, and will be doing our best to build on the progress we made last year," added Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director at Honda Racing Development.