Team Principal Ross Brawn is satisfied with the performance of the super soft Bridgestone tyres following a productive test at Paul Ricard.
The high downforce characteristics of Monte Carlo require maximum aerodynamic downforce and good mechanical grip, both of which were priorities for Honda during last week s three day test session at the Paul Ricard Test Track at Le Castelett in France.
While a few teams reported problems getting the Bridgestone tyres up to temperature in cool conditions, Ross Brawn noted encouraging performance from the super soft tyre which squared up well when benchmarked against its comparatively harder sister compound.
“We ran the new Bridgestone super soft tyre compound and the indications from the test are that this tyre will perform well as the option tyre during the race weekend,” he said.
“Driveability is very important around Monaco, with so many low speed corners where the driver has to have confidence in the set-up of the car to avoid losing time on exit, so we did a lot of work on this.â€
Jenson Button and Alex Wurz were both at the helm at Paul Ricard last week, the pairing completing 300 laps in total as the Anglo-Japanese outfit went about their preparations for the Monaco Grand Prix.
The team have been building on a number of aerodynamic revisions made to the R108 over the spring break including the so called “elephant ear†nose wings, which appeared on the car with even greater prominence at the Le Castelett.
“We should have some visually interesting new parts for Monaco, the highest downforce circuit so far,†explains Brawn. “However we do not expect Monaco to be the highest downforce track of the year – our calculations show that Singapore will require even more.â€
Honda had a disappointing outing in the last round of the championship with neither Button nor Barrichello managing to qualify of finish in the top ten.
The Brackley-based outfit currently find themselves locked in a mid-field scrap with Toyota and Williams.
