Jenson Button once again reminded the
Formula 1 paddock of his street circuit prowess by placing his
Honda inside the top ten on the timing sheets in both of Friday's free practice sessions ahead of the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix to be held on Sunday.
Despite admitting to not having ‘got the best' out of his RA108 on his fastest lap around the all-new Marina Bay Street Circuit, the British ace nevertheless proved quick enough to sit tenth at the end of the morning session, before improving a couple of spots later on to give the big-budget Japanese concern hope perhaps of registering its first points this weekend since team-mate
Rubens Barrichello's podium finish at
Silverstone – and his own first points since Barcelona all the way back in April.
“It was a very strange day of testing,” the 28-year-old acknowledged, pointing to the fact that his ‘day' had actually been a night. “You would expect the conditions to be cooler, but that has to be one of the hottest Fridays that we've ever had and it was just so humid.
“The circuit is interesting to drive and it's very bumpy, which adds to the excitement as the bumps bounce the car all over the place. We spent both sessions trying to improve the ride quality and balance of the car by testing many different things, and the outcome was largely positive.
“We didn't get the best out of the car on my final run with the new tyres, due to too much understeer, but it was still nice to end up eighth-quickest. All-in-all, a good start to the weekend and I'm sure there is still a lot more to come.”
Barrichello, by contrast, professed himself far less pleased with the balance of the sister Honda – complaining of instability, too much front-end grip and oversteer – and the experienced Brazilian gave his mechanics some unexpected work to do when he spun into the barriers midway through the morning session, damaging his rear wing
