Button moves to head of the class

By Jamie Makin
February 12 2005

BAR Honda's Jenson Button was relieved to have a car fast enough to set the best time in the Friday test session at Jerez. He was more than half a second clear of his nearest rival, Juan Pablo Montoya in the McLaren Mercedes.

Despite the fast pace, it was not the happiest of days for the team. Button's car stopped twice on track and Bernoldi had an off causing minor damage to the front of the car. The repairs were made quickly enough to allow the drivers to rack up a lot of laps, Button completing 129 in the BAR007 and Bernoldi 121 in the BAR006.

The team will complete their 5-day Jerez test and return to the factory to try to sort out the BAR007's reliability problems.

P	Driver	Team	Engine	Car	Tyre	Best Lap	Gap
1	Button	BAR	Honda	BAR007	M	1:15.680	-:--.---
2	Montoya	McLaren	Mercedes	MP4/20	M	1:16.198	0.518
3	M Schumacher	Ferrari	Ferrari	F2004M	B	1:16.668	0.988
4	Coulthard	Red Bull	Cosworth	RB1	M	1:16.802	1.122
5	Raikkonen	McLaren	Mercedes	MP4/20	M	1:17.366	1.686
6	Webber	Williams	BMW	FW27	M	1:17.421	1.741
7	Liuzzi	Red Bull	Cosworth	RB1	M	1:17.439	1.759
8	Zonta	Toyota	Toyota	TF105	M	1:17.719	2.039
9	Heidfeld	Williams	BMW	FW27	M	1:17.932	2.252
10	R Schumacher	Toyota	Toyota	TF105	M	1:18.062	2.382
11	Bernoldi	BAR	Honda	BAR006	M	1:18.585	2.905
12	Badoer	Ferrari	Ferrari	F2004M	B	1:18.778	3.098