BAR Drivers Pleased after Quick Start

The BAR-Honda team were pleased after they enjoyed a strong start to their Belgian Grand Prix weekend in today's practice.

"So far, so good," said Briton Jenson Button after posting the second fastest time, only behind McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen.

"Having all three of our drivers in the top five today is a great start to the weekend. We started out this morning with very low grip, but we've found a way round that and things are going pretty well.

"It's a circuit I really enjoy and I had missed the challenge of Eau Rouge. The car is working well here. Ferrari are looking very strong as usual but we have to compare ourselves to Renault, who are our immediate competitors in the Championship."

BAR are hoping to close the gap to Renault in the standings, the French squad still eight points ahead with five races remaining. The team from Brackley had a positive start, with third driver Anthony Davidson topping the times in the morning session.

Englishman Davidson was fourth quickest in the afternoon ahead of BAR teammate Takuma Sato.

"It is great to be back in Spa again and to see all of our cars finishing in the top five today," said Sato. "We are very happy with the cars' performance as we were quick on the first timed laps, however we need to work on the consistency of the longer runs tomorrow as this is what counts in the race.

"Luckily we had dry weather today and we had no problems with the laps, so we are happy and looking forward to another strong programme tomorrow."