By BAR F1
March 4 2005

The opening day of every Grand Prix season is always eagerly-anticipated - it's the day when the F1 teams finally find out just how successful their latest designs and winter test programmes have been. However, with so many new rules plus the unique character of a street track both encouraging drivers to keep their powder dry, Friday's first two Free Practice sessions in Albert Park failed to answer many questions.

"As expected all teams ran fewer laps than we used to see on a Friday, so the circuit took a long time to clean up and improve," remarked Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda's technical director, Geoffrey Willis who was otherwise pleased with progress. "It was interesting to have our first day of practice under the new tyre regulations. With only one type of each tyre available today proper tyre evaluation is the main task. The whole day has gone very much to plan and we now have all the information we need to make our tyre choice for tomorrow. We are quite happy with our performance level and will continue to work on car set-up in the morning."