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Europe: Button a virtual expert at Valencia
By Phil Huff August 19 2008
Honda Racing F1's Jenson Button has already spent some time lapping the new European Grand Prix circuit at Valencia, and doing it without leaving Brackley. Thanks to an impressive simulator at the teams UK base, the drivers can get a feel for the circuit long before arriving in the paddock, something that will help the early weekend preperations.

"We've got a simulator at the factory," explained Button. "With that you're not getting the complete feelings of the car, but you are understanding distances, the braking points. It's very useful."

The simulator has been set up with data from racing held at the Valencia circuit in July, with Honda Racing F1 acquiring the telemetary data from a Formula 3 car and comparing directly to the F3 races at Catalunya. Honda's Young Driver, Mike Conway, also raced at the venue in a GT car, taking a race win while he was there.

Despite being a street circuit, it's nothing like Monaco. "We have some very fast circuits like Monza, Spa and Silverstone, at least for another coupe of years," continues Jenson, "and then you have the slower circuits like Monaco and Hungary, and this circuit will probably be in the middle somewhere."

"Our goal was to familiarize with an unknown track, but we enjoyed our stay for many other reasons," adds Mike Conway. "First of all, I liked the track a lot, I was expecting a classic street-course, but this one has many fast corners with several passing opportunities. Then, we had a lot of fun and we even won!"

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