Honda satisfied with race
The Honda Racing F1 Team put in an impressive performance in today’s Turkish Grand Prix. From the back row of the grid Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello moved steadily through the field to finish the race in 13th and 17th positions.
Engine issues discovered after yesterday’s qualifying session forced the team to change the engines in both RA107s, giving both drivers their grid penalty.
Rubens was able to gain positions at the start due to the first-lap melée while Jenson’s start was compromised when he had to move wide at the first corner to avoid a spinning Jarno Trulli. He recovered well and went on to overtake four cars in the following two laps.
By lap 11, the Honda Racing F1 team drivers were running nose-to-tail in 16th and 17th positions. At this stage of the race Jenson was able to lap faster than Rubens, and on lap 16 Jenson overtook his team-mate. That allowed Jenson to continue his swift progress through the field and he quickly dispensed of David Coulthard before making his first pitstop on lap 22.
Rubens stopped for the first time on the following lap and the two Honda drivers spent the middle stint of the race in 12th (Jenson) and 16th (Rubens) places.
Jenson made his second and final pitstop on lap 36, with Rubens again pitting one lap later. They rejoined the race in 13th and 17th places, which is where they ended the race after 58 laps of racing in scorching 35-degree heat.
The Honda Racing F1 Team now decamps to Monza in Italy for a three-day test session ahead of the next race in the World Championship, the Italian Grand Prix, on 9 September.
Jenson Button“It was a lot of fun passing 10 cars! If you put to one side where we finished – because 13th position is still far from a good result – I think we had a reasonable race compared to the last one. I had a good time and was able to pass quite a few of the midfield competitors that we’ve been struggling to keep pace with in recent races. Obviously starting from the back of the grid is not something I want to have to repeat but we did a good job to fight for something better and I think the team can be pleased with our performance today.”
Rubens Barrichello“Obviously today was always going to be difficult starting from the back of the field. The car was moving around quite a bit from corner to corner and there wasn’t much I could do from where we started.”
Jacky Eeckelaert, Engineering Director
“Starting from the back row of the grid, it was never going to be an easy race today. However, Jenson drove a strong race, making best use of the car to progress from 21st to 13th position and overtaking 10 cars on the track. Rubens drove a steady race and was able to gain positions at the start due to the first-lap melée but after that, on his last two ‘option’ sets of tyres, too much understeer slowed him down and he finished P17.”
