Honda to attack the points tomorrow
As was the case in Australia last weekend, the Honda Racing F1 Team knocked on the door of the top 10 in today’s qualifying session at Sepang. Both RA108s performed consistently, with the result that Jenson Button will start tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix from 11th place and Rubens Barrichello from 14th.
Formula One’s mid-field is so close this season that this was a very intense qualifying session from start-to-finish. Every tenth of a second counted as the drivers progressed from Q1 to Q2, and Jenson only just missed out on a chance at Q3. Adding to the breathless nature of the session were the extreme temperatures of 28 degrees ambient and 83 percent humidity.
Both drivers completed three runs in Q1 and they managed to improve their lap times on each occasion. Jenson’s first lap was 1:37.575s and he improved by 1.7s to 1:35.847s; Rubens improved by 0.5s from 1:37.696s to 1:36.198s. They ended Q1 in 10th (Jenson) and 16th (Rubens) positions.
In Q2 the drivers completed two runs each and, proving the malleability of the RA108, they again improved from lap-to-lap. Jenson’s fastest lap of 1:35.208s was just 0.1s shy of Fernando Alonso in 10th, while Rubens’ fastest lap of 1:35.622s left him 14th.
"I'm happy with P11 and to be starting on the right side of the grid for the race,” said Jenson Button. “The weather was looking changeable with the risk of rain, so we ran early in both sessions to get a banker time in. My final run in the second session was on the option tyres and I'm really happy with the lap as we just missed out on going through by less than 0.1sec.
"The main challenge was choosing between the prime and the option tyre. I was struggling to get the options to work so I was running on the primes for most of the session but pretty much everyone else was on the option tyre. So with that much option rubber going down on the track, we had to give it a go for my last run in Q2, and we were 0.25s quicker. That was as quick as the car is today and I put in a good lap, so I’m pleased with our position."
Lost time in Saturday morning Practice due to a gearbox problem cost Rubens when it came to Qualifying, as he confirmed: "It was unfortunate that we had a problem this morning with the gear selection which limited my running and therefore when you go into qualifying, you are playing catch-up all the time. However it was a good effort this afternoon and I'm happy with how our session developed to eventually finish in 14th position. It would have been nice to have more time this morning to set the car up a little better but we made the best of a difficult situation."
With the top 18 cars separated by just one second in qualifying, there is all to play for in tomorrow’s 56-lap race. If the Honda Racing F1 Team drivers can have clean races, they stand a good chance of moving up the order. Predicted changeable weather conditions also mean that anything can happen, especially now that driver aids such as traction control are banned.
“If the changeable weather continues into tomorrow then being outside of the top ten provides more of an option to fine tune the strategy,” confirmed Barrichello. “Considering my lack of practice this morning, I'm pleased with my qualifying and 14th is a good position from which to attack the points tomorrow."
