Honda satisfied with improvements made
The Honda Racing F1 Team enjoyed impeccable reliability in today’s scorching Malaysian Grand Prix, with Jenson Button coming home in 10th position and Rubens Barrichello in 13th place. Both drivers improved on their grid positions during the course of the 56-lap race and they lapped consistently with the cars around them, giving the Honda Racing F1 Team a true indication of the RA108’s current level of competitiveness. All this in stifling 30-degree heat and 70 percent humidity.
At the start, Jenson and Rubens converted their 11th and 14th grid positions to tuck in behind Nick Heidfeld and Adrian Sutil respectively. By lap three, Nelson Piquet had moved onto Jenson’s tail and the pair embarked on a race-long duel that would see them separated by just 5.9s at the chequered flag.
Jenson moved steadily up the order during the opening stint of the race as the cars ahead of him made their first pitstops. By the time of his first stop on lap 22, he was up to sixth place and he rejoined the race in 14th position.
Rubens’ progress was slower, thanks to the slower cars ahead of him, and he had climbed to 12th place by the time of his first stop on lap 24, from which he rejoined the race in 15th position.
Both drivers gained a position when Ferrari driver Felipe Massa spun out of the race on lap 31, at which point Jenson was 10th, two seconds behind David Coulthard and 0.7s ahead of Piquet.
On lap 39, Rubens made his second pitstop from 13th place, but any chance of moving further up the order was compromised by a pitlane speeding infringement. He was forced to take a drive-thru penalty eight laps later, leaving him in a distant 13th place for the remaining laps of the race.
"Unfortunately my weekend was compromised when we lost the free practice running on Saturday morning, as I lacked balance in the car for the race today,” commented Barrichello. “I had a lot of understeer and was battling with that throughout the race. The drive-through penalty after my second stop was unfortunate, even though I only lost one place, as the markings in the pitlane to indicate where the speed limit ends were not clear enough."
Jenson made his second and final stop from seventh place on lap 43, from which he rejoined the race in 10th. However, he continued to push hard until the end and set his fastest lap of 1:35.715s on the final lap.
“It was good to finish the full race distance today and we will get a lot of very useful information from this weekend,” said Button. “I'm pretty satisfied with 10th place as that is where the performance of the car is right now. With the majority of cars ahead of us also finishing, it is a good reflection of our overall position.
“We're going in the right direction and learning more about the car all the time, so we need to keep up the hard work and continue to develop ahead of the next race in two weeks’ time."
Team Principal Ross Brawn confirmed that, based on the performance of the drivers in today’s race, the team is moving in the right direction:
“This weekend was more straightforward for the whole field compared with Melbourne and we saw fewer drivers making mistakes. Sepang is also a more representative circuit in terms of car performance, as Melbourne can produce unusual results. Therefore to see Jenson finish the race in 10th place with Rubens just behind, in spite of his problems in the third free practice session, is very encouraging and a real indication of the car’s pace. There is still a great deal of work to do but we are really starting to make improvements one step at a time.”
After back-to-back races in Australia and Malaysia, the Honda Racing F1 Team now has a two-week break prior to the next round of the World Championship in Bahrain on 6 April.
