Formula One news

Honda takes first top ten finish

Rubens Barrichello achieved the Honda Racing F1 Team's first top ten finish of the season in today's Spanish Grand Prix, whilst team-mate Jenson Button finished in 12th position.

"We had a good strategy and have been working towards the race all weekend, so I think we were on target for a better day today," said Button. "Unfortunately, as I exited the pit lane after my first stop, I hit the kerb on the apex and that threw me offline. I lost my front wing as I touched the right rear of Rubens' car and I had to come back in for a nose change and that was that really in terms of fighting for a point. In the last stint though I thought our pace was very similar to that of Kovalainen and Rosberg which is what helped me to climb back up to 12th. Overall I think we have had a slightly better weekend but there is a lot of work ahead of us. So we have to keep pushing in the test next week and in Monaco and hopefully that will pay dividends for a better step forward in Montreal."

Barrichello commented, "A better race today in terms of our overall performance and the handling of the car but we just don't have the pace to improve our final position significantly. I had left Jenson enough room at turn one, it's a shame but just one of those racing incidents. We have the four-day test at Paul Ricard this week and I hope we can see another small step forward by Monaco."

Engineering director Jacky Eeckelaert added, "On the positive side we have made some degree of progress here this weekend. On the other hand, it is just a small step when we have a lot of catching up to do. During the first part of the race both drivers looked to be in a position where they could finish in the top eight. Unfortunately Jenson came together with Rubens after his first stop and damaged his front wing. Rubens ran 8th before the last pit-stop, but the balance on the last set of tyres was not good and he lost the position."

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