Formula One news

Barrichello gives Honda hope

Rubens Barrichello will line up on the sixth row of the grid in his home race tomorrow after enjoying one of his best qualifying sessions of the year this afternoon at Interlagos. Button struggled with a lack of grip and his best lap, a 1:13.469, put him 16th.

"I am very pleased to have had a stronger weekend so far here at my home race but at the same time a little disappointed that we could not make it through to the final qualifying session today," said Barrichello. "The car felt very good this morning but this afternoon the rear was moving around a little too much so we lost a bit of time there. We got every last bit of performance out of the car today and I think we can have a good race from 11th."

Button commented, "Not a great qualifying session for me today which reflects that we have been off the pace pretty much all weekend. The car has a consistent lack of grip and unfortunately we haven't been able to improve the set-up to overcome this. It will be a tough race from 16th so we will just have to see what opportunities the race presents."

Engineering director Jacky Eeckelaert, "This morning we were able to work on the car balance in dry conditions on both prime and option tyres. Rubens was immediately pleased with his set-up, while Jenson was unable to find a good balance through the lap. In qualifying it was disappointing for Rubens to miss out on a place in Q3 by less than 0.05s and to find Jenson still struggling with an unpredictable balance. The hotter ambient temperatures in the afternoon affected the car balance a little more than we anticipated but we will work to find a strategy that gives us the best possible chance in the final race of the season tomorrow."

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• 07 Jan.
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• 04 Jan.
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• 03 Jan.
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• 02 Jan.
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• 01 Jan.
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• 31 Dec. '08
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• 27 Dec. '08
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