Formula One news

Another pointless day for Honda

Jenson Button was the first of the Honda drivers home in today's inaugural European Grand Prix at Valencia. After starting the race in 16th place, he drove a determined race on a one-stop strategy to finish in 13th position. Rubens Barrichello, on the same strategy, came home in 16th place. 

"I had a good start to the race and gained three places to 13th but that was the highlight of my race really," said Button. "We made things difficult for ourselves by qualifying so far back on the grid after we had expected to perform a lot better. I was heavily fuelled compared to most others and running long on a one-stop strategy, but I was stuck behind Heidfeld when he had already pitted which cost me some time as I didn't have the pace to overtake him. We ran the option tyre for the second stint, which was initially fine but then the rears went away quite badly due to the rear brakes overheating." 

Barrichello commented, "After qualifying, we took the opportunity to start from the pit lane and work on the car to try and resolve the issues that we had yesterday. We changed the brakes completely so the car was very different to drive but it did improve a little bit during the race. We need to get to the bottom of the brake problems that we have had all weekend as these cost me a lot of time and positions. It was a poor weekend overall."

Team boss Ross Brawn added, "Jenson got a good start and was able to make up three places during the first lap, however the midfield was quite close today and with a heavy fuel load he was unable to progress through the field. Starting Rubens from the pit lane was the right decision as he benefited from the melée at Turn 2 and ended up being further up the field than he would otherwise have been. Contrary to expectation though there was relatively low attrition with only three cars failing to finish and no safety cars, which meant there were no real opportunities to take advantage of."

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