Formula One news
Disappointing day for Honda
14 September 2008 / Results / PhotosJenson Button was the first of the Honda team's drivers home in this afternoon's Italian Grand Prix, when he finished the 53-lap race in 15th position. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello finished in 17th place.
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"We decided to start the race from the pit lane today as it may have given us an advantage with tyre choice, however when the race started behind the safety car it just meant that my tyres and brakes were very cold," Button said. "The first couple of laps were quite difficult with the amount of spray and I lost a place which was disappointing. Then I got stuck behind Coulthard in the middle of the race when my lap times were good, which compromised my race quite badly. The last stint was a lot of fun though as we left the very worn wet tyres on and I had a couple of purple middle sectors. But at the end of the day it was disappointing to come home in 15th position and we have not had a good weekend here."
Barrichello commented, "We made the decision on lap 16 to pit for the wet tyres as I felt the track was starting to dry out and it could give us an advantage. Although it was a positive decision as our lap times came down from there and I was gaining time on the cars ahead of me, it did interrupt our planned one-stop strategy. The wet tyres worked well in the middle stint but when I came up to my second stop with ten laps to go, the team asked if it was dry enough for slicks. It was not quite dry enough however they asked me to give it a go as we had nothing to lose. I tried my best but it was definitely too wet. We could have finished higher up by sticking to the wets but it was worth trying something different. It's been a tough weekend all round."
Team boss Ross Brawn added, "From where we started the race and in view of the lack of attrition today, it was necessary for us to take some chances. We switched from the extreme wet tyres to the normal wets earlier than everyone else and I believe that was a reasonable call. Later in the race, at Rubens' second pitstop, we knew it wasn't really the right window for dry tyres but we thought it might be worth a chance. Jenson had a good race and we made the right tyre calls at the right time. He was looking pretty quick at the end but obviously starting as far back as he did, he didn't have much opportunity for points today. On a positive note the car looked a little more respectable in the race than it has through the weekend. Finally, congratulations to the Toro Rosso team on their win today. I have a lot of very good friends there and they did a fantastic job this weekend."
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