A blow to Honda's hopes
The Honda Racing F1 Team endured a frustrating Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne today. Pole sitter Jenson Button retired within sight of the finish line and Rubens Barrichello came home in seventh place. Following his fantastic performance in yesterday’s qualifying session, Jenson had high hopes for today’s 57-lap race.
Everything started well: on a competitive fuel load he led the field into Turn 1 and was able to resist the challenges of world champion Fernando Alonso. However, a crash further down the field brought out the first of four Safety Cars during the race and this was when Jenson’s problems began. The slow pace behind the Safety Car caused the handling of his RA106 to drop off and Alonso overtook him after the re-start on lap three.
The second Safety Car appeared on lap six following another accident and, when the race re-started on lap eight, Jenson lost another place to Kimi Raikkonen. And his problems weren’t over because a fuel pick-up problem cost him four seconds as he approached his first pitstop on lap 19.
Further back, Rubens made steady progress from his 16th position on the grid. By lap three, he was up to 13th place and was looking good for his hoped-for points finish.
Following his first pitstop, Jenson rejoined the race in ninth place and immediately began to climb through the field. He was up to fifth by the time of the third Safety Car on lap 33, when he pitted to take advantage of the yellow flag conditions. When the race re-started on lap 36, he was in fourth place, but lost two places on the opening lap.
The Safety Car was brought out again on lap 37, but Jenson retained his sixth place at the re-start, which became fifth when Juan Pablo Montoya crashed in front of him.
Two corners from the finish, Jenson’s engine began to tighten and it expired on the pitstraight, in sight of the chequered flag. Jenson’s retirement promoted Rubens to seventh place.
There is now a three-week break until the next race at Imola, during which time Honda has test sessions planned at Vallelunga and Barcelona.
JENSON BUTTON “It’s disappointing to end the weekend as we did today after starting the race in pole position. The way the race panned out with the four safety cars left me struggling for grip after each restart and I lost so much time and so many places. I could feel that something was wrong with the engine in turn 13 and it was a difficult way to end the race after such a long hard battle. The car is strong when we have tyre temperature, but when we don’t we have massive grip problems. We have two weeks of testing before Imola and hopefully we can solve these problems.”¬
RUBENS BARRICHELLO “It was very frustrating that Jenson was unable to finish the race. Although we didn’t have the pace to fight very hard, it was disappointing to see him go out like that. I struggled the whole race with the brakes and it was impossible for me to overtake, although I was able to get past Speed and gain position. I have a couple of points at least, so in that respect at least my season is underway now. I think we all realise what a lot of work there is to do in the next couple of weeks in testing if we are to start the European season in a more competitive position.”
