Button disappoints in front of home crowd

Rubens Barrichello enjoyed a trouble-free qualifying session and will start tomorrow’s British Grand Prix from a strong sixth position, while local hero Jenson Button will line up in a disappointing 19th place.

In Q1, Rubens set a time of 1:22.965s, which was good enough for 15th fastest and saw him comfortably through to Q2. On the other side of the garage, British hero Jenson Button had his hopes of qualifying well in front of his home crowd shattered when he was not fast enough on his first run and a call to the weighbridge left insufficient time for a second run.

For the second 15-minute segment of the qualifying session, Rubens improved the handling of his RA106 and completed nine laps. His best time of 1:20.929s placed him ninth fastest and saw him through to the final 20 minutes of the session.

He then completed 24 laps in segment three before setting a time of 1:20.943s in the dying moments, which placed him sixth on the grid. It was his sixth top-10 grid position of the year.

The Honda Racing F1 Team will now analyse the data from both of its cars in an effort to maximise Jenson’s strategy for tomorrow’s race.

Rubens Barrichello "We achieved our target this afternoon which was to put the car in the top six. By the end of the session, we saw that it was very close at the front and we could perhaps have achieved a little bit more and finished 5th. Overall though I'm happy. I'm truly disappointed for Jenson because of his situation and everyone knows that he should have been up there with me as well. I love to race here so I’m looking forward to tomorrow now. It should be a good race."

Jenson Button “I’m obviously massively disappointed for myself, the team and all of the fans. My first run wasn't quick enough because we had quite low grip. If the car isn't working well on the first run, you don't want to push it to the limit because the penalty for going off the track and not completing a lap is so high. The circuit was improving massively all the time and we thought we would get a second chance to do a run, but then I got called on to the weighbridge and that effectively finished my session. Everyone wants to do well in their home race and I could have done so much better today, but I believe that points are possible and I’ll be doing everything I can to get back up there tomorrow.”