Big disappointment for Honda

After a solid start to the weekend yesterday, the Honda Racing F1 Team endured a disappointing qualifying session in Magny Cours. With both drivers lacking grip and struggling with the pace of the car, Jenson Button could only finish 19th in the first session after encountering traffic on his quick run which held him up considerably. On the other side of the garage, Rubens made it through to the second session where he was unable to improve on his time, finishing in 14th position.

"I had my run ruined by traffic today in the first session which is obviously very disappointing. Having said that, the car just wasn't quick enough and we were not on the pace for the quick qualifying lap. It would have been nice to do two new tyre runs in the first session but we didn't have time. It's a shame because this is one of the circuits that I really enjoy but we'll just have to see if we can fight our way through from the back and salvage something from the weekend."

"I had a little bit of traffic on section one of my last run but we're just not quick enough. We maybe could have gone a little bit faster but not a lot and unfortunately that was the pace of the car today. We feel that we're missing some grip in the middle of the corner, although actually the balance of the car itself is not so bad. On the long runs we seem to have a good pace so that is something for tomorrow, but we are starting so far back that it will be very tough to get a result from here."

"This isn't where we expected to be today and that's very frustrating. After this morning's session we were hopeful to be in the top ten. However Jenson was plagued with traffic in Q1 and we just couldn't make the cut with Rubens in Q2. We lacked the pace with both cars to be at the sharp end of the fight today. Nevertheless we will do our best tomorrow and try to come away with some points."