Another double points finish for Honda

For the fourth successive race, both Honda Racing F1 Team drivers finished in the points in this afternoon’s Chinese Grand Prix. Jenson Button came home in fourth place and Rubens Barrichello in sixth.

As at the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier in the year, today’s race in Shanghai started wet and dried throughout. Rubens and Jenson started the race in third and fourth places respectively, and they both found good traction away from the line on Michelin intermediate tyres. Rubens then lost out in the first corner melee and ended the opening lap in fifth place, while Jenson initially climbed to third place, but was passed by Kimi Raikkonen and ended the lap in fourth place.

The Honda Racing F1 Team cars circulated in formation until lap eight, when Michael Schumacher found a way past Rubens. The German was very fast in these early stages, and on lap 13 he also found his way past Jenson, who was struggling with traction problems.

On lap 15 Jenson pitted for fuel and tyres, and he rejoined the race ninth. Rubens made his first pitstop two laps later and rejoined the race two places ahead of Jenson, who was still struggling with his car in the damp conditions.

Jenson was then passed by Robert Kubica on lap 17 and Felipe Massa on lap 20, but his race took an immediate turn for the better when he became the first Michelin runner to pit for dry tyres, on lap 34.

Rubens pitted for dries two laps later, and the two Honda drivers ran in fifth (Rubens) and seventh (Jenson) places. As the track dried, Jenson’s pace increased and by lap 42 he was just 0.8s behind Rubens. A small mistake allowed Pedro de la Rosa through on lap 49, but Jenson re-passed the McLaren driver on the penultimate lap.

That, however, was nothing compared to Jenson’s final lap of the race, when he overtook Rubens and Nick Heidfeld almost within sight of the chequered flag, crossing the line in fourth place. At the same time, Rubens lost a further place to de la Rosa at the hairpin on the last lap after touching Heidfeld.

The Honda Racing F1 Team now has just one week until its home race, the Japanese Grand Prix, next weekend.

“I’m really pleased to have finished where I started in 4th position. Initially the car felt really good; I was pulling away from the field well and staying in touch with the cars in front. Then I started to struggle with the rear tyres which were practically bald so I had to come in early for my first pitstop. I had no rear grip and because of that I was losing 3 seconds or more a lap. In the dry there was only one line and from that point I was just in my element really! It was a lot of fun and reminded me of the karting days when I won the European Championships back in 1997. Into the last corner I was in front of Rubens and De La Rosa and I came down the inside of Heidfeld, turned into the corner and when I looked into my mirrors I could see the people behind me were going straight on and into each other. There are a few areas where we are weak which we need to work on, but we are still fired up for our home race in Japan next weekend.”

“My race was OK, although my car was better on the wet tyres than the ‘slicks’. It was a real shame that my last lap was ruined and there were some problems with the backmarkers so I lost time and two positions. Heidfeld was forced to make an avoiding manoeuvre in turn 2 but I was there on the track already and we touched, which damaged my front wing. With the resulting loss of front downforce, I lost more time over the remainder of that final lap. There was more confusion at the hairpin, and again Heidfeld and I came together, but I managed to recover to finish the race. 4th and 6th is another good team result. We are looking competitive for our home race next weekend when I hope we can secure another good team result in front of the Japanese crowd.”

“What an exciting race! Although we didn't get the podium we were hoping for, having Jenson and Rubens in the points again is a good result for us considering the unpredictable and difficult conditions. After a good start from both drivers, the first issue we encountered was when Jenson started suffering an imbalance which was costing him a lot of time towards the latter half of his first stint. As a result we brought him in earlier than scheduled to change the tyres. Rubens wasn't suffering with the same issues and we retained the same set of tyres on his first stop. The track was taking a long time to dry out and we just about hit the right time to change to dry tyres when both drivers had to come in for their second stop. From then on, Jenson and Rubens were not only fighting each other but they were also challenging Heidfeld ahead as well as being pursued by De La Rosa. This fight culminated in a very exciting last few laps when it started drizzling with rain and they all shuffled positions. In the end this was a good result for us and hopefully we can go one step further in front of our home crowd in Japan."