Honda takes points in home GP

Jenson Button came home in a fighting fourth place in today’s Japanese Grand Prix, giving the Honda Racing F1 Team its sixth consecutive points finish of the season. His team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, finished in 12th place after he was forced to make an extra pitstop early in the race to replace a bent front wing.

At the start, Jenson made an excellent get-away from seventh place on the grid to pass Giancarlo Fisichella through the opening couple of corners. He then spent the opening few laps of the race in sixth place, in the thick of the action.

Rubens, meanwhile, dropped a place away from the line to Nick Heidfeld, but his chances of a points finish ended soon afterwards when he damaged his front wing on another car. He was overtaken by Kimi Raikkonen later on in the lap and was forced into the pits to replace the nosecone, rejoining the race in last place.

Jenson withstood intense pressure from Fisichella in the early laps, but the Italian eventually found a way through on lap four, dropping Jenson back to seventh place. But before his first pitstop on lap 16, he had climbed up to second place as the cars in front pitted before him. He emerged from that stop in 10th place, behind Robert Kubica and ahead of Mark Webber.

On lap 22, Rubens made his first scheduled pitstop from 15th place. He rejoined the race in 20th place and set about climbing back up the order.

On lap 37, Jenson made his second and final pitstop, and he rejoined the race in fifth place after race leader Michael Schumacher retired on the same lap. He climbed to fourth when Kimi Raikkonen pitted, and that’s where he ended the race, 10.1s behind Fisichella.

Rubens stopped for a splash ‘n’ dash of fuel on lap 42 and climbed his way through the backmarkers during the remaining laps to cross the line 12th, 25.5s behind the McLaren of Pedro de la Rosa.

The Honda Racing F1 Team has just one race remaining this year, the Brazilian Grand Prix on 22 October.

“I’m reasonably pleased with 4th place here today. We had a solid race and I think we did the best job possible given the fight going on for the Championship. We started a little better and I overtook a Renault off the line. The tyres came good and we were able to get past the Toyotas. Again, the team did an amazing job in the pitstops; we’ve been right up there since Hockenheim. We just haven’t quite got enough to beat the two Championship contenders right now, but we will get there, trust me! I’m very sad that we won’t be coming back to Suzuka next season because this feels like a home Grand Prix for me. For now though, it’s nice to get another 4th place and pick up five more points for myself and the team.”

“It was very unfortunate that I had another coming together with Heidfeld. He closed the door really fast and I had nowhere else to go so I locked wheels and tapped him. Sadly, I damaged the front wing. After that I was very fast but this is Suzuka where it’s very difficult to overtake. A disappointing result for me in front of our home crowd but I still have my own home race in Brazil to look forward to and hopefully we can do better there and end the season on a high.”

"Jenson made a good start and gained one position before the first corner. Subsequently, when we saw some of our competitors stop early, we fuelled Jenson relatively long in the middle stint to beat them on both speed and strategy, which was very satisfying. Jenson drove a customary hard-charging and faultless race and once again extracted the best from the car. Unfortunately, Rubens damaged his front wing in the first corner and was playing catch-up from then on.

“We leave Suzuka happy to be in the points once again but also sad that we will not be returning next season to a track that has brought so much joy and many exciting moments over the years. Sadly, we have just one more stop before the end of the season. We have enjoyed the challenge so much this year that I wish we could just keep going."