Again no points for Honda
The Honda Racing F1 Team cars came home in 10th and 11th places n today’s Monaco Grand Prix, The two RA107s ran nose-to-tail for most of the race, with Rubens Barrichello finishing 1.1s ahead of team-mate Jenson Button.
Rubens made an excellent start from ninth place on the grid. He made up two positions through the first corner, Ste Devote, and ended the opening lap wedged between Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber. Jenson, meanwhile, was fuelled slightly heavier than his team-mate and lost a place on the opening lap to cross the line in 11th place.
With it being notoriously difficult to overtake in Monaco, the two Honda Racing F1 Team drivers remained in seventh and 11th positions until lap 19, when Mark Webber retired from eighth place, which promoted Jenson to 10th.
Kimi Raikkonen, who had started 16th, worked his way onto Jenson’s gearbox early in the race. But that was where the Ferrari star’s charge up the order ended because Jenson drove faultlessly to keep him at bay. Jenson was given some light relief on lap 33 when Nick Heidfeld exited the pits between him and Raikkonen, and he was free to rattle off the laps until his first pitstop on lap 41.
Rubens was the first of the Honda Racing F1 Team’s drivers to pit, on lap 37. He’d made his way up to fifth place during the pitstop sequence and rejoined the race in 11th place, behind the one-stopping Raikkonen.
The two Honda Racing F1 Team drivers ran nose-to-tail after the first pitstops, and the gap between them was rarely more than one second for the next 40 laps.
Rubens made his second stop on lap 61, while Jenson stopped again one lap later. They rejoined the race in 10th and 11th places, which is where they ended the race.
After 78 laps of fierce racing through the twists and turns of the Principality, Rubens crossed the line just 1.9s behind Scott Speed, while Jenson was 4.3s ahead of Nico Rosberg.
Rubens Barrichello “I’m disappointed with 10th because I thought we had a shot at the points today but the opportunities did not materialise. After my first pitstop I was held up by Wurz and that was that really. I was a little bit faster than him and if I could have got past then there was a chance to close the gap and get closer to the points, but there was no possibility to overtake. Overall I think we have had a slightly better weekend and we just have to keep pushing now and continue to move in the right direction. I hope for better things in Canada.”
Jenson Button “A difficult race today. I was stuck in traffic in all three stints and never got a clear run, so I couldn’t make the most of the strategy. After yesterday’s qualifying it is disappointing but we have to take some encouragement from the signs of improvement we saw here earlier in the weekend, keep our heads down and focus on what we are doing to move us forward.”
Jacky Eeckelaert, Engineering Director "After achieving 9th and 10th in qualifying yesterday we hoped for a points finish today. Rubens got a good start, making up some places over the first few corners, and then both drivers held their positions reasonably well over the first pit stops. However, our race pace was not fast enough for us to finish in the points. We have clearly made a step in the right direction and we are now knocking on the door of the points placings. Despite no testing before the two North American races, we will have some improvements with which to try to close the gap to the teams directly in front of us."
